We present a primary transit observation for the ultra-hot (T-eq similar to 2400 K) gas giant expolanet WASP-121b, made using the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 in spectroscopic mode across the 1.12-1.64 mu m wavelength range. The 1.4 mu m water absorption band is detected at high confidence (5.4 sigma) in the planetary atmosphere. We also reanalyze ground-based photometric light curves taken in the B, r', and z' filters. Significantly deeper transits are measured in these optical bandpasses relative to the near-infrared wavelengths. We conclude that scattering by high-altitude haze alone is unlikely to account for this difference and instead interpret it as evidence for titanium oxide and vanadium oxide absorption. Enhanced opacity is also inferred across the 1.12-1.3 mu m wavelength range, possibly due to iron hydride absorption. If confirmed, WASP-121b will be the first exoplanet with titanium oxide, vanadium oxide, and iron hydride detected in transmission. The latter are important species in M/L dwarfs and their presence is likely to have a significant effect on the overall physics and chemistry of the atmosphere, including the production of a strong thermal inversion.

Endosymbiosis is a pervasive phenomenon that has been a powerful force in insect evolution. In many well studied insect-bacterial associations, the bacteria can serve as reproductive manipulators, nutritional mutualists or defenders of their hosts. Fungi are also frequently associated with insects, and initial estimates suggest that these fungi are hyperdiverse. Saving a handful of examples, however, the functions of these fungi within insect hosts are largely unknown. This dissertation begins with a review that lays the conceptual groundwork for understanding bacterial and fungal endosymbiosis in insects. I make predictions about why one versus the other microbe might serve the insect, given any unique physiological, ecological or evolutionary conditions. I then aim to derive insights about microbial symbiosis by focusing on a particular system, that of brownbanded cockroaches, Supella longipalpa (Blattaria: Blattellidae) and their specialist wasp parasitoids, Comperia merceti (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). Here, I identify the symbiotic community of these two insects by using both culture-dependent and independent methods to characterize the vertically transmitted bacterial and fungal associates. Finally, I show that a heritable fungus in C. merceti, long presumed to be a mutualist, is parasitic under laboratory conditions: infected wasps incur fitness costs for housing the fungal symbiont relative to uninfected wasps. Additionally, although the fungus is not horizontally transmitted sexually, it is readily horizontally transmitted from the offspring of infected females to those of uninfected females that are using the same host.

No description available.

No description available.

We analyze full-orbit phase curve observations of the transiting hot Jupiters WASP-19b and HAT-P-7b at 3.6 and 4.5 mu m, obtained using the Spitzer Space Telescope. For WASP-19b, we measure secondary eclipse depths of 0.485% +/- 0.024% and 0.584% +/- 0.029% at 3.6 and 4.5 mu m, which are consistent with a single blackbody with effective temperature 2372 +/- 60 K. The measured 3.6 and 4.5 mu m secondary eclipse depths for HAT-P-7b are 0.156% +/- 0.009% and 0.190% +/- 0.006%, which are well described by a single blackbody with effective temperature 2667 +/- 57 K. Comparing the phase curves to the predictions of one-dimensional and three-dimensional atmospheric models, we find that WASP-19b's dayside emission is consistent with a model atmosphere with no dayside thermal inversion and moderately efficient day-night circulation. We also detect an eastward-shifted hotspot, which suggests the presence of a superrotating equatorial jet. In contrast, HAT-P-7b's dayside emission suggests a dayside thermal inversion and relatively inefficient day-night circulation; no hotspot shift is detected. For both planets, these same models do not agree with the measured nightside emission. The discrepancies in the model-data comparisons for WASP-19b might be explained by high-altitude silicate clouds on the nightside and/or high atmospheric metallicity, while the very low 3.6 mu m nightside planetary brightness for HAT-P-7b may be indicative of an enhanced global C/O ratio. We compute Bond albedos of 0.38 +/- 0.06 and 0 (<0.08 at 1 sigma) for WASP-19b and HAT-P-7b, respectively. In the context of other planets with thermal phase curve measurements, we show that WASP-19b and HAT-P-7b fit the general trend of decreasing day-night heat recirculation with increasing irradiation.

