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Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases... Mar 2019The Arthropod Containment Guidelines are a product of the work of the American Committee of Medical Entomology, a subcommittee of the American Society of Tropical...
The Arthropod Containment Guidelines are a product of the work of the American Committee of Medical Entomology, a subcommittee of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. The guidelines provide a reference for research laboratories to assess risk and establish protocols for the safe handling of arthropod vectors of human and animal disease agents. The guidelines were originally published in 2004 and have been updated here to reflect the spectrum of vector taxa under investigation, and the demands of working with vector arthropods in the context of the Select Agent Rule.
Topics: Animals; Arthropod Vectors; Arthropods; Containment of Biohazards; Disease Vectors; Genetic Engineering; Guidelines as Topic; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Risk Assessment; United States; Zoonoses
PubMed: 30694736
DOI: 10.1089/vbz.2018.2431 -
Journal of the American Mosquito... Sep 2023Insects' daily rhythms occur in response to their surrounding environment. Recognizing the daily rhythms of pathogen vectors can be helpful in developing effective,...
Insects' daily rhythms occur in response to their surrounding environment. Recognizing the daily rhythms of pathogen vectors can be helpful in developing effective, safe, and sustainable management strategies to control vector insects and reduce the spread of pathogens. However, studying the daily rhythm of insects often requires costly or labor-intensive trapping, and few tools are available to quantify daily rhythms in the field. We developed a simple collection system to study the flight activity of mosquitoes and biting midges using a contained, programmable, rotating, automatic pet feeder. A diverse assemblage of nuisance and vector species were collected with our system, including mosquitoes of the genera Aedes, Anopheles, Culex, and Deinocerites and biting midges (Ceratopogonidae) such as the coastal pest Culicoides furens. Surprisingly, mosquitoes and biting midges were less active during crepuscular periods (1800-2100h; 0600-0900h) than during dark periods (2100h-2400h; 0300h-0600h). A number of urban and agricultural pest insects were captured, including Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Isoptera and Lepidoptera. This study shows that relatively inexpensive products can be adapted to study the daily rhythms of flying vectors and nuisance arthropods, with implications for vector-borne disease transmission and control. The collection system could also be used with flight intercept or pitfall traps, permitting study of the circadian activity patterns of a diverse array of arthropods.
Topics: Animals; Mosquito Vectors; Aedes; Culex; Anopheles
PubMed: 37796732
DOI: 10.2987/23-7137 -
Annals of Botany Apr 2016Two indicators of a clade's success are its diversity (number of included species) and its disparity (extent of morphospace occupied by its members). Many large genera... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Two indicators of a clade's success are its diversity (number of included species) and its disparity (extent of morphospace occupied by its members). Many large genera show high diversity with low disparity, while others such as Euphorbia and Drosophila are highly diverse but also exhibit high disparity. The largest genera are often characterized by key innovations that often, but not necessarily, coincide with their diagnostic apomorphies. In terms of their contribution to speciation, apomorphies are either permissive (e.g. flightlessness) or generative (e.g. nectariferous spurs).
SCOPE
Except for Drosophila, virtually no genus among those with the highest diversity or disparity includes species currently studied as model species in developmental genetics or evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo). An evo-devo approach is, however, potentially important to understand how diversity and disparity could rapidly increase in the largest genera currently accepted by taxonomists. The most promising directions for future research and a set of key questions to be addressed are presented in this review.
CONCLUSIONS
From an evo-devo perspective, the evolution of clades with high diversity and/or disparity can be addressed from three main perspectives: (1) evolvability, in terms of release from previous constraints and of the presence of genetic or developmental conditions favouring multiple parallel occurrences of a given evolutionary transition and its reversal; (2) phenotypic plasticity as a facilitator of speciation; and (3) modularity, heterochrony and a coupling between the complexity of the life cycle and the evolution of diversity and disparity in a clade. This simple preliminary analysis suggests a set of topics that deserve priority for scrutiny, including the possible role of saltational evolution in the origination of high diversity and/or disparity, the predictability of morphological evolution following release from a former constraint, and the extent and the possible causes of a positive correlation between diversity and disparity and the complexity of the life cycle.
Topics: Adaptation, Biological; Animals; Arthropods; Biodiversity; Biological Evolution; Coleoptera; Developmental Biology; Drosophila; Euphorbiaceae; Phenotype; Phylogeny
PubMed: 26346718
DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcv134 -
Viruses Oct 2023The documentation of endogenous viral elements (EVEs; virus-derived genetic material integrated into the genome of a nonviral host) has offered insights into how...
