Ricerc@Sapienza

Neisseria meningitidis is one of the few commensal bacteria that can even cause large epidemics of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD). N. meningitis serogroup C belonging to the hypervirulent clonal complex 11 (cc11) represents an important public health threat worldwide. We reconstructed the dispersal patterns of hypervirulent meningococcal strains of serogroup C:cc11 by phylogenomic time trees. In particular, we focused the attention on the epidemic dynamics of C:P1.5.1,10-8:F3-6;ST-11(cc11) meningococci causing outbreaks, as occurred in the Tuscany region, Italy, in 2015 to 2016.

Aedes albopictus, the “Asian tiger mosquito,” is an aggressive biting mosquito native to Asia that has colonized all continents except Antarctica during the last ~30–40 years. The species is of great public health concern as it can transmit at least 26 arboviruses, including dengue, chikungunya, and Zika viruses. In this study, using double- digest Restriction site-Associated DNA (ddRAD) sequencing, we developed a panel of ~58,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) based on 20 worldwide Ae.

Acanthophyllum squarrosum and two closely related species, A. heratense and A. laxiusculum (Caryophyllaceae), form a complex that covers parts of subalpine steppes of the Irano-Turanian (IT) region. In this study, we explored the genetic structure and phylogeography of this complex based on partial sequences of two chloroplasts (psbA–trnH and rpl32–trnL (UAG)) and two nuclear (EST24 and nrITS) DNA regions. We analysed 80 individuals from eight populations and detected 12 chloroplast haplotypes, 16 and eight nuclear alleles in EST24 and nrITS sequences, respectively.

Many continental species distributed in the Eurasian steppe occur as relict populations in the mountains of Western Europe. Their biogeographical responses to Quaternary climate changes have been poorly studied; however, they could have responded as cold-adapted species. We investigated the biogeographic history of a steppe beetle, Hycleus polymorphus, using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences (COI, CAD, ITS2), and species distribution modelling (SDM) under present and past bioclimatic envelopes. We first performed a phylogenetic assessment to define species boundaries within the H.

It is now well established that Southern European peninsulas have been major glacial refugia for temperate species during Pleistocene climatic oscillations. However, substantial environmental changes occurred also within these peninsulas throughout the Pleistocene, raising questions about the role and interplay of various microevolutionary processes in shaping patterns of intraspecific diversity within these areas. Here, we investigate the patterns of genetic variation in the bank vole Myodes glareolus within the Italian peninsula.

Aim
Emergence of coastal lowlands during Pleistocene ice ages might have provided conditions for glacial expansions (demographic and spatial), rather than contraction, of coastal populations of temperate species. Here, we tested these predictions in the insular endemic Sicilian wall lizard Podarcis wagleriana.
Location

Sicily and neighbouring islands.
Methods

Two Cordulegaster dragonflies present in Italy, the Palaearctic and northern distributed Cordulegaster boltonii and the endemic to the south of the peninsula Cordulegaster trinacriae, meet in central Italy and give rise to individuals of intermediate morphology. By means of mitochondrial and nuclear markers and of Geometric Morphometrics applied to sexual appendages, we defined i) the geographical boundaries between the two species in Italy and ii) we determined the presence, the extent, and the genetic characteristics of the hybridization.

Three non-phoretic blister-beetle species (Mylabris schreibersi, Actenodia distincta and Cabalia segetum) were investigated to trace their Siculo-Maghrebian biogeographic origins and to understand how Tertiary and Quaternary paleogeographic events (e.g. the ‘Messinian Salinity Crisis’ and the cyclic Quaternary glacio-eustatic marine oscillations) shaped their phylogeographic patterns. Data from CAD and RpP01 nuclear genes highlighted a clear lineage sorting between Sicilian and Maghrebian populations of M.

This work investigates the genetic identity of Hierophis viridiflavus s.l. specimens from insular populations, to determine which of the two previously identified species is present on each island. Here, the authors hypothesise about times and modes of colonization and discuss the faunistic value of the obtained results. This follows the recent proposal to consider the two clades as two different species. Specimens from the islands of Favignana, Lipari and Vulcano belong to H. carbonarius and probably all belong to putative Sicilian source populations.

Background: The current distribution of genetic diversity is the result of a vast array of microevolutionary processes, including short-term demographic and ecological mechanisms and long-term allopatric isolation in response to Quaternary climatic fluctuations. We investigated past processes that drove the population differentiation and spatial genetic distribution of the Italian wall lizard Podarcis siculus by means of sequences of mitochondrial cytb (n = 277 from 115 localities) and nuclear mc1r and ?-fibint7genes (n = 262 and n = 91, respectively) from all its distribution range.