We present the. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) optical transmission spectroscopy of the cool Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-39b from 0.29-1.025 mu m, along with complementary transit observations from Spitzer IRAC at 3.6 and 4.5 mu m. The low density and large atmospheric pressure scale height of WASP-39b make it particularly amenable to atmospheric characterization using this technique. We detect a Rayleigh scattering slope as well as sodium and potassium absorption features; this is the first exoplanet in which both alkali features are clearly detected with the extended wings predicted by cloud-free atmosphere models. The full transmission spectrum is well matched by a clear H-2-dominated atmosphere, or one containing a weak contribution from haze, in good agreement with the preliminary reduction of these data presented in Sing et al.. WASP-39b is predicted to have a pressure-temperature profile comparable to that of HD 189733b and WASP-6b, making it one of the coolest transiting gas giants observed in our HST STIS survey. Despite this similarity, WASP-39b appears to be largely cloud-free, while the transmission spectra of HD 189733b and WASP-6b both indicate the presence of high altitude clouds or hazes. These observations further emphasize the surprising diversity of cloudy and cloud-free gas giant planets in short-period orbits and the corresponding challenges associated with developing predictive cloud models for these atmospheres.

Podium denticulatum é uma espécie de vespa solitária que pertence ao gênero Podium, família Sphecidae, sendo encontrada desde o México o Brasil. As fêmeas desse gênero são caçadoras, capturam e aprovisionam o ninho com baratas paralisadas. As espécies de Podium nidificam em cavidades preexistentes, como ninhos abandonados de outras espécies de vespas, cavidades em troncos e em ninhos-armadilha (NA). O principal objetivo do presente trabalho foi estudar os aspectos comportamentais das atividades realizadas pelas fêmeas de P.denticulatum no processo de nidificação, e a obtenção de dados do tempo de desenvolvimento, número de gerações por ano e novas informações sobre a biologia e fenologia da espécie, permitindo uma análise comparativa com aquelas reportadas por outros autores. O estudo foi realizado no Campus da USP de Ribeirão Preto, SP, onde o clima é tropical quente e úmido. Foram utilizados NA que consistiram de gomos de bambus, fechados em uma das extremidades pelo nó, com comprimentos e diâmetros variados. Esses NA foram inspecionados, frequentemente, de setembro de 2003 a setembro de 2005, para constatação de fêmeas trabalhando e coleta de dados. Com isso, pôde-se constatar que as fêmeas exibem comportamento de inspeção e escolha dos NA antes de começar a captura de presas, as quais são representantes da família Blattellidae. Os ovos são colocados entre o primeiro par de pernas da presa e o desenvolvimento total, ou seja, do ovo até o adulto, foi maior nas fêmeas que nos machos. Uma característica importante observada neste estudo é que as fêmeas fecham a célula ao final do dia caso não tenham completado o aprovisionamento, retornado no dia seguinte. Esse comportamento pode ser interpretado como uma forma de proteção ao alimento larval ou ovo. O material utilizado para fechar as células e o ninho consiste de barro coletado no campo. A parede de fechamento pode ser revestida com uma resina de origem desconhecida. A fêmea pode terminar o aprovisionamento de uma célula em até cinco dias; na conclusão do ninho, ela pode demorar até nove dias, e esse tempo está relacionado à fatores externos. Foram observadas 6 gerações e um período de diapausa e a razão sexual não diferiu significantemente da proporção de 1:1. As fêmeas foram produzidas preferencialmente nas primeiras células de cria, que são dispostas em série linear. Cada ninho continha de 1 a 6 células de cria e, em 43,8% dos ninhos a fêmea construiu uma célula vestibular. Foram encontradas ainda ninhos com célula intercalar e célula vazia de fundo. As paredes de fechamento do ninho foram significantemente mais espessas do que as partições celulares. Os casulos eram de coloração castanho-médio, fusiformes, flexíveis, lisos e mais ou menos brilhantes. Foram encontrados parasitóides da família Chrysididae e Eulophidae (Hymenoptera) e Tachinidae (Díptera) atacando ninhos de P. denticulatum. As atividades de nidificação das fêmeas só foram observadas no período quente e chuvoso. / Podium denticulatum it is a solitary wasp specie which belongs to the Podium class, Sphecidae, found from Mexico to Brazil. The females from this class are hunters, they catch and provide the nest with paralyzed cockroaches that are feed for their lavas. Podium species nesting in preexisting cavities, such as abandoned nests from other species, stem cavities and in nest traps. The major objective in this work it was to study the behavior aspects in detail from the P. denticulatum females, during the nesting process, besides the developing time, generation numbers by year and new information from the biology and phenology from the specie, allowing a comparative analysis from other authors. The study was done at the University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto Campus, where the weather is tropical, hot and humid showing two seasons will defined. Using trap-nests that were bamboo, tied in one end with a diversity of length and diameters. These trap-nests were inspected frequently, from September 2003 to September 2005, to assure that the females were working and to collect data. With this it was observed that the females show an inspection behavior to choose the nest-traps before the prey capture which are from the Blattellidae family. The eggs are placed between the first pair of legs from the prey and the whole development, from egg to adult, it was bigger among the females than the males. An important characteristic observed in this study is that the females close the cell at the end of the day if they didn?t complete the provision, returning next day. This behavior can be understood as a way to protect the lava feed or the egg. The material used to close the nest is mud collected in the country, which is casted by the female. The closing wall can be coated with a unknown resin. The female can finish the provision from one cell in a day or take up to five days, at the nest conclusion it can take up to nine days, and this time is related to outside factors. It was observed six generations and a period of day pause to the studied specie. The sexual cause wasn?t significantly different from the 1:1 proportion and the females were produced on the first brood cell. The cells are placed on a lineal series and the length and diameter in the trap-nests were diversified. Each nest had from one to six brood cell and in 43,8% of the nests the female built a vestibular cell. It was found nests with intercalary cells and empty space. The nest closing walls were significantly thicker than the cell division, fusiforme, flexible, plain and more less shiny. It was found parasitoids from the Chrysididae and Eulophidae (Hymenoptera) and Tachinidae (Diptera) attacking P. denticulatum nests. The nesting activities from the females were only observed at the hot and rainy days.

