Environmental Surveillance of Enteroviruses in Central Argentina: First Detection and Evolutionary Analyses of E14

Environmental surveillance is an effective approach to investigate the circulation of human enteroviruses in the population. Enteroviruses E14, CVA9, E-6, E16, E20, E25, E13, and CVA24 were detected in sewage and a watercourse in central Argentina. E14 was the most frequent serotype and was found for the first time in environmental samples in our region. Phylogenetic and coalescence analyses showed at least two recent introduction events.     

Human Bocavirus: Detection,Quantification and Molecular Characterization in Sewage and Surface Waters in Uruguay

Human bocavirus (HBoV) infections are related to respiratory and gastroenteric diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of HBoV in both sewage and surface waters in Uruguay. Sixty-eight sewage samples from the cities of Salto, Paysandú, Bella Unión, Fray Bentos, Treinta y Tres and Melo and 36 surface water samples from the cities of Salto, Florida and Santa Lucía were studied. HBoV was screened by multiplex qPCR for the detection of the four subtypes, followed by monoplex qPCRs for the independent quantification of each subtype. A qualitative PCR followed by DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis was carried out for molecular characterization of HBoV strains. HBoV was present in a high frequency (69%) in sewage and only one positive sample (3%) was found in surface water. Concerning sewage samples, HBoV1 was detected in 11 (23%) out of the 47 positives samples, with a mean concentration of 8.2 × 10⁴ genomic copies/Liter (gc/L), HBoV3 was detected in 35 (74%) of the positive samples with a mean concentration of 4.1 × 10⁶ gc/L and subtypes 2 and/or 4 were detected in 39 (83%) of the positive samples with a mean concentration of 7.8 × 10⁶ gc/L. After the phylogenetic analysis performed by a Bayesian approach, the four HBoV subtypes were confirmed. This is the first study determining a high frequency of HBoV and the presence of the four HBoV subtypes in aquatic matrices in Latin America, mainly in sewage. Although HBoV was scarcely detected in surface water, a waterborne transmission is likely to occur if people enter in contact with polluted surface waters for recreational activities such as fishing or swimming since an elevated frequency of HBoV was detected in raw sewage which is usually directly discharged into surface waters.     

Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis in a family at risk for Fraser syndrome

The front cover image is based on the Research Letter Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis in a family at risk for Fraser syndrome by Aldesia Provenzano et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/pd.5700 .

     

Persistent organic pollutants in sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.) in two fish farms in the Mediterranean Sea

We analyzed polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) in the edible part of farmed sea bass reared in two fish farms in Liguria (Northern Italy). The aim was to determine the contamination levels and human exposure to these chemicals through fish consumption. Concentrations of “dioxin-like” PCBs (DL-PCBs) ranged from 0.033 to 0.759 pg Σ_TEQ-PCB g⁻¹ whole weight (w.w.) in fish farm 1 and from 0.032 to 1.60 pg Σ_TEQ-PCB g⁻¹ w.w. in fish farm 2, and the six indicators of “non-dioxin-like” (NDL-PCBs) from 0.538 to 9.33 ng Σ_6PCB g⁻¹ w.w. and from 1.62 to 27.6 ng Σ_6PCB g⁻¹ w.w. Concentrations were generally lower in farm 1 than in farm 2. One reason for this difference might be the proximity of farm 2 to the seaport of La Spezia, which could be a punctual source of pollutants influencing the contamination of the water in the farm. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed differences also in the congeners profiles for the two sites, with higher-chlorinated PCBs more abundant in farm 1, and lower-chlorinated PCBs were more abundant in farm 2. Most of the concentrations of PFOS and PFOA were below the limit of detection (LOD 0.05 ng g⁻¹ w.w.). Only about 10% of the samples analyzed had levels slightly higher than the LOD. Assessments of exposure using these data showed that consumption of farmed fish may contribute significantly to PCBs through the diet, whereas the contribution of PFOS and PFOA seems to be low.     

