- My research over the past 25 years has focused on the fundamental aspects of Insect biology, with a focus on fruitfli... moreMy research over the past 25 years has focused on the fundamental aspects of Insect biology, with a focus on fruitflies (tephritid flies) and mosquitoes (Culicidae) in order to improve environmental safe control methods. My efforts led to the expansion of molecular knowledge on multiple aspects of biology, including population dynamics and competence, reproduction, olfaction, transgenesis and symbiosis. Together with international groups of researchers, I also collaborated in the genome sequencing efforts that led to our discovery of the blueprint of the mosquito Aedes albopictus and the fruitfly Ceratitis capitata (Medfly).Google Scholar: <https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=91q_meMAAAAJedit
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The Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata, is a worldwide pest of agriculture able to use olfactory cues to locate habitat, food sources, mates and oviposition sites. The sensitivity of medfly olfaction has been exploited... more
The Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata, is a worldwide pest of agriculture able to use olfactory cues to locate habitat, food sources, mates and oviposition sites. The sensitivity of medfly olfaction has been exploited to develop olfactory-based attractants that are currently important tools for detection, control and eradication of its populations. Among these is Cera Trap® (BIOIBERICA, S.A.U.), a cost-effective bait. Here we used coupled gas chromatography/electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) and GC/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) approaches to characterize the medfly antennally-active compounds released by this lure. We identified GC peaks corresponding to chemicals belonging to six different classes including heterocyclic aromatic compounds, aliphatic alcohols, aldehydes, esters, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, and aromatic alcohols. We tested ten potential candidate volatiles belonging to these classes and predicted to be emitted by the lure and found that they were eliciting electroantennographic responses in medfly adults. These results will help in unravelling the physiological mechanisms of odor perception in both sexes, especially in relation to Cera Trap® attractant activity, which in the field has been shown to be female-specific. These findings and their developments will ultimately expand the toolbox for medfly control in the field.
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Research Interests: Biology and Tsetse fly
... A linkage map of autosome 3 Is given, showing the best characterized loci and the most accurate recombination frequencies. Anna Malacrida Giuliano Gasperi Riccardo Milani ... 18. KITZMILLER JB Genetics, cytogenetics and evolution of... more
... A linkage map of autosome 3 Is given, showing the best characterized loci and the most accurate recombination frequencies. Anna Malacrida Giuliano Gasperi Riccardo Milani ... 18. KITZMILLER JB Genetics, cytogenetics and evolution of mosquitoes. Ado Genet 18:315-433. ...
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The tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus)is one of the most invasive species in the world and a competent vector for numerous arboviruses, thus the study and monitoring of its fast worldwide spread is crucial for global public health. The... more
The tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus)is one of the most invasive species in the world and a competent vector for numerous arboviruses, thus the study and monitoring of its fast worldwide spread is crucial for global public health. The small extra-nuclear and maternally-inherited mitochondrial DNA represents a key tool for reconstructing phylogenetic and phylogeographic relationships within a species, especially when analyzed at the mitogenome level. Here the mitogenome variation of 76 tiger mosquitoes, 37 of which new and collected from both wild adventive populations and laboratory strains, was investigated. This analysis significantly improved the global mtDNA phylogeny ofAe. albopictus, uncovering new branches and sub-branches within haplogroup A1, the one involved in its recent worldwide spread. Our phylogeographic approach shows that the current distribution of tiger mosquito mitogenome variation has been strongly affected by clonal and sub-clonal founder events, sometimes invo...
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Additional file 6: Table S6. List of species, strains and genome resources used in this study.
Molecular markers for analyses of intraspecific genetic diversity in the Asian Tiger mosquito, invasion followed by this mosquito.
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ABSTRACT A syndrome of abnormal genetic effects, which resembles Drosophila hybrid dysgenesis, is described in Ceratitis capitata . This syndrome includes high frequency of partial or complete female gonadal sterility, chromosomal... more
ABSTRACT A syndrome of abnormal genetic effects, which resembles Drosophila hybrid dysgenesis, is described in Ceratitis capitata . This syndrome includes high frequency of partial or complete female gonadal sterility, chromosomal rearrangements (bridges and fragments) at male meiosis, and instabilities at the white eye locus. It was observed in hybrids of C. capitata when strains of different origin were mated. The morphology of the undeveloped ovaries recovered in the medtly is apparently very similar to the gonadal distrophy which in D. melanogaster is associated with the P.M and hobo mediated dysgenic syndromes. The amount of gonadal sterility that can be observed in medfly hybrids depends on the parental strains used, which exhibit specific differences in their inducing abilities. In the considered interstrain combinations, there appears to be quantitative variation in the effect of temperature on GD sterility. The highest level of sterility occurs at 25°C. The pattern of abnormal traits observed in medfly hybrids appears to be the phenotypic expression of a rather complex interacting dysgenic system of inducer and suppressor effects; probably more than one system is activated in the considered crosses.