The documentation of endogenous viral elements (EVEs; virus-derived genetic material integrated into the genome of a nonviral host) has offered insights into how arthropods respond to viral infection via RNA interference pathways. Small non-coding RNAs derived from EVE loci serve to direct RNAi pathways in limiting replication and infection from cognate viruses, thus benefiting the host's fitness and, potentially, vectorial capacity. Here we use informatic approaches to analyze nine available genome sequences of hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae; , , , , , , , , and ) to identify endogenous viral elements and to illustrate the shared ancestry of all elements identified. Our results highlight a broad diversity of viral taxa as having given rise to 1234 identified EVEs in ticks, with (specifically ) well-represented in this subset of hard ticks. Further investigation revealed extensive adintovirus integrations in several species, the prevalence of EVEs (notably not observed in mosquitoes), and the presence of several elements similar to known emerging human and veterinary pathogens. These results will inform subsequent work on current and past associations with tick species with regard to the viruses from which their "viral fossils" are derived and may serve as a reference for quality control of various tick-omics data that may suffer from misidentification of EVEs as viral genetic material.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Ixodidae; Arthropods; Ixodes; RNA Viruses; Viruses
PubMed: 38005880
DOI: 10.3390/v15112201 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Oct 2022Visual opsins of vertebrates and invertebrates diversified independently and converged to detect ultraviolet to long wavelengths (LW) of green or red light. In both... (Review)
Review
Visual opsins of vertebrates and invertebrates diversified independently and converged to detect ultraviolet to long wavelengths (LW) of green or red light. In both groups, colour vision largely derives from opsin number, expression patterns and changes in amino acids interacting with the chromophore. Functional insights regarding invertebrate opsin evolution have lagged behind those for vertebrates because of the disparity in genomic resources and the lack of robust systems to characterize spectral sensitivities. Here, we review bioinformatic approaches to identify and model functional variation in opsins as well as recently developed assays to measure spectral phenotypes. In particular, we discuss how transgenic lines, cAMP-spectroscopy and sensitive heterologous expression platforms are starting to decouple genotype-phenotype relationships of LW opsins to complement the classical physiological-behavioural-phylogenetic toolbox of invertebrate visual sensory studies. We illustrate the use of one heterologous method by characterizing novel LW Gq opsins from 10 species, including diurnal and nocturnal Lepidoptera, a terrestrial dragonfly and an aquatic crustacean, expressing them in HEK293T cells, and showing that their maximum absorbance spectra () range from 518 to 611 nm. We discuss the advantages of molecular approaches for arthropods with complications such as restricted availability, lateral filters, specialized photochemistry and/or electrophysiological constraints. This article is part of the theme issue 'Understanding colour vision: molecular, physiological, neuronal and behavioural studies in arthropods'.
Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Arthropods; Evolution, Molecular; HEK293 Cells; Humans; Invertebrates; Odonata; Opsins; Phylogeny; Vertebrates
PubMed: 36058235
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0279 -
International Journal of Molecular... Jan 2022Bacteria of the genus are maternally inherited symbionts of Nematoda and numerous Arthropoda hosts. There are approximately 20 lineages of , which are called...
Bacteria of the genus are maternally inherited symbionts of Nematoda and numerous Arthropoda hosts. There are approximately 20 lineages of , which are called supergroups, and they are designated alphabetically. strains of the supergroups A and B are predominant in arthropods, especially in insects, and supergroup F seems to rank third. Host taxa have been studied very unevenly for symbionts, and here, we turn to one of largely unexplored insect families: Acrididae. On the basis of five genes subject to multilocus sequence typing, we investigated the incidence and genetic diversity of in 41 species belonging three subfamilies (Gomphocerinae, Oedipodinae, and Podisminae) collected in Turkey, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Russia, and Japan, making 501 specimens in total. Our results revealed a high incidence and very narrow genetic diversity of . Although only the strains belonging to supergroups A and B are commonly present in present, the Acrididae hosts here proved to be infected with supergroups B and F without A-supergroup variants. The only trace of an A-supergroup lineage was noted in one case of an inter-supergroup recombinant haplotype, where the gene came from supergroup A, and the others from supergroup B. Variation in the haplotypes in Acrididae hosts within supergroups B and F was extremely low. A comprehensive genetic analysis of diversity confirmed specific features of the allelic set in Acrididae hosts. This result can help to elucidate the crucial issue of biology: the route(s) and mechanism(s) of horizontal transmission.
Topics: Animals; Gene Transfer, Horizontal; Genetic Variation; Grasshoppers; Insecta; Multilocus Sequence Typing; Phylogeny; Symbiosis; Wolbachia
PubMed: 35055035
DOI: 10.3390/ijms23020853 -
PloS One 2017Many studies on the microbiome of animals have been reported but a comprehensive analysis is lacking. Here we present a meta-analysis on the microbiomes of arthropods...
Many studies on the microbiome of animals have been reported but a comprehensive analysis is lacking. Here we present a meta-analysis on the microbiomes of arthropods and their terrestrial habitat, focusing on the functional profile of bacterial communities derived from metabolic traits that are essential for microbial life. We report a detailed analysis of probably the largest set of biochemically defined functional traits ever examined in microbiome studies. This work deals with the phylum proteobacteria, which is usually dominant in marine and terrestrial environments and covers all functions associated with microbiomes. The considerable variation in the distribution and abundance of proteobacteria in microbiomes has remained fundamentally unexplained. This analysis reveals discrete functional groups characteristic for adaptation to anaerobic conditions, which appear to be defined by environmental filtering of taxonomically related taxa. The biochemical diversification of the functional groups suggests an evolutionary trajectory in the structure of arthropods' microbiome, from metabolically versatile to specialized proteobacterial organisms that are adapted to complex environments such as the gut of social insects. Bacterial distribution in arthropods' microbiomes also shows taxonomic clusters that do not correspond to functional groups and may derive from other factors, including common contaminants of soil and reagents.