As sociedades de vespas da tribo Epiponini caracterizam-se pela variação no número de rainhas durante o ciclo colonial, o que implica na ocorrência cíclica de muitas rainhas (poliginia), poucas (oligoginia) e até uma rainha (monoginia). Durante as primeiras fases do ciclo colonial existe um número maior de rainhas, mas conforme a colônia cresce, o número de rainhas diminui. Os Epiponini também são caracterizados pela complexidade morfológica e as síndromes de diferenciação de castas. Entretanto, para algumas espécies dentro dos Polistinae, a única forma de separar as fêmeas reprodutoras das não reprodutoras é pelo comportamento ou pelo grau de desenvolvimento dos ovários. O estudo do comportamento e as interações sociais junto com os estudos morfométricos podem ajudar no entendimento da evolução da complexidade encontrada dentro dos Epiponini. Por isso o objetivo deste trabalho é descrever o comportamento das rainhas e operárias em Metapolybia docilis, e suas interações. Foram realizadas observações individuais do comportamento das rainhas e operárias previamente marcadas de quatro colônias de M. docilis. Foi feito um catálogo dos atos comportamentais observados com maior frequência. Para as rainhas os comportamentos incluíam tanto displays como comportamentos relacionados às necessidades básicas como alimentação e higiene, nas operárias os comportamentos incluíam principalmente trabalhos de manutenção do ninho e policiamento. Para realizar as análises morfométricas todos os indivíduos das colônias C1, C2 e C3 foram coletados, foi determinada a idade dos indivíduos da colônia e oito medidas corporais externas foram tomadas de uma amostra de 50 operárias e de todas as rainhas das colônias. A colônia C1 estava em Fase Matura, a colônia C2 em Fase de Pré- Enxameagem, as colônias C3 e C4 em Fase de Estabelecimento. Os comportamentos realizados com maior frequência pelas rainhas das quatro colônias foram: curvar o abdômen (CA), dança de display (DD), inspeção de célula (IC), trofalaxia (Tx) e auto-limpeza (Limp). Os comportamentos realizados com maior frequência pelas operárias foram IC e Tx. O comportamento CA provavelmente é um comportamento display de dominância feito pelas rainhas e o comportamento DD provavelmente está ligado a interações competitivas ou de dominância entre as fêmeas das colônias. Não foi encontrada diferenciação morfológica significativa entre rainhas e operárias de M. docilis para as colônias C2 e C3, mas sim para a colônia C1. Dentro das colônias estudadas o controle na reprodução das fêmeas é feito mediante o comportamento e não por manipulação larval. As operárias e as rainhas testam a capacidade reprodutiva das outras rainhas mediante displays de dominância não agressivos para decidir que fêmeas continuaram encarregando-se de produzir novos indivíduos. As operárias possivelmente controlam a reprodução (mediante o policiamento de ovos), seleção das rainhas, e todos os outros aspectos dentro da colônia explorando o ambiente e as necessidades do ninho. / Epiponini wasps societies are characterized by the alternation in the number of queens from many (polygyny) to few queens (olygyny) or even one (monogyny) during the colony cycle. When the colony is in the growing phase there are many queens, but as colony grows queen number decreases and new queens will be produced only when queen number is close to one (monygyny). Epiponines wasps are also characterized by the complexity of the morphological caste syndromes. However, in some Epiponini species the only way to separate reproductives from not reproductives is by behavioral acts or by the degree of ovarian development. The study of behavior and social interactions, associated with morphometric studies, could help to better understand the evolution and complexity found within the Epiponini. We studied and described behavioral acts and interactions between queens and workers in Metapolybia docilis. We performed direct and indirect (video) observations of individual behavior of previously marked queens and workers from four M. docilis colonies. We catalogued the most frequently observed behavioral acts: for queens these behaviors included displays and basic need behaviors such as feeding and hygiene; for workers they included nest maintenance and policing behaviors. All the individuals from colonies C1, C2 and C3 were collected to perform a morphometric analysis and age determination by taking eight external body measurements from a 50 workers sample and from all the queens of the colonies. Colony C1 was in an Emergence phase, colony C2 in a pre-swarming phase, colonies C3 and C4 in a pre-emergence phase. Most frequently behaviors