scholarly journals TEM identification of Pseudo-nitzschia species from Lisbon Bay (NE Atlantic)

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (S3) ◽  
pp. 9-10
Author(s):  
A. Amorim ◽  
V. Veloso ◽  
B. Frazão ◽  
A. P. Alves de Matos

AbstractSeveral species of the chain-forming marine diatom genus Pseudo-nitzschia produce domoic acid (DA), a neuroexcitant amino acid, responsible for a human amnesic syndrome after consumption of toxified shellfish (ASP). Since 1995, the Portuguese monitoring program has regularly detected the presence of DA in shellfish. So far only P. australis has been implicated, and references therein. Identification of the causative species of Pseudo-nitzchia in natural samples is hampered by difficulties in identification at the light microscope level. Recent studies have shown that ultrastructural details of the wall, observed by transmission electron microscopy, allow the identification of species in good agreement with the phylogenetic and biological species concept.

Author(s):  
Alan N. Hodgson

The hermaphrodite duct of pulmonate snails connects the ovotestis to the fertilization pouch. The duct is typically divided into three zones; aproximal duct which leaves the ovotestis, the middle duct (seminal vesicle) and the distal ovotestis duct. The seminal vesicle forms the major portion of the duct and is thought to store sperm prior to copulation. In addition the duct may also play a role in sperm maturation and degredation. Although the structure of the seminal vesicle has been described for a number of snails at the light microscope level there appear to be only two descriptions of the ultrastructure of this tissue. Clearly if the role of the hermaphrodite duct in the reproductive biology of pulmonatesis to be understood, knowledge of its fine structure is required.Hermaphrodite ducts, both containing and lacking sperm, of species of the terrestrial pulmonate genera Sphincterochila, Levantina, and Helix and the marine pulmonate genus Siphonaria were prepared for transmission electron microscopy by standard techniques.


2010 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingrun Li ◽  
Junliang Sun ◽  
Peter Oleynikov ◽  
Sven Hovmöller ◽  
Xiaodong Zou ◽  
...  

The structure of a complicated quasicrystal approximant ∊16 was predicted from a known and related quasicrystal approximant ∊6 by the strong-reflections approach. Electron-diffraction studies show that in reciprocal space, the positions of the strongest reflections and their intensity distributions are similar for both approximants. By applying the strong-reflections approach, the structure factors of ∊16 were deduced from those of the known ∊6 structure. Owing to the different space groups of the two structures, a shift of the phase origin had to be applied in order to obtain the phases of ∊16. An electron-density map of ∊16 was calculated by inverse Fourier transformation of the structure factors of the 256 strongest reflections. Similar to that of ∊6, the predicted structure of ∊16 contains eight layers in each unit cell, stacked along the b axis. Along the b axis, ∊16 is built by banana-shaped tiles and pentagonal tiles; this structure is confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The simulated precession electron-diffraction (PED) patterns from the structure model are in good agreement with the experimental ones. ∊16 with 153 unique atoms in the unit cell is the most complicated approximant structure ever solved or predicted.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 1220-1227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caspar Haverkamp ◽  
George Sarau ◽  
Mikhail N Polyakov ◽  
Ivo Utke ◽  
Marcos V Puydinger dos Santos ◽  
...  

A fluorine free copper precursor, Cu(tbaoac)2 with the chemical sum formula CuC16O6H26 is introduced for focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID). FEBID with 15 keV and 7 nA results in deposits with an atomic composition of Cu:O:C of approximately 1:1:2. Transmission electron microscopy proved that pure copper nanocrystals with sizes of up to around 15 nm were dispersed inside the carbonaceous matrix. Raman investigations revealed a high degree of amorphization of the carbonaceous matrix and showed hints for partial copper oxidation taking place selectively on the surfaces of the deposits. Optical transmission/reflection measurements of deposited pads showed a dielectric behavior of the material in the optical spectral range. The general behavior of the permittivity could be described by applying the Maxwell–Garnett mixing model to amorphous carbon and copper. The dielectric function measured from deposited pads was used to simulate the optical response of tip arrays fabricated out of the same precursor and showed good agreement with measurements. This paves the way for future plasmonic applications with copper-FEBID.


2021 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiyuan Li ◽  
Angela C. O’Donnell ◽  
Howard Ochman

Mosquito-borne arboviruses, including a diverse array of alphaviruses and flaviviruses, lead to hundreds of millions of human infections each year. Current methods for species-level classification of arboviruses adhere to guidelines prescribed by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), and generally apply a polyphasic approach that might include information about viral vectors, hosts, geographical distribution, antigenicity, levels of DNA similarity, disease association and/or ecological characteristics. However, there is substantial variation in the criteria used to define viral species, which can lead to the establishment of artificial boundaries between species and inconsistencies when inferring their relatedness, variation and evolutionary history. In this study, we apply a single, uniform principle – that underlying the Biological Species Concept (BSC) – to define biological species of arboviruses based on recombination between genomes. Given that few recombination events have been documented in arboviruses, we investigate the incidence of recombination within and among major arboviral groups using an approach based on the ratio of homoplastic sites (recombinant alleles) to non-homoplastic sites (vertically transmitted alleles). This approach supports many ICTV-designations but also recognizes several cases in which a named species comprises multiple biological species. These findings demonstrate that this metric may be applied to all lifeforms, including viruses, and lead to more consistent and accurate delineation of viral species.


