Abstract Book SIBE 2010

La SIBE/ISEB è arrivata al suo quarto Congresso.
Alle persone che hanno assistito alla nascita e ai primi passi della nostra Società questa scadenza sembra
un miracolo. La SIBE è infatti una società anomala nel panorama scientifico italiano: molti soci vivono e
lavorano all’estero, molti sono “giovani” (cosa significhi realmente questo termine lo può sapere solo chi vive
ora in Italia!), molti non sono strutturati e molti ancora sono persone che non praticano l’evoluzionismo da
“professionisti” della scienza, ma se ne occupano come comunicatori, giornalisti, insegnanti, operatori di
Museo. Dunque sembra un miracolo che siamo arrivati al quarto Congresso, qui a Milano, che ospita uno
tra i primissimi atenei in Italia dove si è avuto l’insegnamento dell’evoluzione come materia a sé stante, e
questo inizio è poi stato seguito anche quando è nata l’Università Bicocca.
In modo significativo, l’Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca e l’Università degli Studi di Milano, assieme
al Museo Civico di Storia Naturale si sono associati per organizzare questo Congresso, la cui attuazione è
stata possibile grazie ai contributi finanziari delle due università partecipanti e della Fondazione Cariplo,
ma soprattutto grazie al lavoro di molte persone che con entusiasmo e dedizione hanno contribuito alla sua
preparazione.
La Biologia Evoluzionistica è una disciplina meravigliosa, soprattutto perché mette sotto la stessa insegna
persone con preparazioni completamente diverse, biologi molecolari ed embriologi, zoologi e antropologi,
genetisti e botanici, insomma è una disciplina che fa saltare le barriere disciplinari che ingabbiano troppo
spesso la scienza del nostro paese, e spinge portatori di culture diverse a parlare fra loro nel campo di inte-
resse comune, la storia della vita sulla Terra. Le comunicazioni che vengono presentate al Congresso sono
lo specchio di questa particolarità: abbiamo, purtroppo, dovuto scegliere le comunicazioni da far presentare
oralmente da quelle da presentare come poster, ma abbiamo fin d’ora la sensazione che la diversità delle
culture e dei soggetti trattati spingeranno tutti a partecipare il più possibile alle diverse sessioni e a suscitare
scambi e dibattiti: il nostro scopo come organizzatori è stato quello di massimizzare gli scambi!
Diceva Vito Volterra, un grande italiano troppo spesso ingiustamente dimenticato, nel suo Discorso sull’isti-
tuzione della Società Italiana per il Progresso delle Scienze al congresso dei naturalisti, di Milano il 15
settembre 1906: “La crisi interiore che agita e trasforma tante dottrine rende necessaria l’ampia, libera e
diretta discussione fra gli studiosi, determina in essi l’urgenza di manifestarsi personalmente i pensieri che
li occupano, i dubbi che li tormentano, le difficoltà che li arrestano, le speranze che li sospingono. I libri e le
memorie non servono, né mai potranno servire, a tal fine; il bisogno sta precisamente nel dire e nell’appren-
dere quello che non si osa ancora di pubblicare o che non si pubblicherà mai. Le antiche accademie sono
un campo troppo chiuso, gli istituti di insegnamento hanno già, altri intenti determinati, le singole società
scientifiche sono un terreno troppo ristretto per prestarsi a questi scopi; essi solo possono conseguirsi in
seno ad una vasta associazione che raccolga i cultori di tutte le discipline, quale è quella che noi oggi inau-
guriamo”.
Queste parole si adattano bene alla nostra Società!
Buon lavoro a tutti e grazie di essere a Milano
Marco Ferraguti
Presidente SIBE
Il comitato organizzatore del IV congresso SIBE

Il congresso è organizzato
dall’Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca,
dall’Università degli Studi di Milano
e dal Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano
Il congresso è realizzato grazie al contributo

della Fondazione Cariplo
Ha contribuito alla realizzazione del congresso

il Collegio di Milano
Comitato Organizzatore
Maurizio Casiraghi
maurizio.casiraghi@unimib.it
Chiara Ceci
chiara.ceci@unimib.it
Marco Ferraguti
marco.ferraguti@unimi.it
Ilaria Guaraldi Vinassa de Regny
ilariagvdr@gmail.com
Telmo Pievani
telmo.pievani@unimib.it
Claudio Bandi
claudio.bandi@unimi.it
Sara Baccei
sara.baccei@gmail.com
Si ringrazia inoltre
ANMS, Associazione Nazionale Musei Scientifici
ANISN, Associazione Nazionale Insegnanti di Scienze Naturali
Pikaia, il portale dell’evoluzione
ADM, Associazione Didattica Museale
Progetto grafico: Francesca Brizi

GIOVEDÌ 2 SETTEMBRE
Aula Magna - Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca
IV CONGRESSO SIBE _ primo giorno
A partire dalle ore 8_ registrazione
ore 9.15_ inizio congresso
ore 9.30_ Invited speaker: Frantisek Marec. Sex chromosome evolution in organisms with female heteroga-
mety and holokinetic structure of chromosomes: moths and butterflies.
ore 10.30_ coffee break
ore 11_ Sessione 1 - Molecular evolution

Chairman: Mauro Mandrioli
Stefano Castellana
Exploring the role of mutation and selection on synonymous variability in metazoan mitochondrial genomes
Andrea Lucchetti
Short Interspersed Elements activity, adaptation and genomic distribution in termite genome
Federica Tammaro
Molecular evolution of a gene cluster of female serine proteases involved in post-mating mechanisms of the
malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae
Isabel Maida
The evolutionary dynamics of plasmids and chromosomes inhabiting the same bacterial cytoplasm
Renato Lupi
A survey of mitochondrial evolution in Metazoa: large variability in little genomes
Martina Lari
Mithocondrial DNA (mtDNA) temporal variation in wild and domestic pigs from a North-Eastern Italian site
Paolo Innocenti
The sexually antagonistic genes of Drosophila melanogaster
Davide Sassera
The Midichloria mitochondrii genome project
ore 13_ pausa pranzo
ore 14.30_ Simposio - L’evoluzione a scuola. Introduce e modera Alessandra Magistrelli

