Eocene Patagonia fossils of the daisy family.

Fossil capitula and pollen grains of Asteraceae from the Eocene of Patagonia, southern Argentina, exhibit morphological features recognized today in taxa, such as Mutisioideae and Carduoideae, that are phylogenetically close to the root of the asteracean tree. This fossil supports the hypothesis of a South American origin of Asteraceae and an Eocene age of divergence and suggests that an ancestral stock of Asteraceae may have formed part of a geoflora developed in southern Gondwana before the establishment of effective dispersal barriers within this landmass.

Phylogenetic relationships among Robertsonian karyomorphs of Graomys griseoflavus (Rodentia, Muridae) by mitochondrial cytochrome b DNA sequencing.

Graomys griseoflavus (Waterhouse 1837) is a phyllotine murid rodent with a Robertsonian autosomal polymorphism, having been described 2n = 42, 41, 38, 37, 36, 35 and 34 karyomorphs, and proposed a chromosomal divergence pathway accounted by four sequential Robertsonian fusions. Sequences of a fragment (422 bp long) of the cytochrome b (cyt b) mitochondrial gene and its 5' flanking region (tRNA Glu) were obtained for 19 Graomys griseoflavus from different karyomorphs to infer phylogenetic relationships by using maximum parsimony. Outgroups considered for this analysis were the phyllotine rodents Phyllotis xanthopygus and Eligmodontia typus cyt b sequences. Three trees were produced showing the 2n = 38-34 karyomorphs grouped in a single clade while the 2n = 42-41 animals formed a different one. This is in agreement with a hypothesis of a single origin for 2n = 38-34 Robertsonian karyomorphs from the ancestral 2n = 42.

Cladistic analysis of Tospovirus using molecular characters.

The genus Tospovirus was thought to be composed only of the tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), but now at least four Tospovirus species have been proposed based on serological and molecular data. A classification of tospoviruses has been proposed taking into account global similarities of the N gene and N protein sequences of 7 isolates of Tospovirus. Because phylogenetic analyses based on global similarities can lead to classifications which do not mirror the genealogy of the group, we have employed a cladistic analysis using parsimony of this genus with RNA sequences of 450 nucleotides of the N gene from 14 new Argentinean isolates and 4 previously described isolates. Representatives of the Bunyaviridae family, Rift Valley Fever Virus (Phlebovirus) and Bunyamwera (Bunyavirus), were used as the outgroup in separate analyses.

Restriction site patterns in the ribosomal DNA of camelidae.

The restriction map of rDNA from South American camelids and the Bactrian camel was analyzed by digestion of high-molecular-weight DNA with endonucleases EcoRI,BamHI and the two combined followed by Southern blot hybridization with probes for the 18S and 28S rDNA sequences. We scored a total of 17 restriction sites, six of which were mapped conserved in all the species. The other eleven corresponded to spacer regions and revealed variations between these taxa. The study showed that the two groups differ in the length of the internal transcribed spacer. Also they showed the existence of two regions of fast evolution on the opposite termini of the external spacer. A restriction site present at low frequency in the non-transcribed spacer of guanaco and llama was the only difference encountered within the South American group.

Genetic structure of Trypanosoma cruzi populations from Argentina estimated from enzyme polymorphism.

Isolates of Trypanosoma cruzi from human patients, domestic and sylvatic animals and vector insects were obtained in different areas of Argentina. Electrophoretic patterns of enzymes from extracts of 95 isolates were analysed. On the basis of zymograms providing information on 10 loci, 12 zymodemes are described according to their genotypes. Data presented show fixed heterozygosity, absence of segregation of genotypes, significant departures from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, and over-represented genotypes. This evidence supports the hypothesis that sexual reproduction is very restricted or absent in this parasite. The proportion of polymorphic loci is 80%. The expected mean heterozygosity per locus (He) is 0.43, while the observed value (Ho) is 0.24. Differences between these values may be explained by accepting a basically clonal structure for T. cruzi. The data matrix of 12 zymodemes using 28 characters was analysed using a Wagner parsimony algorithm. Two equally most parsimonious unrooted trees were generated; both have 39 steps. The results show clusters clearly separated according to the geographical origin of the stocks. There are some indications of some correlations between genetic composition of the parasite and the clinical picture of the infection in human patients.