Topics: Animals; Arthropods; Microbiota
PubMed: 28475624
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176573 -
Current Opinion in Virology Apr 2017Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) require efficient replication in taxonomically divergent hosts in order to perpetuate in nature. This review discusses recent... (Review)
Review
Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) require efficient replication in taxonomically divergent hosts in order to perpetuate in nature. This review discusses recent advances in our understanding of the phylogenetic position of arthropod-borne viruses relative to insect-specific viruses, which appear to be more common and ecological requirements for successful adoption of the 'arbovirus phenotype.' Several molecular and other mechanisms that permit replication in divergent hosts are also discussed.
Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Animals; Arboviruses; Arthropods; Virus Replication
PubMed: 28577474
DOI: 10.1016/j.coviro.2017.05.002 -
Journal of Virology Feb 2022Bats are reservoirs of important zoonotic viruses like Nipah and SARS viruses. However, whether the blood-sucking arthropods on the body surface of bats also carry these...
Bats are reservoirs of important zoonotic viruses like Nipah and SARS viruses. However, whether the blood-sucking arthropods on the body surface of bats also carry these viruses and the relationship between viruses carried by the blood-sucking arthropods and viruses carried by bats have not been reported. This study collected 686 blood-sucking arthropods on the body surface of bats from Yunnan Province, China, between 2012 and 2015, and they included wingless bat flies, bat flies, ticks, mites, and fleas. The viruses carried by these arthropods were analyzed using a meta-transcriptomic approach, and 144 highly diverse positive-sense single-stranded RNA, negative-sense single-stranded RNA, and double-stranded RNA viruses were found, of which 138 were potentially new viruses. These viruses were classified into 14 different virus families or orders, including , , , and . Further analyses found that were the most abundant virus group (84% of total virus RNA) in ticks, whereas narnaviruses were the most abundant (52 to 92%) in the bat flies and wingless bat flies libraries, followed by solemoviruses (1 to 29%) and reoviruses (0 to 43%). These viruses were highly structured based on the arthropod types. It is worth noting that no bat-borne zoonotic viruses were found in the virome of bat-infesting arthropod, seemingly not supporting that bat surface arthropods are vectors of zoonotic viruses carried by bats. Bats are reservoirs of many important viral pathogens. To evaluate whether bat-parasitic blood-sucking arthropods participate in the circulation of these important viruses, it is necessary to conduct unbiased virome studies on these arthropods. We evaluated five types of blood-sucking parasitic arthropods on the surface of bats in Yunnan, China, and identified a variety of viruses, some of which had high prevalence and abundance levels, although there is limited overlap in virome between distant arthropods. While most of the virome discovered here is potentially arthropod-specific viruses, we identified three possible arboviruses, including one orthobunyavirus and two vesiculoviruses (family ), suggesting bat-parasitic arthropods carry viruses with risk of spillage, which warrants further study.
Topics: Animals; Arboviruses; Arthropods; China; Chiroptera; Disease Reservoirs; Ectoparasitic Infestations; Phylogeny; RNA Viruses; Virome
PubMed: 34586860
DOI: 10.1128/JVI.01464-21 -
Nature Oct 2023Trilobites are among the most iconic of fossils and formed a prominent component of marine ecosystems during most of their 270-million-year-long history from the early...
Trilobites are among the most iconic of fossils and formed a prominent component of marine ecosystems during most of their 270-million-year-long history from the early Cambrian period to the end Permian period. More than 20,000 species have been described to date, with presumed lifestyles ranging from infaunal burrowing to a planktonic life in the water column. Inferred trophic roles range from detritivores to predators, but all are based on indirect evidence such as body and gut morphology, modes of preservation and attributed feeding traces; no trilobite specimen with internal gut contents has been described. Here we present the complete and fully itemized gut contents of an Ordovician trilobite, Bohemolichas incola, preserved three-dimensionally in a siliceous nodule and visualized by synchrotron microtomography. The tightly packed, almost continuous gut fill comprises partly fragmented calcareous shells indicating high feeding intensity. The lack of dissolution of the shells implies a neutral or alkaline environment along the entire length of the intestine supporting digestive enzymes comparable to those in modern crustaceans or chelicerates. Scavengers burrowing into the trilobite carcase targeted soft tissues below the glabella but avoided the gut, suggesting noxious conditions and possibly ongoing enzymatic activity.
Topics: Animals; Arthropods; Biological Evolution; Crustacea; Fossils; Synchrotrons; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Intestines; Aquatic Organisms
PubMed: 37758946
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06567-7