Bacterial adaptation to eugenol and citral.

In Portugal, 213 parasite strains have been isolated from sandflies and human and canine leishmaniasis cases have been identified as L. infantum, with Phlebotomus perniciosus and Phlebotomus ariasi as the proven vectors (Campino et al. 2006). However, L. major/L. infantum hybrids have also been isolated from four autochthonous human leishmaniasis cases, two of which were described elsewhere (Ravel et al. 2006). The identification of these multiple hybrids led to the hypothesis that L. major circulates in the country, most likely in infected sandflies. The risk of introduction of new Leishmania species in Portugal from travellers or immigrants from North Africa and the Indian subcontinent is a real concern, especially in the southern part of the country (Algarve region). Portuguese military missions in the Middle East pose an additional introduction risk.

The Algarve Region (AR) in southern Portugal is the most popular tourist destination in the country and one of the most popular in Europe. AR was considered an endemic region of human leishmaniasis in the 1980s. Forty-three infantile cases of visceral leishmaniasis were diagnosed in the Paediatric Service at the Faro District Hospital between 1980-1988, most of which were from the municipality of Loulé (Vicente 1990). However, in the last decade, human leishmaniasis in this region was only notified in four adult cases: two cases in 2006, one in 2007 and one in 2008 (dgs.pt). This frequency suggests that humans only develop this disease under special conditions, such as immunosuppression (Campino & Maia 2010). Five phlebotomine species have been reported in the AR (Phlebotomus perniciosus, Phlebotomus ariasi, Phlebotomus papatasi, Phlebotomus sergenti and Sergentomyia minuta) and L. infantum zymodeme MON-1 has been isolated from P. perniciosus, dogs and humans (Campino et al. 2006).

Pitaya is one of the fruit species whose demand has increased in recent years due to the numerous health benefits and lucrative price of the fruit and its by-products. In Europe, the Iberian Peninsula and other Mediterranean countries are the ones with favorable climatic conditions for its cultivation. This document describes much of the history of pitaya in the Iberian Peninsula and the difficulties related to its cultivation. A bibliographical survey was carried out on the culture of pitaya in the world, focusing on the edaphoclimatic requirements, and on the possibility of this becoming a consolidated crop in the Iberian Peninsula. The relatively low water requirement of pitaya makes this crop sustainable among crops that require irrigation. In addition, we provide a perspective for use and research of this emerging crop. There has been an exponential growth of scientific publications on pitaya in the last decade; however, much more needs to be researched to know how to increase productivity as well as the sensory quality of fruits in different regions. This sustainable crop is a good option to diversify fruit production in the Iberian Peninsula.

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) and their bacterial partners are well-studied insect pathogens, and their persistence in soils is one of the key parameters for successful use as biological control agents in agroecosystems. Free-living bacteriophagous nematodes (FLBNs) in the genus Oscheius, often found in soils, can interfere in EPN reproduction when exposed to live insect larvae. Both groups of nematodes can act as facultative scavengers as a survival strategy. Our hypothesis was that EPNs will reproduce in insect cadavers under FLBN presence, but their reproductive capacity will be severely limited when competing with other scavengers for the same niche. We explored the outcome of EPN - Oscheius interaction by using freeze-killed larvae of Galleria mellonella. The differential reproduction ability of two EPN species (Steinernema kraussei and Heterorhabditis megidis), single applied or combined with two FLBNs (Oscheius onirici or Oscheius tipulae), was evaluated under two different infective juvenile (IJ) pressure: low (3IJs/host) and high (20IJs/host). EPNs were able to reproduce in insect cadavers even in the presence of potential scavenger competitors, although EPN progeny was lower than that recorded in live larvae. Hence, when a highly susceptible host is available, exploiting cadavers by EPN might limit the adaptive advantage conferred by the bacteria partner, and might result in an important trade-off on long-term persistence. Contrary to our hypothesis, for most of the combinations, there were not evidences of competitive relationship between both groups of nematodes in freeze-killed larvae, probably because their interactions are subject to interference by the microbial growth inside the dead host. Indeed, evidences of possible beneficial effect of FLBN presence were observed in certain EPN-FLBN treatments compared with single EPN exposure, highlighting the species-specific and context dependency of these multitrophic interactions occurring in the soil.