Eggshell spotting in brood parasitic shiny cowbirds (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Molothrus bonariensis</Emphasis>) is not linked to the female sex chromosome

For avian brood parasites in which individual females are host-specialists, the arms race between hosts and parasites has favored egg color polymorphism in the parasite, with female lineages laying mimetic eggs that resemble those of the host species they parasitize. Female sex-linked inheritance of egg color fosters evolutionary stability of egg polymorphism if female lineages show both consistent eggshell color and host use. This co-evolutionary relationship is unlikely to occur if individual brood parasites use different hosts or if egg color is not maternally inherited. The shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) is an extreme generalist brood parasite that shows a very high degree of egg polymorphism. We tested whether egg spotting in this species has female sex-linked inheritance. If genetic factors controlling the expression of egg spotting were present on the female-specific W chromosome, we expected co-segregation between spotting patterns and mtDNA haplotypes, as both W and mtDNA are maternally inherited. In contrast to the known maternal inheritance of spotting patterns in great tits, we found no associations between eggshell spotting and mtDNA haplotypes, which suggests that eggshell spotting is not maternally inherited in this cowbird species.     

Microbial Source Tracking Analysis Using Viral Indicators in Santa Lucía and Uruguay Rivers,Uruguay

The aim of this study was to determine the origin (human, bovine or porcine) and the concentration of the fecal sources of contamination in waters from Santa Lucía basin and Uruguay River in Uruguay by using host-specific viral markers (adenoviruses and polyomaviruses) as microbial source tracking (MST). Between June 2015 and May 2016, monthly collections of surface water samples were performed in six sites in Santa Lucía basin and four sites in Uruguay River (n = 120 samples). Viral concentration was carried out using an absorption-elution method. Detection and quantification of human and porcine adenovirus (HAdV and PAdV, respectively) and human and bovine polyomavirus (HPyV and BoPyV, respectively) were performed by quantitative PCR (qPCR). To evaluate the infectivity of circulating HAdV, an integrated cell culture-qPCR (ICC-qPCR) was used. A logistic regression analysis was carried out to estimate the influence of environmental variables on the virus presence in surface waters. Overall, HAdV was the prevalent (18%; 21/120) followed by BoPyV (11%; 13/120) and HPyV (3%; 3/120), whereas PAdV was not detected in this study. The mean concentration ranged from 1.5 × 10⁴ genomic copies/L (gc/L) for HAdV to 1.8 × 10² gc/L for HPyV. Infective HAdVs were observed in two out of ten analyzed samples. A significant effect of environmental temperature (p = 0.001) and river (p = 0.012) on the presence of human viruses was found. These results suggest that fecal contamination could affect the water quality of these rivers, showing deficiencies in the procedure of sewage discharge from regional cities, livestock and dairy farms.

     

Utilization of a new host in the screaming cowbird <Emphasis Type="Italic">Molothrus rufoaxillaris</Emphasis>, a host specialist brood parasite: host switch or host acquisition?

The screaming cowbird Molothrus rufoaxillaris has been long known as a host specialist brood parasite. However, in the past years, the utilization of two new hosts has been documented. We examined the variation in mitochondrial control region sequences from screaming cowbird chicks found in the nests of two hosts, the bay-winged cowbird (Agelaioides badius), which is its regular host, and the chopi blackbird (Gnorimopsar chopi), which is a new host, in Formosa Province, Argentina. If a group of females switched to this new host, we expected to find an association between host use and haplotype frequency distribution, indicating the presence of host-specific female lineages, whereas we expected no such association if the cowbird population incorporated this new host and females use both hosts simultaneously. Haplotype frequency distributions differed between cowbird chicks from the nests of both hosts. This indicates that nest choice by females of this brood parasite is not random and that they preferentially parasitize the nests of the same host species.     