La ‘riforma’ Gelmini: contenuti, problemi, qualche suggerimento. ANISN
La scienza degli studenti. Franca Lasagna, Scienza Under 18
Comunicare la scienza a scuola. Linx Edizioni oltre i manuali. Massimo Esposti
e Valentina Murelli
Diversi ma uguali. Nuove esperienze didattiche al Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano
Ilaria Guaraldi Vinassa de Regny
ore 16_ coffee break

ore 16.30_ Sessione 2 - Biodiversity and Evolution
Chairman: Ivan Scotti
Francesco Santini
Origin ad evolution of the modern coral reef fish fauna
Gentile Francesco Ficetola

Ecogeographical variation in amphibian body size: from patterns to processes
Michele Cesari
Barcoding meiofauna: the MoDNA (Morphology and DNA) project on DNA barcoding and
phylogeny of Tardigrada
Marco Trizzino
A multigenic molecular phylogeny and biogeography of the “Haenydra” lineage (Coleoptera,
Hydraenidae, genus Hydraena)
Anna Fabiani
Conservation of Galápagos land iguanas: genetic monitoring and predictions of a long-term
program on the island of Santa Cruz
Andrea Galimberti
Molecular tools help resolving a taxonomic enigma: the case of Paradoxornis webbianus and
P. alphonsianus (Aves: Paradoxornithidae)
ore 18_ fine programma del giorno.
Trasporto con autobus dei partecipanti ai Giardini di Porta Venezia.
ore 19_ Aperitivo al Biolab
ore 20_ Biodiversità, fra natura e cultura: l’importanza della divulgazione scientifica. Tavola rotonda
Introduzione: Giancarlo Lombardi, Presidente Fondazione Collegio delle Università Milanesi,

Discussants:
Telmo Pievani, Filosofia della Scienza, Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca
Maurizio Casiraghi, Biologia degli Invertebrati, Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca
Francesco Rovero, Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali e responsabile del progetto Udzungwa Monitoring
Ecological Centre
Damiano Di Simine, Presidente di Legambiente Lombardia
Modera: Salvatore Carrubba – Il Sole24ore
Segue la premiazione dello studente vincitore del concorso indetto dal Collegio di Milano l’anno in-
ternazionale della biodiversità: fra natura e cultura
ore 21_ Una notte al museo - Night at the Museum

Saluti iniziali di Stefano Mazzotti per l’Associazione Nazionela Musei Scientifici
Cena tra le sale del Museo offerta dal Collegio di Milano e visita tra le sale e nelle collezioni guidata
dai conservatori del Museo.
VENERDÌ 3 SETTEMBRE
Aula Magna - Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca
IV CONGRESSO SIBE _ secondo giorno
ore 9.30_ Invited speaker: Claudio Bandi. Lateral gene transfer and the origin of eukaryotic cells
ore 11_ Simposio: Comunicare l’evoluzione. Introduce e modera Chiara Ceci

Scienziati e giornalisti: mondi a parte? No, mondi diversi. Nico Pitrelli
L’evoluzione in redazione. Marco Ferrari
I giochi sleali dell’antidarwinismo. Telmo Pievani
ore 14.30_ Sessione 3 – Filogenesi

Chairman: Francesco Santini
Angelica Crottini
Disentangling the evolutionary history of the Tubifex species complex (Annelida, Clitellata): a compari-
son between molecular phylogeny and cytogenetics.
Emiliano Trucchi
Re-framing Model choice in phylogeographic Approximate Bayesian Computation
Omar Rota Stabelli

Dating arthropod relationships using soft constrains and phylogenomic datasets: methodological and
paleoecological implications
Federico Plazzi
Phylogenetic representativeness: a new method for evaluation taxon sampling in evolutionary studies
Francesco Nardi
One tree with many dates: assessing the variation of time estimates across different datasets
Luca Pozzi
Assessing molecular divergence time estimates and the placement of alternative calibration points in
the primate tree
Simonetta A. Angioi
Population structure and gene flow of European landraces of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)
Roberto Feuda
The origin of retinal binding domain. A phylogenomics investigation of the origin of vision in Metazoa
ore 17_ Poster session
ore 18.30_ fine programma del giorno
ore 20.30 Cena sociale - Social Dinner presso l’Orto Botanico Cascina Rosa dell’Università degli Studi
di Milano
SABATO 4 SETTEMBRE
Aula Magna - Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano
IV CONGRESSO SIBE _ terzo giorno
ore 9.30_ Invited speaker: Menno Schilthuizen. Through the Looking Glass: Mirror Images in Animal
Form
ore 11_ Sessione 4 - Organism evolution

Chairman: Lino Ometto
Roberta Pennati
Comparative neuroanatomy of ascidian and amphioxus larvae: inferences on the nervous system of the
chordate ancestor
Roberto Guidetti
Dormancy strategies in tardigrades: evolutionary aspects and ecological meanings
Fabrizio Ghiselli
The mitochondrial bottleneck: strict sex-specific mtDNA segregation in the germline of the DUI species
Venerupis philippinarum (Bivalvia Veneridae)
Alessandro Dell’Anna
The early emergence of a central nervous system in basal metazoans
Luca Cornetti
Evolutionary relationships between Zootoca vivipara subspecies as inferred from patterns of genetic varia-
tion in Alpine populations
Elena Bitocchi
Origin and domestication of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)
Isabella D’Anna
Pristionchus uniformis, should I stay or should I go. Host switching in a nematode
Matteo Montagna
DNA barcoding a tool to detect cryptic species? Amblyomma cajennense, a case of study
ore 12.30_ Premiazioni (premio canestrini, miglior poster e miglior essay divulgativa)
ore 14.30_ Sessione 5 - Human Evolution