Author(s):  
Amanda Cicchino

Reproductive isolation is the hallmark of speciation as defined by the biological species concept. A species that is evolving towards reproductive isolation, but has not reached full isolation, is defined as an incipient species. One mechanism used by incipient species to further drive speciation is the use of mate recognition signals. The spring peeper, Pseudacris crucifer, is a North American frog that can be classified as an incipient species, as previous studies have found 6 distinct mitochondrial lineages within its range. Spring peepers use vocal signals for mate recognition and exhibit a female choice mating system where the males call to attract females. This study investigates the evolution of calling in spring peepers. Using calls from each lineage across the full range of spring peepers, I analyzed 11 different characteristics to determine whether the calls were different, and if so, which characteristics are being selected for. Preliminary evidence suggests that the calls between the lineages are distinct and that certain characteristics of the call are more heavily selected for than others. Full analysis on the data has not been completed at this time. This study will expand the understanding of the evolution of spring peepers, as well as offer insight into the role of mating systems on reproductive isolation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 307 ◽  
pp. 352-357
Author(s):  
Kai Fan ◽  
Feng Liu ◽  
Bao Quan Fu ◽  
Wen Zhong Luo ◽  
Yao He Zhou

In order to study the precipitaion of Ni3Si particle in undercooled Ni-Si alloy, calorimetric analyses were carried out using non-isothermal measurements by DSC. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements were used to describe qualitatively and quantitatively the precipitate microstructures. The non-isothermal DSC thermograms exhibited one reaction peaks and it indicated that the precipitation process is an exothermic reaction. The evolution for the precipitate was obtained in the as-solidified Ni-Si alloy subjected to DT=195K, meanwhile, the precipitate size was found increased with decreased heating rate in the TEM images. The largest precipitate size was about 120nm, and the precipitates still kept spherical shape. Model prediction for the precipitation of Ni3Si particle has been performed. Good agreement with experimental data has been achieved


2012 ◽  
Vol 706-709 ◽  
pp. 1586-1591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Zamberger ◽  
Ernst Kozeschnik

In the present work, the precipitation behavior of a V-microalloyed, quenched and tempered steel with 0.3wt % C is investigated experimentally and by computer simulation. The specimens are analyzed by means of transmission electron microscopy using selected area diffraction (SAD) and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The analysis is done on electropolished foils and on extraction replica. The numerical simulation is performed with the thermokinetic software package MatCalc, where the precipitation kinetics is examined for the experimentally applied thermo-mechanical cycles. Good agreement between experiment and simulation is obtained and the experimentally observed precipitate microstructure can be well explained on the basis of these simulations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 451-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Gondro ◽  
K. Błoch ◽  
P. Brągiel ◽  
M. Nabiałek ◽  
M. Szota

Three distinct alloys: Fe86Zr7Nb1Cu1B5, Fe82Zr7Nb2Cu1B8, and Fe81Pt5Zr7Nb1Cu1B5were characterized both magnetically and structurally. The samples, obtained with spinning roller method as a ribbons 3 mm in width and 20 μm thick, were investigated as-quenched and after each step of a multi steps heating treatment procedure. Each sample was annealed at four steps, fifteen minutes at every temperature, starting from 573K+600K up to +700K depending on type of alloy. Mössbauer spectroscopy data and transmission electron microscope (HRE M) pictures confirmed that the as-quenched samples are fully amorphous. This is not changed after the first stages of treatment heating leads to a reduction of free volumes. The heating treatment has a great influence on the magnetic susceptibilities. The treatment up to 600K improves soft magnetic properties: an χ increase was observed, from about 400 to almost 1000 for the samples of alloys without Pt, and from about 200 to 450 at maximum, for the Fe81Pt5Zr7Nb1Cu1B5. Further heating, at more elevated temperatures, leads to magnetic hardening of the samples. Curie temperatures, established from the location of Hopkinson’s maxima on the χ(T) curve are in very good agreement with those obtained from the data of specific magnetization, σ(T), measured in a field of 0.75T. As a critical parameter β was chosen to be equal 0.36 for these calculations, it confirmed that the alloys may be considered as ferromagnetic of Heisenberg type. Heating treatment resulted in decreasing of TC. These changes are within a range of several K.


2018 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.P. Stock ◽  
R. Campos-Herrera ◽  
F.E. El-Borai ◽  
L.W. Duncan

AbstractIn this study, molecular (ribosomal sequence data), morphological and cross-hybridization properties were used to identify a newSteinernemasp. from Florida, USA. Molecular and morphological data provided evidence for placing the novel species into Clade V, or the ‘glaseri-group’ ofSteinernemaspp. Within this clade, analysis of sequence data of the rDNA genes, 28S and internal transcribed spacer (ITS), depicted the novel species as a distinctive entity and closely related toS. glaseriandS. cubanum.Additionally, cross-hybridization assays showed that the new species is unable to interbreed with either of the latter two species, reinforcing its uniqueness from a biological species concept standpoint. Key morphological diagnostic characters forS. khuongin. sp. include the mean morphometric features of the third-stage infective juveniles: total body length (average: 1066 μm), tail length (average: 65 μm), location of the excretory pore (average: 80.5 μm) and the values ofc(average: 16.4),D% (average: 60.5),E% (average: 126) andH% (average: 46.6). Additionally, males can be differentiated fromS. glaseriandS. cubanumby the values of several ratios:D% (average: 68),E% (average: 323) and SW% (average: 120). The natural distribution of this species in Florida encompasses both natural areas and citrus groves, primarily in shallow groundwater ecoregions designated as ‘flatwoods’. The morphological, molecular, phylogenetic and ecological data associated with this nematode support its identity as a new species in theS. glaseri-group.


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