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In the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann)(Diptera: Tephritidae), mating has a strong impact on female biology, leading to a decrease in sexual receptivity and increased oviposition and fecundity. Previous studies... more
In the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann)(Diptera: Tephritidae), mating has a strong impact on female biology, leading to a decrease in sexual receptivity and increased oviposition and fecundity. Previous studies suggest that sperm transfer may play a role in inducing these behavioural changes. Here we report the identification of a medfly innexin gene, Cc-inx5, whose expression is limited to the germ-line of both sexes. Through RNA interference of this gene, we generated males without testes and, consequently, sperm, but apparently retaining all the other reproductive organs intact. These sperm-less males were able to mate and, like their wild-type counterparts, to induce in their partners increased oviposition rates and refractoriness to remating. Interestingly, matings to sperm-less males results in oviposition rates higher than those induced by copulation with control males. In addition, the observed female post-mating behavioural changes were congruent with changes in transcript abundance of genes known to be regulated by mating in this species. Our results suggest that sperm transfer is not necessary to reduce female sexual receptivity and to increase oviposition and fecundity. These data pave the way to a better understanding of the role/s of seminal components in modulating female post-mating responses. In the long term, this knowledge will be the basis for the development of novel approaches for the manipulation of female fertility, and, consequently, innovative tools to be applied to medfly control strategies in the field.
Research Interests: Zoology, Biology, Medicine, RNA interference, Phylogeny, and 15 moreFemale, Sperm, Animals, Sterile Insect Technique, Male, Mating, Protein Sequence Analysis, Fecundity, Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Animal Sexual Behavior, Tephritidae, Spermatozoa, Ceratitis Capitata, Biochemistry and cell biology, and Seminal fluid
... A linkage map of autosome 3 Is given, showing the best characterized loci and the most accurate recombination frequencies. Anna Malacrida Giuliano Gasperi Riccardo Milani ... 18. KITZMILLER JB Genetics, cytogenetics and evolution of... more
... A linkage map of autosome 3 Is given, showing the best characterized loci and the most accurate recombination frequencies. Anna Malacrida Giuliano Gasperi Riccardo Milani ... 18. KITZMILLER JB Genetics, cytogenetics and evolution of mosquitoes. Ado Genet 18:315-433. ...
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A syndrome of abnormal genetic effects, resembling Drosophila hybrid dysgenesis, occurs in Ceratitis capitata when strains of different origin are mated. The pattern of abnormal traits observed appears to be the phenotypic expression of a... more
A syndrome of abnormal genetic effects, resembling Drosophila hybrid dysgenesis, occurs in Ceratitis capitata when strains of different origin are mated. The pattern of abnormal traits observed appears to be the phenotypic expression of a complex interacting dysgenic system of inducer and suppressor effects; probably more than one system is activated in the crosses. This suggests that different systems of mobile elements occur in different strains and populations of C. capitata. Using a PCR primer specific to the ITR sequence of a deleted element, full length mariner elements were isolated from C. capitata, Ceratitis rosa, and Trirhithrum coffeae. Very high similarities were found in inter- and intraspecific comparisons of the elements. The majority of these elements contained deletions and frame-shifts. However, one clone Ccmar1.18, from C. capitata, was found to possess an uninterrupted ORF coding for 338 amino acids with approximately 60% similarity to the Mos1 element of Drosophila mauritiana. Database searches and phylogenetic analyses showed that the mariner elements isolated in the present study are representatives of Robertson&#39;s mellifera mariner subfamily. The copy numbers of the elements within each species are very different, ranging from about 10 in T. coffeae to 5000 in C. rosa.
Research Interests: Genetics, Molecular Evolution, Biology, Genetica, Animals, and 13 moreMolecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Diptera, Phylogenetic Tree, Amino Acid Profile, Species Specificity, Amino Acid Sequence, Base Sequence, Ceratitis Capitata, Full Length Movies, Molecular Sequence Data, Gonadal dysgenesis, Database Search, and Springer Ebooks
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Alcohol dehydrogenase represents an interesting enzyme system in insect developmental biology, can be used as a marker in medfly transformation, and seems to be a synapomorphic character in phylogenetic studies of Tephritidae.
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ABSTRACT The exon-primed intron-crossing (EPIC) PCR technique was used to analyse the size variation at the first intron of the Ceratitis capitata Adh1 gene. A total of 27 samples from 16 natural populations was analysed from five... more
ABSTRACT The exon-primed intron-crossing (EPIC) PCR technique was used to analyse the size variation at the first intron of the Ceratitis capitata Adh1 gene. A total of 27 samples from 16 natural populations was analysed from five geographical regions in the species range: Africa, Mediterranean Basin, Latin America, Hawaii and Australia. The Adh1 first intron varies extensively in length with at least 18 size variants ranging from 1400 bp to 3450 bp. These variants can be grouped into four distinct size categories: short, medium, long and very long. The majority of these variants are present only in the African populations. Only a subset of the ancestral variants appear to have succeeded in migrating from Africa during the medfly colonization process. The medfly population structure inferred from the intron size polymorphism is congruent with that observed from the analysis of allozyme variation. The geographical dispersal of the medfly from its source area is associated with a gradual and great reduction in intron variability which parallels the trend of decreasing variability evaluated at 26 biochemical loci. The intron phylogenetic tree is in agreement with allozyme data in portraying the dynamic population history of the medfly. Stochastic evolutionary forces such as drift, bottleneck effects and migration seem to have played the major roles in the dispersion pattern of Adh1 intron variation during the colonization of the medfly.