Chairman David Caramelli
Valeria Montano
Pre-Neolithic signals of population expansion in Bantu speakers detected by high resolution analysis of
Y-chromosome lineages.
Frederick T. Wehrle
Sensory drive of colour signals in humans
Silvia Ghirotto
No evidence of Neandertal admixture in Cro-Magnoid and modern European mitochondrial genomes
Silvia Fuselli
Humans and their environment: the evolution of loci involved in metabolism of exogenous molecules in
globally diverse populations
Caterina Chianella
Identifying genetic bases of human adaptation to high altitude
ore 16_ coffee break
ore 16.30_ Sessione 6 - Evolutionary Theory

Chairman Francesco Frati
Emanuele: Serrelli
Fitness Landscapes and Surfaces of Selective Value
Giuseppe Damiani
Development of a new evolutionary theory
Stefano Mona
Genetic consequence of habitat fragmentation during a range expansion
Telmo Pievani
Extended Synthesis: a progressive shift of Research Programme
ore 17.30_ Assemblea generale SIBE ed elezione nuovo direttivo
ore 19_ fine congresso
ore 20.30_ Proiezione del film Creation al Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano. Projection of the movie
Creation, at the Natural History Museum
DOVE
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
I lavori del congresso si svolgeranno il 2 e 3 settembre presso l’Aula Magna dell’ Università degli Studi di
Milano Bicocca, al primo piano dell’edificio U6, in Piazza Dell’Ateneo Nuovo.
Il 4 settembre, invece, si terranno presso presso l’Aula Magna del Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano in
corso di porta Venezia, 55.
Turati
P.ta Venezia
Palestro
INVITED SPEAKERS
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
FRANTISEK MAREC
Frantisek Marec si dedica da oltre 20 anni allo studio della struttura dei cromosomi olocentrici di Lepi-
dotteri con particolare interesse per la composizione e l’evoluzione dei cromosomi sessuali.
Dopo aver lavorato per numerosi anni in Germania nel gruppo del Prof Walter Traut, si è trasferito in Re-
pubblica Ceca dove ancora oggi afferisce al Dipartimento di Genetica dell’Istituto di Entomologia presso il
Biology Centre della Academy of Sciences ceca.
È editor in chief dell’European Journal of Entomology.
INVITED SPEAKERS
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
CLAUDIO BANDI
Claudio Bandi è professore associato di Parassitologia e Malattie Parassitarie presso l’Università degli
Studi di Milano. Gli interessi di ricerca di CB riguardano la biologia evoluzionistica del parassitismo
e la simbiosi intracellulare. In particolare, si è occupato di Wolbachia, descrivendo la presenza di questo
batterio nelle filarie, e avviando i primi studi sulla terapia antisimbiotica delle filariosi. Recentemente, ha de-
scritto il batterio intramitocondriale Midichloria mitochondrii. Indagini sulla genomica di M. mitochondrii e
sulla sua biologia sono in corso presso il laboratorio di CB.
INVITED SPEAKERS
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
MENNO SCHILTHUIZEN
Menno Schilthuizen è Research Scientist al Netherlandd Centre for Biodiversity “Naturalis” e Extraor-
dinary Professor dell’Università di Groningen. Inoltre è ricercatore associato dell’Institute for Tropical
Biology and Conservation presso la University Malaysia Sabah, dove ha lavorato come professore associato
dal 2000 al 2006. Si occupa di biologia evoluzionistica, sistematica e di ecologia. Le sue attività di studio
riguardano le lumache terricole sia tropicali che mediterranee, vespe pararassite, coleotteri scavatori,
uccelli e il batterio simbionte Wolbachia.
Dal 1994 si occupa attivamente della comunicazione scientifica con numerosi contributi in numerose rivi-
ste come Science, ScienceNOW a Natural History, il quotidiano nazionale malese The Star e diversi giornali
come NRC Handelsblad, Bionieuws, de Volkskrant e Intermediair.
È autore di un libro sulla speciazione intitolato Flies Frogs & Dandelions; the Making of the Species (Oxford
University Press; tradotto in in francese e tedesco) e di un libro sull’ecologia e la diversità dal titolo: The
Loom of Life: Unrevelling Ecosystems (Springer Verlag)
http://science.naturalis.nl/schilthuizen
http://www.mennoschilthuizen.org
schilthuizen@naturalis.nl
SERATA BIODIVERSITÀ
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
GIOVEDÌ 2 SETTEMBRE 2010 ORE 20.00

Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano
C.so Venezia 55
Biodiversità, fra natura e cultura: l’importanza della divulgazione scientifica.

con il patrocinio del MIUR
ore 18_ fine dei lavori del congresso e trasporto dei partecipanti ai Giardini di Porta Venezia
ore 19_ Aperitivo al BIOLab

Il BIOLAB si trova nelle serre di Palazzo Dugnani,
all’interno dei giardini di Porta Venezia come il Museo,
solamente dalla parte opposta. The Biolab is located
in the greenhouses of Palazzo Dugnani,
in the Porta Venezia Gardens like the Museum,
only on the other side.
ore 20.00_ Tavola rotonda

Introduzione
Giancarlo Lombardi, Presidente Fondazione Collegio delle Università Milanesi,
Discussants
Telmo Pievani, Filosofia della Scienza, Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca
Maurizio Casiraghi, Biologia degli Invertebrati, Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca
Francesco Rovero, Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali
e responsabile del progetto Udzungwa Monitoring Ecological Centre
Damiano Di Simine, Presidente di Legambiente Lombardia
Modera
Salvatore Carrubba – Il Sole24ore
Segue la premiazione dello studente vincitore del concorso indetto dal Collegio di Milano L’ANNO IN-
TERNAZIONALE DELLA BIODIVERSITÀ: FRA NATURA E CULTURA
ore 21.00_ Una notte al museo - Night at the Museum.