made by queens were bending abdomen (BA), dance display (DD), cell inspection (CI), trofalaxis (Tx) and grooming (G). Most frequently behaviors made by workers were IC and Tx. Bending abdomen (BA) is probably a dominance display made by queens, and dance display (DD) was probably a test behavior made by workers and queens to test another queens. For colonies C2 and C3 there is no morphological differences between queens and workers, but there is a slight difference for colony C1. Within the colonies, the reproduction control is performed by behavior and not by larval manipulation because we did not found morphological differences between castes. Workers and queens tested the reproductive capacity of the queens by non aggressive dominance displays in order to select which females perform the reproduction work in the colony. Workers probably control the reproduction (by worker policing on the eggs laid), queen selection and all the others tasks on the colony by scanning the environment and the needs of the colony.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:30:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-02-25Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:41:08Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 baptistasaidemberg_nb_dr_rcla.pdf: 2299823 bytes, checksum: f0d4fcfb7ac2f2634065f5dff821690c (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Os peptídeos possuem um papel essencial para as funções fisiológicas de animais, plantas e de alguns microrganismos, e frequêntemente apresentam-se como candidatos a novas drogas na sua forma natural, servindo como modelos para o “desenho” de peptídeos modificados, para uma obtenção de perfis farmacológicos melhores. Neste contexto, os venenos das vespas sociais são interessantes sob o ponto de vista da pesquisa, uma vez que são ricos em peptídeos policatiônicos envolvidos com processos inflamatórios (lise de membranas, Desgranulação de mastócitos, quimiotaxia, entre outros processos), além de efeitos antibióticos contra bactérias Gram-positivas e Gram-negativas. Com base nisso, o objetivo deste trabalho foi realizar uma bioprospecção dos diferentes componentes peptídicos presentes nos venenos das vespas sociais Agelaia pallipes pallipes e Agelaia vicina, através da identificação e da caracterização estrutural e funcional dos componentes peptídicos mais abundantes destes venenos. Para isso, os venenos das vespas supracitadas foram extraidos em acetonitrila, fracionados por cromatografia de fase reversa e analisado por espectrometria de massas (ESI-MS e ESI-MSn). Todos os peptídeos caracterizados foram sintetizados manualmente por estratégia Fmoc, para a realização de ensaios farmacológicos e fisiológicos. Além de abrir novas vertentes de estudos estruturais e funcionais, o presente projeto alcançou os objetivos inicialmente almejados, identificando e caracterizando estruturalmente doze peptídeos presentes nos venenos das duas espécies de vespas. As denominações e atividades biológicas dessas moléculas foram: Protonectina apresentou-se lítico para hemáceas, degranulador de leucócitos quimiotático, induziu o fenômeno de hiperalgesia e foi edematogênico; o peptídeo Protonectina (1-4)-OH apresentou-se hemolítico para eritrócitos e desgranulador... / Peptides have an important role on physiologic functions of animals, plants and microorganisms. These natural peptides frequently are candidates for new drugs natural, and are used as models for the construction of modificated peptides in order to improve their pharmacological activities. From academic point of view, social wasp venoms are interesting once they are rich in policationic and polifunctional peptides that are involved with inflammatory processes (membrane lyses, mast cell degranulation, chemotaxis, and other processes), antimicrobial effects against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterias. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to bioprospect a diversity of peptidic compounds from the venoms of the neotropical social wasps Agelaia pallipes pallipes and Agelaia vicina through peptidomic analysis, identifying and characterizing these molecules structurally and functionally. For that, the venom from both wasps was extracted in MeCN 50% (v/v), analyzed and sequenced by ESI-MS, ESI-MSn. All characterized peptides were manually synthesized by Fmoc strategy and used for pharmacological and phisiological activities. This work has reached the initially poposed objectives by the indentification and functional characterization of twelve peptides from the social wasps venoms studied. Of these identified molecules, nine were isolated from the social wasp A. p. pallipes venom (Protonectin (1-4)-OH, Protonectin (1-5)-OH, Protonectin (1-6)-OH, Protonectin (7-12); Agelaia MP-I, Agelaia MP-II, Pallipin-I, Pallipin-II, and Pallipin-III), and from the venom of the social wasp A. vicina, four peptides were characterized (Protonectin (7-9)-OH, Protonectin, Protonectin (1-6), and Agelaia MP-I). These results show that the venom of both wasps are very similar to each other, probably due to the kinship of such species. Functionally, the peptide protonectin is lytic to erythrocytes... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Orientador: Mario Sergio Palma / Banca: Luiz Alberto Beraldo de Moraes / Banca: Dulce Helena Siqueira Silva / Banca: Everardo Magalhães Carneiro / Banca: Yara Cury / Resumo: Os peptídeos possuem um papel essencial para as funções fisiológicas de animais, plantas e de alguns microrganismos, e frequêntemente apresentam-se como candidatos a novas drogas na sua forma natural, servindo como modelos para o "desenho" de peptídeos modificados, para uma obtenção de perfis farmacológicos melhores. Neste contexto, os venenos das vespas sociais são interessantes sob o ponto de vista da pesquisa, uma vez que são ricos em peptídeos policatiônicos envolvidos com processos inflamatórios (lise de membranas, Desgranulação de mastócitos, quimiotaxia, entre outros processos), além de efeitos antibióticos contra bactérias Gram-positivas e Gram-negativas. Com base nisso, o objetivo deste trabalho foi realizar uma bioprospecção dos diferentes componentes peptídicos presentes nos venenos das vespas sociais Agelaia pallipes pallipes e Agelaia vicina, através da identificação e da caracterização estrutural e funcional dos componentes peptídicos mais abundantes destes venenos. Para isso, os venenos das vespas supracitadas foram extraidos em acetonitrila, fracionados por cromatografia de fase reversa e analisado por espectrometria de massas (ESI-MS e ESI-MSn). Todos os peptídeos caracterizados foram sintetizados manualmente por estratégia Fmoc, para a realização de ensaios farmacológicos e fisiológicos. Além de abrir novas vertentes de estudos estruturais e funcionais, o presente projeto alcançou os objetivos inicialmente almejados, identificando e caracterizando estruturalmente doze peptídeos presentes nos venenos das duas espécies de vespas. As denominações e atividades biológicas dessas moléculas foram: Protonectina apresentou-se lítico para hemáceas, degranulador de leucócitos quimiotático, induziu o fenômeno de hiperalgesia e foi edematogênico; o peptídeo Protonectina (1-4)-OH apresentou-se hemolítico para eritrócitos e desgranulador... (resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Peptides have an important role on physiologic functions of animals, plants and microorganisms. These natural peptides frequently are candidates for new drugs natural, and are used as models for the construction of modificated peptides in order to improve their pharmacological activities. From academic point of view, social wasp venoms are interesting once they are rich in policationic and polifunctional peptides that are involved with inflammatory processes (membrane lyses, mast cell degranulation, chemotaxis, and other processes), antimicrobial effects against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterias. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to bioprospect a diversity of peptidic compounds from the venoms of the neotropical social wasps Agelaia pallipes pallipes and Agelaia vicina through peptidomic analysis, identifying and characterizing these molecules structurally and functionally. For that, the venom from both wasps was extracted in MeCN 50% (v/v), analyzed and sequenced by ESI-MS, ESI-MSn. All characterized peptides were manually synthesized by Fmoc strategy and used for pharmacological and phisiological activities. This work has reached the initially poposed objectives by the indentification and functional characterization of twelve peptides from the social wasps venoms studied. Of these identified molecules, nine were isolated from the social wasp A. p. pallipes venom (Protonectin (1-4)-OH, Protonectin (1-5)-OH, Protonectin (1-6)-OH, Protonectin (7-12); Agelaia MP-I, Agelaia MP-II, Pallipin-I, Pallipin-II, and Pallipin-III), and from the venom of the social wasp A. vicina, four peptides were characterized (Protonectin (7-9)-OH, Protonectin, Protonectin (1-6), and Agelaia MP-I). These results show that the venom of both wasps are very similar to each other, probably due to the kinship of such species. Functionally, the peptide protonectin is lytic to erythrocytes... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor