Descripción: Fil:Depine, R.A. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina.

Descripción: Second chromosome inversion and genotypic frequencies at seven allozyme loci, differentially associated with inversions, were determined in seven natural populations of Drosophila buzzatii. The patterns of variation of allozymes and the inversion polymorphisms were significantly different, indicating the role of adaptive differentiation for the latter. Moreover, the patterns of population structure varied among allozyme loci, suggesting the operation of diversifying selection for certain loci. Differentiation was negligible for Leucyl-amino peptidase (Lap) and Peptidase-2 (Pep-2), low to moderate for Aldehyde oxidase (Aldox), Peptidase-1 (Pep-1) and Esterase-1 (Est-1) and high for Esterase-2 (Est-2) and Xanthine dehydrogenase (Xdh). Significant linkage disequilibria were detected between inversions and Aldox, Est-1, Est-2 and Xdh. Multiple regression analyses of inversion and allele frequencies on environmental variables revealed the existence of clines for inversions, Est-1, Est-2, Xdh and Aldox along altitudinal, latitudinal and/or climatic gradients. Tests using conditional allele frequencies showed that Est-1 and Aldox clines could be accounted for by hitchhiking with inversions, whereas natural selection should be invoked to explain the clines observed for Est-2 and Xdh.

Descripción: Grasshoppers have been much less studied than Drosophila when it comes to inversion polymorphisms, despite the occurrence of this rearrangement in several species of grasshoppers. In the present study, 354 males from a natural population of the New World species Trimerotropis pallidipennis, polymorphic for 6 pericentric inversions in 4 chromosome pairs, were sampled at the beginning and at the end of the adult life span. This sampling, along with the fact that generations in this grasshopper are annual and discrete, was done to detect differential adult male longevity among karyotypes and departures from formal null models, such as gametic phase equilibrium. These methods allow the detection of natural selection taking place in the wild. The comparison between age classes showed that some inversions were significantly more frequent in one sample, thus revealing the operation of natural selection. Gametic phase disequilibrium was detected in the sample of aged males but not in the sample of young ones. Furthermore, here we aim to detect the phenotypic targets of longevity selection by examining morphometric characters, in order to have a clearer idea of the relation between inversions and natural selection in this species. These results corroborate previous studies that suggested that the inversions are involved in natural selection, and an adaptive model has been proposed for the pattern of inversion frequencies throughout several populations at different altitudes and latitudes.

Descripción: The inversion polymorphisms of the cactophilic Drosophila buzzatti Patterson and Wheeler (Diptera: Drosophilidae) were studied in new areas of its distribution in Argentina. A total of thirty-eight natural populations, including 29 from previous studies, were analyzed using multiple regression analyses. The results showed that about 23% of total variation was accounted for by a multiple regression model in which only altitude contributed significantly to population variation, despite the fact that latitude and longitude were also included in the model. Also, inversion frequencies exhibited significant associations with mean annual temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric pressure. In addition, expected heterozygosity exhibited a negative association with temperature and precipitation and a positive association with atmospheric pressure. The close similarity of the patterns detected in this larger dataset to previous reports is an indication of the stability of the clines. Also, the concurrence of the clines detected in Argentina with those reported for colonizing populations of Australia suggests the involvement of natural selection as the main mechanism shaping inversion frequencies in D. buzzatii.

Descripción: Second chromosome inversions and genotypic frequencies at seven allozyme loci were determined in a natural population of the cactophilic species Drosophila buzzatii that uses as breeding sites the necrotic cladodes of the prickly pear Opuntia quimilo and the rotting stems of cardón, Trichocereus terschekii. Different processes govern the evolutionary fate of inversion and allozyme polymorphisms. A pattern of heterotic balance for inversions seems to be acting uniformly in each breeding site and could depend on different regimes of density-dependent selection within cactus hosts. Patterns of variation of allozymes revealed significant heterogeneity in allele frequencies for Esterase-1 (Est-1) among O. quimilo rots and Aldehyde oxidase (Aldox) and Xanthine dehydrogenase (Xdh) among T. terschekii substrates and showed gene-cactus effects only for Esterase-2 (Est-2). Consistent and significant excesses of homozygotes were detected at both the within-rot and in the total population levels that could be accounted for by diversifying selection among individual breeding sites.