Saluti iniziali di Stefano Mazzotti per l’Associazione Nazionale Musei Scientifici
La sera del 2 settembre, il Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano apre le sue porte ai partecipanti del congresso
SIBE per dare vita a una emozionante serata.
Dopo aver visitato il Biolab per l’Aperitivo e aver assistito alla tavola rotonda e alla premiazione del concor-
so, il Collegio di Milano ci offrirà una cena tra le sale del Museo che potremo poi conoscere grazie a una
apertura esclusiva e molto speciale. I curatori ci guideranno tra le sale e le collezioni e gli operatori della
Associazione Didattica Museale animeranno la serata…
CONCORSO
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
L’ANNO INTERNAZIONALE DELLA BIODIVERSITÀ: FRA NATURA E CULTURA

Promosso da Il Collegio di Milano
In occasione dell’Anno Internazionale della Biodiversità proclamato dalle Nazioni Unite, nell’ ottica di pro-
muovere le lauree tecnico-scientifiche e di incentivare il sapere e l’istruzione di carattere scientifico, il Colle-
gio di Milano bandisce un concorso avente come tema: L’ anno internazionale della biodiversità: fra natura
e cultura. Sarà premiato un elaborato riguardante temi relativi alla diversità naturale e umana: il valore
scientifico ed economico della biodiversità, le minacce che incombono su di essa, come proteggerla, l’ edu-
cazione ambientale, l’impatto delle attività umane, lo sviluppo sostenibile, la diversità naturale e la diversità
delle culture.
Possono partecipare tutti gli studenti iscritti a una delle Università dell’ UE negli a.a. 2008-2009 e/o 2009-
2010 a corsi di Laurea Triennale, Laurea Specialistica o a Ciclo Unico.
Il premio è un viaggio a carattere naturalistico e antropologico di 10 giorni per due persone in Tanzania
(regione dell’Eastern Arc), sulle tracce delle “montagne incantate” che custodiscono nelle loro foreste pluvia-
li uno scrigno di biodiversità unico al mondo (parte di uno dei 34 “hot spot” di biodiversità sul pianeta).
Il viaggio potrà essere effettuato in un periodo del 2011 in collaborazione con il Museo Tridentino di Scien-
ze Naturali (Trento), che gestisce una stazione di ricerca ed educazione ambientale nei monti Udzungwa,
cardine di un progetto di cooperazione internazionale per la difesa della diversità naturale e culturale locale
(“Community Based Conservation”). Il viaggio comprende volo aereo A/R MIL-Tanzania e alloggio per
tutto il soggiorno per due persone.
L’iniziativa ha ottenuto il patrocinio del Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca.
Il vincitore sarà premiato giovedì 2 settembre 2010 in occasione di una serata appositamente dedicata
presso il Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano, con inizio alle ore 19.30.
“Un’ etica ambientale destinata a durare sarà un’etica mirata a preservare non solo la salute e la libertà della
nostra specie, ma anche l’accesso a quel mondo in cui lo spirito umano vide la luce”- Edward O. Wilson,
Il Collegio di Milano
La Fondazione Collegio delle Università milanesi è un campus d’ eccellenza interuniversitario per studenti
di talento delle università milanesi e che offre loro un percorso formativo speciale e differenziato, integrativo
dei loro studi accademici.
I membri della Fondazione che oggi sostengono il Collegio sono le sette università di Milano (Università
degli Studi, Università Cattolica, Università Bocconi, IULM, Università degli Studi Bicocca, Politecnico,
Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele), Comune di Milano, Regione Lombardia, Provincia di Milano, Camera
di Commercio di Milano, Aspen Institute Italia, Assolombarda e alcune grandi imprese: Allianz Ras, Atm,
Bracco, Edison, Fondazione Corriere della Sera, Gruppo Falck, Intesa San Paolo, Mediaset, Pirelli & C., Se-
curfin Holdings, Telecom Italia.
SIMPOSIO: COMUNICARE L’EVOLUZIONE
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
VENERDÌ 3 SETTEMBRE ORE 11

Aula Magna – Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca
Introduce e modera Chiara Ceci

Nico Pitrelli Scienziati e giornalisti: mondi a parte? No, mondi diversi.
Marco Ferrari L’evoluzione in redazione
Telmo Pievani I giochi sleali dell’antidarwinismo
Nico Pitrelli è condirettore del Master in Comunicazione della Scienza della Sissa di Trieste.
È responsabile organizzativo del gruppo di ricerca Ics (Innovazioni nella Comunicazione
della Scienza) nella stessa istituzione. E’ direttore di Jcom - Journal of Science Communication
ed è stato vicedirettore della Fiera Internazionale dell’Editoria Scientifica di Trieste (Fest) nel
2007 e nel 2008. Ha pubblicato L’uomo che restituì la parola ai matti. Franco Basaglia, la co-
municazione e la fine dei manicomi (Editori Riuniti, 2004); con Yuri Castelfranchi, La grande
storia della Terra (La Biblioteca, Milano, 2002, disponibile anche in inglese e portoghese)
e Come si comunica la scienza? (Laterza, 2007); con Pietro Greco, Scienza e media ai tempi
della globalizzazione (Codice, Torino, 2009).
Marco Ferrari è biologo, giornalista scientifico, caposervizio scienze di Geo.

Ha scritto centinaia di articoli di divulgazione naturalistica per riviste, quotidiani e setti-
manali, ha collaborato ad alcune enciclopedia di scienza e natura, ha tradotto una decina
di libri scientifici e scritto altrettanto volumi di divulgazione naturalista. Collabora a Pikaia
dalla nascita del sito.
Telmo Pievani è professore associato di Filosofia della Scienza presso l’Università degli Studi di Milano
Bicocca. Ha ricoperto gli insegnamenti di Epistemologia e di Epistemologia Evolutiva.
Dal 2007 è vice-Direttore del Dipartimento di Scienze Umane per la Formazione “Riccardo
Massa” e vice-Presidente del Corso di laurea in Scienze dell’Educazione; segretario del Con-
siglio Scientifico e coordinatore del festival della Scienza di Genova; insieme a Vittorio Bo,
è direttore scientifico del Festival delle Scienze di Roma. Fa parte dell’editorial board di pre-
stigiose riviste scientifiche internazionali come Evolutionary Biology e Evolution: Education
and Outreach; insieme a Niles Eldredge, è direttore scientifico del progetto enciclopedico Il
futuro del pianeta di UTET Grandi Opere; è direttore di Pikaia, il portale italiano dell’evolu-
zione e coordinatore scientifico del Darwin Day di Milano. Collabora regolarmente a riviste
e giornali fra i quali principalmente La Stampa, Il Corriere della Sera, Le Scienze, MicroMe-
ga. Fra i volumi pubblicati ricordiamo: Homo sapiens e altre catastrofi, Melteni, Roma, 2002,
Introduzione alla filosofia della biologia, Laterza, Roma, 2005, Chi ha paura di Darwin?, con
E. Capanna e C.A. Redi, Ibis Ed., Como-Pavia, 2006, Creazione senza Dio, Einaudi, Torino,
2006, In difesa di Darwin, Bompani, Milano, 2007, Sante Ragioni, con C. Castellacci, Chia-
relettere, Milano, 2007 e Nati per credere, con Girotto e Vallortigara, Codice Ed., Torino,
2008.
CENA SOCIALE
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
VENERDÌ 3 SETTEMBRE ORE 20.30

