Anti-mosquito antibodies decrease the reproductive capacity of Aedes aegypti

Aedes aegypti (L.) fed on rabbits immunized with mosquito antigens showed a reduction in fecundity in the first oviposition and decreased viability of the progeny. Feeding behaviour of mosquitoes was not affected and no significant mortality was observed due to the presence of anti-mosquito antibodies in the bloodmeal. Antibodies were detected in the oocytes of mosquitoes 48 h after the bloodmeal. The role of specific antibodies in influencing fecundity is discussed.     

A survey of seed and seedling characters in 1744 Australian dicotyledon species: cross-species trait correlations and correlated trait-shifts within evolutionary lineages

Seedling traits have been described across 1744 species of Australian plants. Six traits were coded as binary alternatives: (1) phanerocotyly vs cryptocotyiy; (2) first leaf scale‐like vs leaf‐like; (3) first leaf single vs paired; (4) cotyledons hairy vs. glabrous; (5) hypocotyl hairy vs glabrous, and (6) embryo green vs non‐green at maturity. Seed volume was calculated from measurements of seed dimensions. Three approaches were used in analysing the data: (1) the taxonomic distribution of binary character states was described; (2) the strength of bivariate character associations was quantified at species level (‘cross‐species' correlations and regressions); (3) the data were arrayed on a phylogenetic tree in order to analyse by ‘phylogenetic regression’ for correlated evolutionary shifts in trait pairs. All die traits appeared evolutionarily malleable. For example, while cryptocotyiy was the minority condition (22% of species), it occurred in many different taxa (124 genera, 40 families, 24 orders) with high levels of polymorphy (16%, 25% and 42% for genera, families and orders). Similarly, the less common attribute states for first leaf type, hypocotyl texture, cotyledon texture and embryo colour occurred in species from right across die dicotyledon phylogeny, as did independent evolutionary divergences in each of mese characters. These patterns indicate that debate over which conditions are primitive and which are advanced will not have any general answer, only an answer for a specific branch‐step in die phylogenetic tree. In nearly all cases, correlated‐divergence analyses showed the same patterns as cross‐species analyses. The strongest associations were between seed volume and cryptocotyiy, seed volume and scale‐like first leaf, and seed volume and presence of green embryo. In addition, cryptocotyiy and scale‐like first leaf, and cotyledon and hypocotyl type, were strongly associated in bom correlated‐divergence and cross‐species analyses. Interpretation of results was mosdy presented wim respect to seed size, a trait which we consider to be pivotal in a species' seedling establishment strategy. All possible pairwise combinations ofbinary seedling traits were found in our study species. Taken togedier, the various lines of evidence presented here suggest that the traits have assorted more or less independendy of each odier and provide no evidence of functional groups based an mese attributes. Thus, the several existing seedling typologies should be regarded as classifications of convenience rather than as reflecting fundamental types.     

An Ultrastructural Study of Melanocytes and Melanosomes in the Skin and Hair Bulbs of Rufous Albinos

We have examined hair bulb and skin melanocytes of rufous albinos from Southern Africa to further characterize this form of albinism. In the skin melanocytes we find both eumelanosomes and pheomelanosomes at various stages of melanization and, in addition, there appeared to be many aberrant incompletely melanized melanosomes. On average, rufous melanosomes are 30% smaller than normal black skin melanosomes. In the keratinocytes, the melanosomes are packaged into distinct aggregations, whereas in normal black skin, they occur singly. We suggest that the reddish skin color of these albinos is a consequence of an increase in the pheomelanin synthesis resulting in a raised pheomelanin/eumelanin ratio and that the aggregation of melanosomes results in a skin color slightly lighter than normal. In hair bulb melanocytes, only eumelanosomes were seen and these were mostly incompletely melanized. These findings correlate with our visual observations that the hair color of Southern African albinos is very pale (light brown or ginger). Based on our observations, we speculate on the possible cause of rufous albinism.