Descripción: Dichroplus elongatus is a grasshopper, which exhibits parallel polymorphisms for B chromosomes and supernumerary segments in chromosomes S10 (SS10), S9 (SS9) and M6 (SS6) in natural populations of Argentina. The patterns of simultaneous variation of different forms of supernumerary heterochromatin from 7 populations of two biogeographic provinces located at Northwest and East regions of this country were analysed. Spatial chromosome differentiation for all heterochromatic variants was observed. Different degree of differentiation among populations for supernumerary segments, evaluated through F(ST), was observed. This suggests that genetic drift and migration may not be the only factors involved in the maintenance of the detected chromosome patterns. The differentiation for SS9 and SS10 may be explained mainly by heterogeneity within the Northwest Region. On the contrary, the differences for SS6 and B chromosomes explained through isolation by distance. However, the absence or the low frequency of both chromosome mutations in some populations may not be explained by historical factors. A principal component analysis showed that the patterns of chromosome variation do not agree with the geographical distribution of the populations. The relationship between frequencies of each supernumerary segment and B chromosome depends on the segment. An analysis of partial correlation showed that the frequencies of B chromosomes were positively correlated with the frequency of SS6 and negatively with the frequency of the SS10. In agreement with this, a multiple regression analysis of B chromosome frequency on supernumerary segment frequencies depends on the incidence of SS6 and SS10. The covariation of the heterochromatic forms may act as another factor that establish limits to stochastic factors, may also affect the probable negative selection on B, and could be involved in the non random pattern detected in D. elongatus.

Descripción: DNA size polymorphisms were utilized in a study of 24 natural populations of Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann (Diptera: Tephritidae) from Argentina. The first intron of alcohol dehydrogenase 1 gene (Adh1) was amplified using exon priming intron crossing-polymerase chain reaction. Three size variants were detected among the 307 samples analyzed. To better differentiate the size variants, further digestion of PCR products with the EcoRI restriction enzyme was carried out. Complete nucleotide sequences of the three-allele variants were obtained and single changes, insertions, deletions, and EcoRI recognition sites were located. Population allele frequencies were analyzed and a global mean heterozygosity (He) of 0.33 was obtained. In most populations, observed allelic frequencies conformed to Hardy-Weinberg expectations. Significant differences between provinces and sampling sites within these provinces, and among some populations were found. The average number of insects exchanged among populations (Nm) was estimated and high values were observed between Argentina and populations from two African countries (Morocco and Kenya), Australia, and Hawaii (Kauai). Pest introduction sources and dispersion patterns in Argentina are discussed based on these results as well as on available bibliographical data. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 The Netherlands Entomological Society.

Descripción: The inversion polymorphism of the cactophilic fly Drosophila buzzatii was studied in two natural populations. We assessed the temporal changes and microspatial population structure. We observed a significant increase in the frequency of arrangement 2J at the expense of 2ST in both populations. These gene arrangements appear to affect the life-history of flies differently. Environmental heterogeneity explains the karyotype coexistence in nature. The analysis of population structure showed that differentiation of inversion frequencies among individual breeding sites, the rotting clacodes of Opuntia vulgaris, was highly significant. The karyotypic frequencies did not depart significantly from Hardy-Weinberg expectations, neither in individual rots nor in the total population. These results suggest that the observed population structure can be easily accounted by random genetic drift.

Descripción: A computational scheme was developed for a fourth-rank hyprmagnetizability tensor denoted by Xαβγδ. It was shown that this instrinsic property of diamagnetic atoms and molecules was useful to rationalize their nonlinear response to intense magnetic field. The terms connected with the fourth power of the perturbing field which represent the fourth-rank hypermagnetizability of the H2, HF, H2O, NH3, and CH4 molecules were evaluated at the coupled Hartree-Fock level of accuracy. The Gaugeless basis sets of increasing size and flexibility that adopted two different coordinate systems to estimate the degree of convergence of theoretical tensor components was employed.