Assessment of biotechnological strategies for the valorization of metal bearing wastes

The present work deals with the application of biotechnology for the mobilization of metals from different solid wastes: end of life industrial catalysts, heavy metal contaminated marine sediments and fluorescent powders coming from a cathode ray tube glass recycling process. Performed experiments were aimed at assessing the performance of acidophilic chemoautotrophic Fe/S-oxidizing bacteria for such different solid matrices, also focusing on the effect of solid concentration and of different substrata. The achieved results have evidenced that metal solubilization seems to be strongly influenced by the metal speciation and partitioning in the solid matrix. No biological effect was observed for Ni, Zn, As, Cr mobilization from marine sediments (34%, 44%, 15%, 10% yields, respectively) due to metal partitioning. On the other hand, for spent refinery catalysts (Ni, V, Mo extractions of 83%, 90% and 40%, respectively) and fluorescent powders (Zn and Y extraction of 55% and 70%, respectively), the improvement in metal extraction observed in the presence of a microbial activity confirms the key role of Fe/S oxidizing bacteria and ferrous iron. A negative effect of solid concentration was in general observed on bioleaching performances, due to the toxicity of dissolved metals and/or to the solid organic component.     

Sulphur-oxidising bacteria isolated from deep caves improve the removal of arsenic from contaminated harbour sediments

Acidophilic S-oxidising bacteria isolated from sulphur-rich deep caves (Frasassi, Italy), characterised by relatively low temperature, were tested for their ability to mobilise (semi-)metals from contaminated sediments. Sediment samples from two commercial Italian seaports were used to set up bioleaching experiments. The effect of different growth substrates was also investigated. Our experiments revealed that S-oxidising bacteria isolated from Frasassi caves have a high potential to remove As from contaminated marine sediments, as never reported before. Although As solubilisation efficiency was quite low (i.e. about 30%), only a small amount of As was associated with non-residual fractions of the sediment. On the contrary, the solubilisation efficiencies of Zn and Ni (20% and 10%, respectively) were lower than those previously obtained by the use of other acidophilic bacteria and mainly influenced by the experimental conditions rather than by the presence of the S-oxidising bacteria. Results presented here open new perspectives in bioleaching applications for the remediation of contaminated sediments. Indeed, microbial strains adapted to relatively low-temperature environments could improve sediment bioleaching at temperature regimes where mesophilic and thermophilic strains are not favoured. Such strains could be exploited for developing selective bioremediation procedures for sediments contaminated with As, to be applied in multistep biotreatment processes.     

Costs of brood parasitism and the lack of defenses on the yellow-winged blackbird - shiny cowbird system

The shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) is a generalist brood parasite that lays either white-immaculate or spotted egg morphs in eastern Argentina and Uruguay. Some hosts accept both morphs, others accept spotted eggs and reject the white morph, but no host has been found to accept white eggs and reject spotted ones. It has been suggested that the yellow-winged blackbird (Agelaius thilius) may be that type of host. The finding of a white acceptor-spotted rejector species would help to explain the occurrence and maintenance of the parasite egg polymorphism. We studied the incidence of shiny cowbird parasitism on this host, its costs for their reproductive success and the presence of antiparasitic defenses in the yellow-winged blackbird - shiny cowbird system. The parasite affected the reproductive success of the host in two ways. Cowbirds punctured host eggs causing a reduction in clutch size, and yellow-winged blackbirds deserted their nests whenever they suffered high egg loss. In addition, parasitized nests suffered higher predation during the nestling stage, but not during egg stages, indicating that the difference found was related to the presence of the cowbird chick, and not to higher exposure of parasitized nests to both parasites␣and predators. Despite the costs imposed by the parasite, yellow-winged blackbirds have not evolved antiparasitic defenses. This host did not reject any egg morph of the shiny cowbird nor desert parasitized nests unless it had suffered high egg loss. Current explanations for the host lack of defenses, the “time lag” and the “equilibrium” hypothesis, are discussed. Received: 29 August 1997 / Accepted after revision: 10 January 1998