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Many insects rely on bacterial endosymbionts to obtain nutrients that are scarce in their highly specialized diets. The most surprising example corresponds to the endosymbiotic system found in mealybugs from subfamily Pseudococcinae in which two bacteria, the betaproteobacterium 'Candidatus Tremblaya princeps' and a gammaproteobacterium, maintain a nested endosymbiotic consortium. In the sister subfamily Phenacoccinae, however, a single beta-endosymbiont, 'Candidatus Tremblaya phenacola', has been described. In a previous study, we detected a trpB gene of gammaproteobacterial origin in 'Ca. Tremblaya phenacola' from two Phenacoccus species, apparently indicating an unusual case of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in a bacterial endosymbiont. What we found by sequencing the genome of 'Ca. Tremblaya phenacola' PPER, single endosymbiont of Phenacoccus peruvianus, goes beyond a HGT phenomenon. It rather represents a genome fusion between a beta and a gammaproteobacterium, followed by massive rearrangements and loss of redundant genes, leading to an unprecedented evolutionary collage. Mediated by the presence of several repeated sequences, there are many possible genome arrangements, and different subgenomic sequences might coexist within the same population.

Many insect species establish mutualistic symbiosis with intracellular bacteria that complement their unbalanced diets. The betaproteobacterium "Candidatus Tremblaya" maintains an ancient symbiosis with mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), which are classified in subfamilies Phenacoccinae and Pseudococcinae. Most Phenacoccinae mealybugs have "Candidatus Tremblaya phenacola" as their unique endosymbiont, while most Pseudococcinae mealybugs show a nested symbiosis (a bacterial symbiont placed inside another one) where every "Candidatus Tremblaya princeps" cell harbors several cells of a gammaproteobacterium. Genomic characterization of the endosymbiotic consortium from Planococcus citri, composed by "Ca. Tremblaya princeps" and "Candidatus Moranella endobia," unveiled several atypical features of the former's genome, including the concerted evolution of paralogous loci. Its comparison with the genome of "Ca. Tremblaya phenacola" PAVE, single endosymbiont of Phenacoccus avenae, suggests that the atypical reductive evolution of "Ca. Tremblaya princeps" could be linked to the acquisition of "Ca. Moranella endobia," which possess an almost complete set of genes encoding proteins involved in homologous recombination. In order to test this hypothesis, we performed comparative genomics between "Ca. Tremblaya phenacola" and "Ca. Tremblaya princeps" and searched for the co-occurrence of concerted evolution and homologous recombination genes in endosymbiotic consortia from four unexplored mealybug species, Dysmicoccus boninsis, Planococcus ficus, Pseudococcus longispinus, and Pseudococcus vibumi. Our results support a link between concerted evolution and nested endosymbiosis.

Intracellular bacterial supply of essential amino acids is common among sap-feeding insects, thus complementing the scarcity of nitrogenous compounds in plant phloem. This is also the role of the two mealybug endosymbiotic systems whose genomes have been sequenced. In the nested endosymbiotic system from Planococcus citri (Pseudococcinae), "Candidatus Tremblaya princeps" and "Candidatus Moranella endobia" cooperate to synthesize essential amino acids, while in Phenacoccus avenae (Phenacoccinae) this function is performed by its single endosymbiont "Candidatus Tremblaya phenacola." However, little is known regarding the evolution of essential amino acid supplementation strategies in other mealybug systems. To address this knowledge gap, we screened for the presence of six selected loci involved in essential amino acid biosynthesis in five additional mealybug species. We found evidence of ongoing complementarity among endosymbionts from insects of subfamily Pseudococcinae, as well as horizontal gene transfer affecting endosymbionts from insects of family Phenacoccinae, providing a more comprehensive picture of the evolutionary history of these endosymbiotic systems. Additionally, we report two diagnostic motifs to help identify invasive mealybug species.

Among diversity of frameworks and constructions introduced in Loewner Theory by different authors, one can distinguish two closely related but still different ways of reasoning, which colloquially may be described as "increasing" and "decreasing". In this paper we review in short the main types of (deterministic) Loewner evolution discussed in the literature and describe in detail the local duality between "increasing" and "decreasing" cases within the general unifying approach in Loewner Theory proposed recently in [Bracci et al. to appear in J Reine Angew Math; arXiv:0807.1594v1], [Bracci et al. in Math Ann 344:947-962, 2009; arXiv:0807.1715v1], [Contreras et al. in Revista Matem\'atica Iberoamericana 26:975-1012, 2010; arXiv:0902.3116v1]. In particular, we extend several results of R.O.Bauer [in J Math Anal Appl 302:484-501, 2005; arXiv:math/0306130v1], which deal with the chordal Loewner evolution, to this general setting. Although the duality is given by a simple change of the parameter, not all the results for the "decreasing" case can be obtained by mere translating the corresponding results for the "increasing" case. In particular, as a byproduct of establishing local duality between evolution families and their "decreasing" counterparts we obtain a new characterization of generalized Loewner chains.

Background: In all branches of life there are plenty of symbiotic associations. Insects are particularly well suited to establishing intracellular symbiosis with bacteria, providing them with metabolic capabilities they lack. Essential primary endosymbionts can coexist with facultative secondary symbionts which can, eventually, establish metabolic complementation with the primary endosymbiont, becoming a co-primary. Usually, both endosymbionts maintain their cellular identity. An exception is the endosymbiosis found in mealybugs of the subfamily Pseudoccinae, such as Planococcus citri, with Moranella endobia located inside Tremblaya princeps. Results: We report the genome sequencing of M. endobia str. PCVAL and the comparative genomic analyses of the genomes of strains PCVAL and PCIT of both consortium partners. A comprehensive analysis of their functional capabilities and interactions reveals their functional coupling, with many cases of metabolic and informational complementation. Using comparative genomics, we confirm that both genomes have undergone a reductive evolution, although with some unusual genomic features as a consequence of coevolving in an exceptional compartmentalized organization. Conclusions: M. endobia seems to be responsible for the biosynthesis of most cellular components and energy provision, and controls most informational processes for the consortium, while T. princeps appears to be a mere factory for amino acid synthesis, and translating proteins, using the precursors provided by M. endobia. In this scenario, we propose that both entities should be considered part of a composite organism whose compartmentalized scheme (somehow) resembles a eukaryotic cell.

Many insects maintain intracellular mutualistic symbiosis with a wide range of bacteria which are considered essential for their survival (primary or P-endosymbiont) and typically suffer drastic genome degradation. Progressive loss of P-endosymbiont metabolic capabilities could lead to the recruitment of co-existent facultative endosymbiont (secondary or S-endosymbiont), thus adding more complexity to the symbiotic system. Planococcus citri, among other mealybug species, harbors an unconventional nested endosymbiotic system where every Tremblaya princeps cell (beta-proteobacterium) harbors many Moranella endobia cells (gamma-proteobacterium). In this system, T. princeps possess one of the smallest prokaryote genome known so far. This extreme genome reduction suggests the supply of many metabolites and essential gene products by M. endobia. Although sporadic cell lysis is plausible, the bacterial participation on the regulation of the predicted molecular exchange (at least to some extent) cannot be excluded. Although the comprehensive analysis of the protein translocation ability of M. endobia PCVAL rules out the existence of specific mechanisms for the exportation of proteins from M. endobia to T. princeps, immunolocation of two M. endobia proteins points towards a non-massive but controlled protein provision. We propose a sporadic pattern for the predicted protein exportation events, which could be putatively controlled by the host and/or mediated by local osmotic stress.

"En el refinamiento de las gasolinas, usualmente se agregaban aditivos de plomo para alcanzar los niveles de octanos necesarios para su proceso; sin embargo, se ha comprobado que este metal es peligroso para la salud. Actualmente, el plomo se ha sustituido por un nuevo producto, el metil-terbutil éter (MTBE) el cual, al sufrir una descomposición térmica produce CO y otros vapores igualmente tóxicos. La exposición ocupacional a los vapores del MTBE y tetraetilo de plomo ocurre principalmente en la manufacturación y distribución de la gasolina, lo que significa un problema grave de salud, por lo tanto conocer los efectos citotóxicos de estos compuestos permitirá ampliar los conocimientos en el campo de la patología toxicológica. El objetivo del presente estudio fue determinar sí la exposición conjunta a ambos compuestos originan alteraciones histológicas en un modelo biológico experimental. Para el estudio se utilizaron ratas Sprague-Dawley con un peso promedio de 325g, distribuidas en 2 grupos, cada uno formado por 7 animales. El primero de ellos se intoxicó con vapores del MTBE (3500ppm) durante 30 minutos diarios por un mes. Al mismo tiempo se le administró por via intraperitoneal 20mg/kg de acetato de plomo. El segundo lote se utilizó como testigo y por lo tanto no recibió la administración anterior. Cortes histológicos del hígado de todos los animales se tiñeron con las técnicas de hematoxilina-eosina, ácido peryódico de Schiff y con el método tricrómico de Mallory. Los resultados revelaron alteraciones en la estructura histológica del hígado en las ratas expuestas, en comparación con el grupo testigo. El efecto de los agentes se manifestó principalmente como necrosis hepatocelular de tipo coagulativo (85.7% de los casos) una frecuencia mayor de inflamación crónica (85.7%) así como con una moderada presencia de esteatosis (42.8%) y de edema (14.2%). Los resultados sugieren que la administración de los xenobióticos por un período más largo, particularmente por la acción del MTBE, podría desencadenar procesos patológicos irreversibles."

In this paper we prove a formula describing the infinitesimal generator of a continuous semigroup $(\v_t)$ of holomorphic self-maps of the unit disc with respect to a boundary regular fixed point. The result is based on Alexandrov-Clark measures techniques. In particular we prove that the Alexandrov-Clark measure of $(\v_t)$ at a boundary regular fixed points is differentiable (in the weak$^\ast$-topology) with respect to $t$., 10 pages