Orto Botanico di Cascina Rosa
via Valvassori Peroni
La cena sociale del IV congresso della Sibe si svolgerà nella splendida cornice dell’Orto Botanico di Ca-
scina Rosa gentilmente messo a disposizione dall’Università degli Studi di Milano.
L’Orto si trova in via Valvassori Peroni (MM LAMBRATE, Tram 5, Autobus 61).
Per maggiori informazioni:

http://www.unimi.it/ateneo/3821.htm
CREATION THE MOVIE
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
SABATO 4 SETTEMBRE ORE 2030

Presso l’Aula Magna del Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano
From director Jon Amiel (The Singing Detective, Entrapment) and writer John Collee (Master and Com-
mander: The Far Side of the World) comes CREATION. A psychological, heart-wrenching love story starring
Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) as Charles Darwin, the
film is based on “Annie’s Box,” a biography penned by Darwin’s great-great-grandson Randal Keynes using
personal letters and diaries of the Darwin family. We take a unique and inside look at Darwin, his family
and his love for his deeply religious wife, played by Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind, Requiem for a
Dream), as, torn between faith and science, Darwin struggles to finish his legendary book “On the Origin
of Species,” which goes on to become the foundation for evolutionary biology. The film co-stars Toby Jones
(Frost/Nixon, Infamous) and Jeremy Northam (Gosford Park, Amistad), and was produced by Jeremy Tho-
mas (The Last Emperor, Sexy Beast) at Recorded Picture Company with BBC Films and Ocean Pictures.
http://creationthemovie.com/
ABSTRACT - SESSIONI ORALI
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
SESSIONE 1
GIOVEDÌ 2 SETTEMBRE ORE 11
Aula magna - Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca
Molecular evolution
Chairman: Mauro Mandrioli
Stefano Castellana
Exploring the role of mutation and selection on synonymous variability in metazoan mitochondrial
genomes
Andrea Lucchetti
Short INterspersed Elements activity, adaptation and genomic distribution in termite genome
Federica Tammaro
Molecular evolution of a gene cluster of female serine proteases involved in post-mating mechanisms of
the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae
Isabel Maida
The evolutionary dynamics of plasmids and chromosomes inhabiting the same bacterial cytoplasm
Renato Lupi
A survey of mitochondrial evolution in Metazoa: large variability in little genomes
Martina Lari
Mithocondrial DNA (mtDNA) temporal variation in wild and domestic pigs from a North-Eastern Italian
site
Paolo Innocenti
The sexually antagonistic genes of Drosophila melanogaster
Davide Sassera
The Midichloria mitochondrii genome project
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
SESSIONE 2
GIOVEDÌ 2 SETTEMBRE ORE 16.30
Biodiversity and Evolution

Chairman: Ivan Scotti
Francesco Santini
Origin ad evolution of the modern coral reef fish fauna
Gentile Francesco Ficetola

Ecogeographical variation in amphibian body size: from patterns to processes
Michele Cesari
Barcoding meiofauna: the MoDNA (Morphology and DNA) project on DNA barcoding and phylogeny of
Tardigrada
Marco Trizzino
A multigenic molecular phylogeny and biogeography of the “Haenydra” lineage (Coleoptera, Hydraenidae,
genus Hydraena)
Anna Fabiani
Conservation of Galápagos land iguanas: genetic monitoring and predictions of a long-term program on the
island of Santa Cruz
Andrea Galimberti
Molecular tools help resolving a taxonomic enigma: the case of Paradoxornis webbianus and P. alphonsianus
(Aves: Paradoxornithidae)
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
SESSIONE 3
VENERDÌ 3 SETTEMBRE ORE 14.30
Filogenesi
Chairman: Francesco Santini
Angelica Crottini
Disentangling the evolutionary history of the Tubifex species complex (Annelida, Clitellata): a comparison
between molecular phylogeny and cytogenetics.
Emiliano Trucchi
Re-framing Model choice in phylogeographic Approximate Bayesian Computation
Omar Rota Stabelli

