A soft material for chromium speciation in water samples using a chemiluminescence automatic system.

A soft material formed by multiwall carbon nanotubes and 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium chloride was used as sorbent material to perform the chromium speciation in natural waters. This soft material was not yet used for the speciation of metals as chromium. Thus, a multicommutated flow system containing a minicolumn packed with the soft material was designed. The procedure was based on the capacity of the sorbent to retain Cr(VI) as Cr2O7= and allow to pass Cr(III) through the column. Then, a fully automated flow-batch analysis system was developed to quantify both species using chemiluminescence detection. Thus, Cr(III) was determined as catalyst of the luminol and hydrogen peroxide reaction and Cr(VI) as oxidant of luminol reaction. This represents a new approach because the oxidation of luminol using Cr2O7= has not been reported in literature. The variables of the two systems were optimized. The limits of detection were 1.4 µg L-1 for Cr(VI) and 4.0 µg L-1 for Cr(III). The precision of the method was 3.8% and 7.0% for Cr(VI) and Cr(III), respectively. The present method was applied to real water samples with recoveries between 95% and 107%. Besides, these results were in accordance with those obtained using inductive coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry technique.

Application of Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat Markers in the Analysis of Populations of the Chagas Disease Vector Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera, Reduviidae).

Here we apply inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers to explore the fine-scale genetic structure and dispersal in populations of Triatoma infestans. Five selected primers from 30 primers were used to amplify ISSRs by polymerase chain reaction. A total of 90 polymorphic bands were detected across 134 individuals captured from 11 peridomestic sites from the locality of San Martín (Capayán Department, Catamarca Province, Argentina). Significant levels of genetic differentiation suggest limited gene flow among sampling sites. Spatial autocorrelation analysis confirms that dispersal occurs on the scale of ∼469 m, suggesting that insecticide spraying should be extended at least within a radius of ∼500 m around the infested area. Moreover, Bayesian clustering algorithms indicated genetic exchange among different sites analyzed, supporting the hypothesis of an important role of peridomestic structures in the process of reinfestation.

Variation in mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 genes in the Chagas disease vector Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae).

Variation in mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 (ND5) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4) genes was surveyed in Triatoma infestans from 24 localities of Argentina. The DNA sequence comparisons of 2,183 basepairs of the mitochondrial genome, which include the complete sequence of ND5 (1,712 basepairs) and 401 basepairs of ND4 genes, showed 19 haplotypes determined by 48 variable sites and a nucleotide diversity value of 0.292%. Twenty-six (65%) substitutions were synonymous, and there were 14 (35%) predicted amino acid replacements in ND5. In ND4, 5 (62.5%) substitutions were synonymous and 3 (37.5%) were replacement sites. Samples from six localities studied shared one haplotype and the rest of the localities had different haplotypes. The amplified regions should be useful for population genetic studies.

Molecular Population Genetics and Evolution of the Chagas' Disease Vector Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae).

Triatoma infestans (Klug) is the main vector of Chagas' disease in the Southern Cone of Latin America between the latitudes 10° S and 46° S. The long-term effectiveness of the control campaigns is greatly dependent upon the vector population structure. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genes have been used in a number of T. infestans population genetic analyses. However, the maternally inherited markers as well as nuclear ribosomal DNA analyzed until the present exhibited low or limited levels of variation. Analyses based on microsatellite markers strongly supported the existence of some type of stratification in T. infestans populations and supported the hypothesis of vector population recovery from survivors of the insecticide-treated areas, highlighting the value of population genetic analyses in assessing the effectiveness of Chagas' disease vector control programmes. Although phylogeographic studies have generally suggested a Bolivian Andean origin of T. infestans, they recovered two reciprocal monophyletic groups of T. infestans and Bolivian populations who were not basal as expected for an ancestral group. In addition, a non-Andean origin could not be excluded by mtDNA genealogies that included sylvatic bugs from Gran Chaco. On the other side, mitochondrial and microsatellite markers supported the hypothesis of two independent migration events of colonization and secondary contacts in southern South America. Since the phylogenetic analyses remain inconclusive, more sequences, not only from mitochondrial genes but also from nuclear genes, need to be examined.