Is there transcriptional activity during nucleolar persistence in the meiosis of triatomines?

• Grant number: 15/14762-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: January 01, 2016
• End date: February 28, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Morphology of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Maria Tercília Vilela de Azeredo Oliveira
• Grantee: Fernanda Fernandez Madeira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Triatomines are hematophagous insects of great importance to public health, since they are considered the main means of transmission of the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, etiologic agent of Chagas disease. Besides the epidemiological importance, these insects are of great relevance in cellular studies, for they present some peculiarities, such as holocentric chromosomes, inverted meiosis to the sex chromosomes and nucleolar persistence during meiosis. Nucleolar persistence is defined by the presence of the nucleolus or nucleolar corpuscles during every phase of meiosis. This phenomenon has been observed in 21 species of insects of the genera Triatoma, Rhodnius and Panstrongylus. However, the presence of this nuclear structure during every phase of meiosis does not mean the nucleolus is active, because although the nucleolus is present during every phase of spermatogenesis, it has been observed that it has no transcriptional activity and it is inactivated by epigenetic factors. Therefore, this project aims to describe the nucleologenesis in new species of at least seven new genera (Cavernicola, Psammolestes, Dipetalogaster, Eratyrus, Meccus, Mepraia, Nesotriatoma), in order to analyze whether nucleolar persistence is a synapomorphy of the Triatominae subfamily; as well as to analyze the nucleolar activity during meiosis in the species Triatoma infestans and Rhodnius montenegrensis using various cytochemical techniques, analysis by light microscopy and fluorescence microscopy, and by immunocytochemical analysis with confocal microscopy analysis, in order to characterize, by presence of RNA and fibrillarin nucleolar protein, whether there is transcriptional activity during the nucleolar persistence phenomenon.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MADEIRA, FERNANDA FERNANDEZ; CHABOLI ALEVI, KAIO CESAR; DA COSTA CASTRO, NAYARA FERNANDA; LEITE VILAMAIOR, PATRICIA SIMONE; DA ROSA, JOAO ARISTEU; VILELA DE AZEREDO-OLIVEIRA, MARIA TERCILIA. Reproductive Aspects of Chagas Disease Vectors: Evidence of Transcriptional Activity during the Nucleolar Persistence Phenomenon in the Spermatogenesis of Triatomines. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, v. 101, n. 3, p. 602-604, 2019. (15/14762-5)

MADEIRA, F. F.; LIMA, A. A. C.; ROSA, J. A.; AZEREDO-OLIVEIRA, M. T. V.; ALEVI, K. C. C.. Nucleolar-persistence phenomenon during spermatogenesis in genus Meccus (Hemiptera, Triatominae). Genetics and Molecular Research, v. 15, n. 1, 2016. (13/19764-0, 15/14762-5)

MADEIRA, FERNANDA FERNANDEZ; BORSATTO, KELLY CRISTINE; CAMPANER LIMA, ANNA CLAUDIA; RAVAZI, AMANDA; DE OLIVEIRA, JADER; DA ROSA, JOAO ARISTEU; VILELA DE AZEREDO-OLIVEIRA, MARIA TERCILIA; CHABOLI ALEVI, KAIO CESAR. Nucleolar Persistence: Peculiar Characteristic of Spermatogenesis of the Vectors of Chagas Disease (Hemiptera, Triatominae). American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, v. 95, n. 5, p. 1118-1120, NOV 2016. (13/19764-0, 15/14762-5)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

MADEIRA, Fernanda Fernandez. Is there transcriptional activity during the phenomenon of nucleolar persistence in meiosis of triatomines?. 2017. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Instituto de Biociências Letras e Ciências Exatas. São José do Rio Preto São José do Rio Preto.