0000000000424683
AUTHOR
M. ÁNgeles Zuriaga
Nuclear rDNA pseudogenes in Chagas disease vectors: Evolutionary implications of a new 5.8S+ITS-2 paralogous sequence marker in triatomines of North, Central and northern South America
A pseudogene, paralogous to rDNA 5.8S and ITS-2, is described in Meccus dimidiata dimidiata, M. d. capitata, M. d. maculippenis, M. d. hegneri, M. sp. aff. dimidiata, M. p. phyllosoma, M. p. longipennis, M. p. pallidipennis, M. p. picturata, M. p. mazzottii, Triatoma mexicana, Triatoma nitida and Triatoma sanguisuga, covering North America, Central America and northern South America. Such a nuclear rDNA pseudogene is very rare. In the 5.8S gene, criteria for pseudogene identification included length variability, lower GC content, mutations regarding the functional uniform sequence, and relatively high base substitutions in evolutionary conserved sites. At ITS-2 level, criteria were the shor…
Under pressure: phenotypic divergence and convergence associated with microhabitat adaptations in Triatominae
AbstractBackgroundTriatomine bugs, the vectors of Chagas disease, associate with vertebrate hosts in highly diverse ecotopes. When these blood-sucking bugs adapt to new microhabitats, their phenotypes may change. Although understanding phenotypic variation is key to the study of adaptive evolution and central to phenotype-based taxonomy, the drivers of phenotypic change and diversity in triatomines remain poorly understood.Methods/FindingsWe combined a detailed phenotypic appraisal (including morphology and morphometrics) with mitochondrialcytband nuclear ITS2 DNA-sequence analyses to studyRhodnius ecuadoriensispopulations from across the species’ range. We found three major, naked-eye phen…
Additional file 3 of Under pressure: phenotypic divergence and convergence associated with microhabitat adaptations in Triatominae
Additional file 3: Text S1. Detailed descriptions of the diverse Rhodnius ecuadoriensis phenotypes.
Correction to: Under pressure: phenotypic divergence and convergence associated with microhabitat adaptations in Triatominae.
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.
Additional file 4 of Under pressure: phenotypic divergence and convergence associated with microhabitat adaptations in Triatominae
Additional file 4: Figure S1. Phenotype–microhabitat–phylogeny correspondences. Multispecies coalescent species tree (as in Fig. 9 of the main text), with pictures (approximately to the same scale) of adult Rhodnius ecuadoriensis and its closest relatives—R. colombiensis, R. pallescens and R. pictipes. The distribution of phenotypes along the phylogeny suggests that the common ancestor of the diverse R. ecuadoriensis forms was most likely a relatively large, straw-like-colored bug. Similarly, the distribution of primary microhabitats suggests that a shift of southern-Andean populations from palm crowns (green stars) to vertebrate nests (orange circles) resulted in convergence towards the sm…
Additional file 7 of Under pressure: phenotypic divergence and convergence associated with microhabitat adaptations in Triatominae
Additional file 7: Alignment S3. Nuclear ITS2 haplotypes in Rhodnius ecuadoriensis from Ecuador and Peru, plus outgroup species (R. colombiensis, R. pallescens and R. pictipes).
Additional file 1 of Under pressure: phenotypic divergence and convergence associated with microhabitat adaptations in Triatominae
Additional file 1: Table S1. Populations, specimen details and haplotype codes of 106 Rhodnius ecuadoriensis bugs used in morphometric and/or molecular analyses. A summary table with the numbers of bugs used in each analysis is also provided.
Additional file 6 of Under pressure: phenotypic divergence and convergence associated with microhabitat adaptations in Triatominae
Additional file 6: Alignment S2. Fourteen nuclear ITS2 haplotypes found in Rhodnius ecuadoriensis from Ecuador and Peru.
Additional file 2 of Under pressure: phenotypic divergence and convergence associated with microhabitat adaptations in Triatominae
Additional file 2: Alignment S1. Mitochondrial cytochrome b haplotypes in Rhodnius ecuadoriensis from Ecuador and Peru, plus outgroup species (R. colombiensis, R. pallescens, R. pictipes).
Additional file 5 of Under pressure: phenotypic divergence and convergence associated with microhabitat adaptations in Triatominae
Additional file 5: Figure S2. Centroid-size comparisons. Population boxplots and Tukey-Kramer (T-K) tests for head and forewing centroid sizes derived from geometric morphometrics.