Descripción: Previous works in a colonized and an original population of Drosophila buzzatii have shown a consistent relationship between the inversion polymorphism and thorax length, a measure of body size. However, the populations studied in those reports share a close genealogical relationship as suggested by several lines of evidence. In the present paper, we revisit this issue by analysing the correlation between second chromosome arrangements and thorax length in two Argentinian natural populations (Termas de Rio Hondo and Arroyo Escobar) from different biogeographic areas with different host plants. Our findings are: (1) inversion frequencies were significantly different between populations; (2) the mean thorax length of flies collected in both populations was not significantly different; and (3) we obtain confirming evidence that flies carrying 2st, the ancestral gene order, have on average a smaller body size than those carrying the derived arrangements (2j and 2jz3). These results suggest that the biometrical effect of inversions on body size previously described are due to genetic differences between arrangements and not to the close historical relationship between the populations studied in previous reports.

Descripción: Trimerotropis pallidipennis is an American grasshopper whose South American populations are polymorphic for pericentric inversions. Colonization of southern latitudes was by North American grasshoppers with basic chromosome arrangements, presumably along the Andean dry lands of South America. In Argentina, the frequencies of some of the rearrangements are correlated with geographical and climatic variables, following similar patterns among different ecological gradients, and are probably maintained by geographically variable coefficients of selection. Restriction site variation of mitochondrial DNA is used as a tool for determining the species history in relation to the formation of clines. Populations located along an altitudinal gradient, and others outside the cline, are analysed through phylogeographical studies. There is no strong geographical orientation in the unrooted tree connecting all 17 mitochondrial DNA haplotypes found. Many of them are present in most of the populations analysed, indicating high gene flow. The fact that there is no obvious differentiation in haplotype distribution between both extremes of the cline nor between chromosomally differentiated populations shows that the cline is not the result of a hybrid zone and reinforces the selection hypothesis. The estimation of the overall nucleotide divergence between the hypothetical ancestral haplotype and the other molecules shows that T. pallidipennis haplotypes started diverging from each other about 3 Myr ago. This result is in agreement with the time when the Isthmus of Panama rose (2-3 Myr ago), probably favouring the migration of many species between both hemispheres.

Descripción: The characteristic geometry of a pulsed capillary discharge (PCD), a narrow open end tube with a large aspect ratio, establishes natural conditions for the generation of plasma jets, that propagate in the neutral background gas surrounding the capillary. We have investigated the plasma jet emission in a PCD, with electron beam assisted on-axis initiation. A local storage capacitor, coaxial with the capillary assembly, is pulse charged up to a maximum of -11 kV, which results in an initial ∼ 10 ns, ∼ 2 kA current pulse. The discharge is operated in Argon and Nitrogen, in a continuous pulsing mode, at frequencies between 5 to 20 Hz, and in a pressure range between 300 to 1100 Torr. A fast Langmuir probe, placed at the anode side, close to the capillary exit, is used to measure the characteristic electron temperature (Te) and electron density (Ne) of the plasma jets. Results obtained in Nitrogen at 10 Hz indicate that Te is in the 10 to 60 eV range with Ne of the order of 1014 (cm-3). Significant changes in the probe floating potential are observed for a fixed operating pressure when the pulsing frequency is varied, which can be ascribed to the presence of metastables in the gas fed into the capillary, which result from the interaction of the plasma jet with the plenum gas, at the cathode side. The presence of metastables reduces the energy cost involved in the capillary plasma production, which results in a pulsing frequency dependence of the plasma parameters. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Descripción: The section Algarobia of genus Prosopis involves important natural resources in arid and semiarid regions of the world. Their rationale use requires a better knowledge of their biology, genetics and mating system. There are contradictory information about their mating system. Some authors claim they are protogynous and obligate outcrosser. However, some evidence have been shown indicating that they might not be protogynous and that they might be somewhat self-fertile. The current paper analyses genetic structure and mating system parameters in populations of seven species of this section from South and North America based on isozyme data. In all species a significant homozygote excess was found in the offspring population but not in mother plant genotypes. Multilocus and mean single locus outcrossing rates (tm, ts) indicated that about 15 % selfing can occur in the studied populations. The heterogeneity between pollen and ovule allele frequencies was low suggesting population structuration, in agreement with the estimates of correlation of tm within progeny (rt) and correlation of outcrossed paternity (rp). The difference of F(IS) estimates between offspring and mother plants suggest some selection favouring heterozygotes between seedling and adult stages.