Dating arthropod relationships using soft constrains and phylogenomic datasets: methodological and pale-
oecological implications
Federico Plazzi
Phylogenetic representativeness: a new method for evaluation taxon sampling in evolutionary studies
Francesco Nardi
One tree with many dates: assessing the variation of time estimates across different datasets
Luca Pozzi
Assessing molecular divergence time estimates and the placement of alternative calibration points in the
primate tree
Simonetta A. Angioi
Population structure and gene flow of European landraces of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)
Roberto Feuda
The origin of retinal binding domain. A phylogenomics investigation of the origin of vision in Metazoa
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
SESSIONE 4
SABATO 4 SETTEMBRE ORE 11
Aula Magna - Museo di Storia Naturale
Organism evolution
Chairman tbd
Roberta Pennati
Comparative neuroanatomy of ascidian and amphioxus larvae: inferences on the nervous system of the
chordate ancestor
Roberto Guidetti
Dormancy strategies in tardigrades: evolutionary aspects and ecological meanings
Fabrizio Ghiselli
The mitochondrial bottleneck: strict sex-specific mtDNA segregation in the germline of the DUI species
Venerupis philippinarum (Bivalvia Veneridae)
Alessandro Dell’Anna
The early emergence of a central nervous system in basal metazoans
Luca Cornetti
Evolutionary relationships between Zootoca vivipara subspecies as inferred from patterns of genetic varia-
tion in Alpine populations
Elena Bitocchi
Origin and domestication of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)
Isabella D’Anna
Pristionchus uniformis, should I stay or should I go. Host switching in a nematode
Matteo Montagna
DNA barcoding a tool to detect cryptic species? Amblyomma cajennense, a case of study
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
SESSIONE 5
SABATO 4 SETTEMBRE ORE 14.30
Human Evolution
Chairman David Caramelli
Valeria Montano
Pre-Neolithic signals of population expansion in Bantu speakers detected by high resolution analysis of Y-
chromosome lineages.
Frederick T. Wehrle
Sensory drive of colour signals in humans
Silvia Ghirotto
No evidence of Neandertal admixture in Cro-Magnoid and modern European mitochondrial genomes
Silvia Fuselli
Humans and their environment: the evolution of loci involved in metabolism of exogenous molecules in
globally diverse populations
Caterina Chianella
Identifying genetic bases of human adaptation to high altitude
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
SESSIONE 6
SABATO 4 SETTEMBRE ORE 16.30
Evolutionary theory
Chairman tbd
Emanuele Serrelli
Fitness Landscapes and Surfaces of Selective Value
Giuseppe Damiani
Development of a new evolutionary theory
Stefano Mona
Genetic consequence of habitat fragmentation during a range expansion
Telmo Pievani
Extended Synthesis: a progressive shift of Research Programme
SESSIONE 1_ MOLECULAR EVOLUTION
MOLECULAR EVOLUTION
ANDREA LUCHETTI
Dip. Biologia Evoluzionistica Sperimentale – Università di Bologna
Assegnista di ricerca
andrea.luchetti@unibo.it
SHORT INTERSPERSED ELEMENTS ACTIVITY, ADAPTATION AND GENOMIC DISTRIBUTION

IN TERMITE GENOME.
Andrea Luchetti & Barbara Mantovani
Transposable elements (TEs) are self-replicating DNA sequences, widespread in eukaryotic genomes: jumping
across the host genome, TEs interact either positively or negatively with gene and genome functionalities.
Evolutionary models proposed so far to describe the dynamics of TEs within genomes rely on the so-called
“selfish DNA” theory, in an equilibrium between selection and mobilization capacity.
Moreover, beside the simple TEs accumulation, also their distribution within genomes seems to be shaped
by either selective pressures or local recombination rate. Here, we present the evolutionary history and
genomic distribution of four SINEs (short, non-autonomous elements) discovered in termite (Insecta,
Isoptera) genome through DNA libraries sequencing and Genbank EST collection scanning.
Two SINEs were found only within the Isopteran lineage, accordingly with age distribution analysis, while
the other two arose before the splitting Blattoidea/Isoptera (~150 Myr ago). One of them (Taluc) shares a
conserved sequence block with other SINEs isolated in Orthoptera and Diptera, as already observed for
some SINEs in mammals and vertebrates. It also exhibits 3’ sequence changes across cockroaches and termite
taxa, suggesting a retropositional adaptation in different genomic contexts.
Flanking region annotation showed a preferential insertion of the four SINEs in non-coding region, with
significant links to microsatellite loci. In the DNA random clone library, the older element (Talud) is more
frequently found near coding regions with respect to the other three elements. This genomic distribution
parallels the one observed for the human SINE Alu, where a clear explanation for this distribution has not
been yet determined. Selective mechanisms as well as peculiar organismal traits are here proposed to explain
the observed biology of termite SINEs.
MOLECULAR EVOLUTION
DAVIDE SASSERA
Sezione di Patologia Generale e Parassitologia, DIPAV, Facoltà di Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di
Milano, via Celoria 10, 20133, Milano, Italy
THE MIDICHLORIA MITOCHONDRII GENOME PROJECT.

Davide Sassera, Sara Epis, Matteo Montagna, Francesco Commandatore, Claudio Bandi
The hard tick Ixodes ricinus is an arthropod of great importance under a medical and veterinary point of
view, as it can be vector of a number of bacterial, viral and protozoan diseases (e.g. Lyme disease caused
by Borrelia spp.). Furthermore this tick species harbours a recently described intracellular symbiont:
Midichloria mitochondrii. This alphaproteobacterium is a member of the Rickettsiales, a bacterial order
that encompasses pathogens (Rickettsia, Ehrlichia, Anaplasma), manipulators of the host reproduction
(Wolbachia of arthropods) and also mutualistic symbionts (Wolbachia of nematodes). The Rickettsiales are
considered to be the closest relatives of mitochondria, bearing a resemblance of the alphaproteobacterial
mitochondrial ancestor that entered the protoeukariotic cell two billion years ago. But M. mitochondrii is
not only phylogenetically close to the mitochondrion, it also presents a unique type of interaction with it.
M. mitochondrii is in fact the only bacterium ever described able to invade the mitochondria of any metazoan.
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) photographs clearly show that M. mitochondrii not only resides
in the cytoplasm of oocytes and of accessory ovarian cells of its host, but it can also colonize mitochondria.
In particular bacteria localize in the intramembrane space, between the inner and outer membranes of the
organelles. TEM images suggest that M. mitochondrii consumes the mitochondrial matrix and multiplies
within the remnants of the organelle, thus indicating a parasitic relationship with the hosT. Molecular data,
however, indicate a 100% prevalence of M. mitochondrii in wild-collected females of I. ricinus, which is
usually regarded as a sign of beneficial symbiosis.
The sequencing of the genome is a feasible strategy in order to obtain a better understating of the biology
of this symbiont, of the interaction with the host and with the mitochondria. The unique localization of
M. mitochondrii and the current lack of cell cultures make it challenging to obtain sufficient quantities of
pure bacterial DNA. In order to overcome this challenge, we developed a specific method, which we hereby
describe. A semi-engorged I. ricinus female was collected and the ovary was extracted. Single oocytes were
isolated by micromanipulation, then grouped in pools of 10-20 and incubated in a slightly hypotonic medium
that allowed the formation of small holes in the cell membrane. The cytoplasms leaking from the holes were
collected and multiple displacement amplification (MDA) was performed in order to obtain micrograms
of M. mitochondrii DNA. MDA products were qPCR tested in order to assess uniform amplification of the
genome. Furthermore the possible presence of contaminating I. ricinus nuclear DNA was also investigated
with qPCR. It was thus possible to select uniformally amplified MDA products that contained minimal I.
ricinus DNA contamination. Two MDA products were subjected to pyrosequencing by 454 (half titanium
run and a quarter GS-FLX paired-ends run) and Sanger sequencing (500 clones, both ends).
The genome was assembled using Mira assembler, Bambus scaffolder, Gap4 for contig viewing and ad-
hoc bioinformatics tools for finishing. Inverse-PCRs were performed to close gaps and disambiguate
repetive regions. Phylogenomics analyses were performed (MrBayes, PhyML) in order to assess the exact
phylogenetic placement of M. mitochondrii, in particular in respect to bacteria of the order Rickettsiales and
to mitochondria. Results of these analyses as well as other genome study results (currently in progress) will
be presented.
MOLECULAR EVOLUTION
PAOLO INNOCENTI
Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
PhD student
paolo.innocenti@ebc.uu.se
THE SEXUALLY ANTAGONISTIC GENES OF DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER
When selective pressures differ between males and females, the genes experiencing these conflicting
evolutionary forces are said to be sexually antagonistic. Although the phenotypic effect of these genes has
been documented in both wild and laboratory populations, their identity, number, and location remains
unknown. We used a combination of hemiclonal analysis and genomics technology (microarrays) to ascertain
the existence of intralocus sexual conflict and to investigate its genetic basis. One hundred hemiclonal
lines were established and assayed for both male and female relative fitness in a replicated design under
competitive conditions. We found significant genetic variation for both male and female relative fitness, as
well as a significant negative genetic correlation between the sexes – thereby confirming the existence of
intralocus sexual conflict.
In order to identify which loci contribute to fitness variation and the sexually antagonistic effect, we combined
data on sex-specific fitness and genome-wide transcript abundance in a quantitative genetic framework,
and identified a group of candidate genes experiencing sexually antagonistic selection in the adult, which
correspond to 8% of Drosophila melanogaster genes. As predicted, the X chromosome is enriched for these
genes, but surprisingly they represent only a small proportion of the total number of sex-biased transcripts,
indicating that the latter is a poor predictor of sexual antagonism. Furthermore, the majority of genes whose
expression profiles showed a significant relationship with either male or female adult fitness are also sexually
antagonistic. These results provide a first insight into the genetic basis of intralocus sexual conflict and
indicate that genetic variation for fitness is dominated and maintained by sexual antagonism, potentially
neutralizing any indirect genetic benefits of sexual selection.
MOLECULAR EVOLUTION
MARTINA LARI
DepT. of Evolutionary Biology, University of Firenze, Via del Proconsolo 12, 50122 Firenze, Italy
Post Doc
martina.lari@unifi.it
MITHOCONDRIAL DNA (MTDNA) TEMPORAL VARIATION IN WILD AND DOMESTIC PIGS

FROM A NORTH-EASTERN ITALIAN SITE.
Martina Lari1, Stefania Vai1, Matteo Romandini2, Ermanno Rizzi3, Giorgio Corto3, Paola Visentini4,
Gianluca De Bellis3, David Caramelli1, & Giorgio Bertorelle5.
Ancient DNA analysis of faunal remains is a useful tool to reconstruct past migration events and different
aspects of a domestication process. In the last five years, particular attention has been addressed using both
modern and ancient DNA data to clarify the complex domestication processes responsible of the transition
between the wild board and the domestic pig (Sus scrofa).
In this study we focused our attention on a single site in Northern Italy, Biarzo Shelter (Udine). This choice
is justified by at least three characteristics of this site. First of all, Sus scrofa is the most represented species at
all stratigraphic levels, with large number of specimens available. Second, Biarzo Shelter represents the only
Northern Italy site with continuous stratigraphic records of the Pleistocene-Olocene transition.
This continuity provides an opportunity to directly monitor modifications in both archaeozoological
parameters and genetic traits in a ≈6000 years time frame from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Neolithic.
Third, the geographic area of the site represents a likely connection region between the Balkans, Italy, and
Central Europe, both for animal migrations and for cultural exchanges. We selected 28 remains recovered
from five different stratigraphic units assigned to three different archeological contexts (Epigravettian,
Mesolithic and Neolithic). Following standard ancient DNA procedures, we analyzed a small fragment of
the mitochondrial DNA (≈80bp) that, despite the short length, has been showed to be highly informative.
Our preliminary results suggest that a variation of the frequency of different haplotypes occurred through
time, possibly related to the early stages of the pig domestication process.
In addition, we recovered in two Mesolithic samples a sequence motif observed today only in the Near East
and which was previously associated to the Neolithic diffusion of herding and farming lifestyles.
1DepT. of Evolutionary Biology, University of Firenze, Via del Proconsolo 12, 50122 Firenze, Italy
2DepT. of Biology and Evolution, Paleobiology Prehistory and Anthropology Section, University of Ferrara, Corso Ercole
I d’Este 32, 44100 Ferrara, Italy

3 Institute for Biomedical Technologies, National Research Council (ITB – CNR), Via F.lli Cervi 93, Segrate (Milano),
Italy.
4Museo Friulano di Storia Naturale, Udine, Italy
5DepT. of Biology and Evolution, University of Ferrara, via Luigi Borsari, 46, 44100 Ferrara, Italy
MOLECULAR EVOLUTION
RENATO LUPI
Dipartimento di Scienze Biomolecolari e Biotecnologie, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italia
PhD Student
renato.lupi@unimi.it
A SURVEY OF MITOCHONDRIAL EVOLUTION IN METAZOA: LARGE VARIABILITY IN LITTLE

GENOMES
Renato Lupi, Carmela Gissi
The animal mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) has been traditionally used as molecular marker for phylogenetic
reconstructions but the study of the evolutionary history of this small genome can also help to unravel the
hidden link between structural and functional genomic features. In this respect, the animal mtDNA can be
regarded as a model in comparative genomics, whose use is also enhanced by the availability of complete
sequences for about 2000 species.
In spite of the biased taxon sampling, the analysis of the present mtDNA dataset is doubtless promising
to reconstruct the evolutionary history of this entire genome in a wide phylogenetic range and to identify
possible differences in its evolutionary trend among different lineages.
In order to carefully analyze the plethora of available mt sequences of Metazoa, we have developed a
specialized mtDNA database, MitoZoa, collecting (nearly) complete mtDNA entries whose annotations
have been significantly corrected/improved using a semi-automatic reannotation pipeline.
MitoZoa has been designed both to address comparative analyses of genomic features, such as gene order,
non-coding regions and gene content, and to help comparisons at short evolutionary distances, such as in
congeneric species. Here, we will briefly present the MitoZoa database and the preliminary results of our
investigation on the mtDNA evolutionary dynamics in Metazoa: we have investigated the variability of basic
mitogenomic features, such as gene content, gene compactness, and base composition, and the trend of gene
order rearrangements in the main metazoan lineages.
In fast-evolving lineages, the same features have also been investigated in congeneric species, i.e. in closely-
related species where saturation of evolutionary changes is unlikely to occur.
Our data show that the mtDNA plasticity of Metazoa is higher that previously thought and that the mt
evolutionary trend has changed several times, and sometimes dramatically, in the metazoan phylogenetic
tree.
MOLECULAR EVOLUTION
ISABEL MAIDA
Laboratory of Microbial and Molecular Evolution, Department of Evolutionary Biology,
Via Romana 17-19, University of Florence, I-50125 Firenze, Italy
isabel.maida@unifi.it
THE EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS OF PLASMIDS AND CHROMOSOMES INHABITING THE

SAME BACTERIAL CYTOPLASM
Isabel Maida, Marco Fondi, Maria Cristiana Papaleo, Elena Perrin and Renato Fani
Despite the key-role of plasmids in the horizontal spreading of genetic information within the prokaryotic
community, their evolutionary dynamics has been poorly explored. Particularly interesting from an
evolutionary viewpoint is the cross-talk existing between the different DNA molecules (plasmids and
chromosomes) inhabiting the same cytoplasm. In order to shed some ligth on this issue, we performed
a detailed analysis of the genome of Burkholderia vietnamiensis G4, a β-proteobacterium belonging to
the Burkholderia genus. We focused the attention on this micro-organism since its genome consisted of
five plasmids and three chromosomes of different size; hence, strain G4 can be considered as a model
microorganism to analyze the molecular mechanisms responsible of the gene rearrangements occurring
between different DNA molecules of the same cell. To this purpose, we adopted the pipeline Blast2Network
(B2N). This software allows the visualization of evolutionary relationships among a datasets of sequences
through the building up of identity-based similarity networks.
The aims of our work were: i) the identification and the analysis of the possible evolutionary relationships
existing within and among the five B. vietnamiensis G4 plasmids at both intra- and intermolecular level,
ii) the analysis of the gene flow (if any) existing between the chromosomes and plasmids of different size
inhabiting the same cytoplasm.
Data obtained revealed: i) the existence of intra-molecular rearrangements mainly due to duplication events
that occurred in different stages of plasmids evolution; ii) an extensive gene flow between both different
plasmids and plasmids and chromosomes; iii) these genetic rearrangements involved single genes, multiple
genes, operons and/or gene clusters; iv) as might be expected, mobile genetic elements have played and
are still playing a key-role in the recombination events occurring between different molecules; v) complex
evolutionary pathways leading to the structure of the G4 plasmids.
MOLECULAR EVOLUTION
STEFANO CASTELLANA
Dipartimento di Genetica e Microbiologia, Università degli Studi di Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Bari
PhD student
E-mail: stefano199@gmail.com
EXPLORING THE ROLE OF MUTATION AND SELECTION ON SYNONYMOUS VARIABILITY IN

METAZOAN MITOCHONDRIAL GENOMES.
S. Castellana1, S. Vicario2, G. Donvito3 and C. Saccone4
Synonymous variability in all nuclear protein coding genes of model organisms is somehow constrained in
order to prevent ribosome slowdown during translation, because these could increase the probability of the
incorporation of un-corrected amino acid and consequently the production of toxic misfolded protein. We
investigated how synonymous variability evolves in mitochondrial genomes of Vertebrata and Insecta in
order to detect events of selective pressures acting on synonymous codons.
At first, we estimated a one-dimensional index of codon usage bias (ENC) for every genes in the collected
genomes (138 insect and 1173 vertebrate ‘RefSeq’ mtDNA), comparing it with different factors, such as the
same index calculated under a mutational scenario. Then, we compared different codon usage and base
composition (on third codon positions) likelihood models, trying to evaluate if mutation is gene or genome
specific and is the only evolutionary force that determines the codon usage bias.
At last, we collect 45 groups of complete cogeneric vertebrate mtDNAs, for analyzing the relationship
between synonymous and non-synonymous substitution rates (‘dn’, ‘ds’) within each group.
We found that codon usage bias is mainly dependent on mutation (which is gene-specific), but about 15% of
its variability is associated to gene and species factors. Base composition likelihood models confirmed that
mutational input is gene-specific, while the model in which codon usage is inferred by this input is rejected
by the 20 and 40% of insect and vertebrate species, respectively.
There is no correlation between non-synonymous and synonymous substitution rates among the protein
coding genes in each vertebrate cogeneric dataseT. This is in contrast with the hypothesis of purifying
selection acting on nuclear genes.
In the future, we are thinking to improve the modeling of codon usage by taking account the effect of
neighboring base on the mutation bias of synonymous sites.
1 Dipartimento di Genetica e Microbiologia, Università degli Studi di Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Bari
2 Istituto di Tecnologie Biomediche, CNR, sede di Bari.
3 Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, sede di Bari.
4 Dipartimento di Biochimica e Biologia Molecolare ‘E.Quagliariello’, Università degli Studi di Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Bari
MOLECULAR EVOLUTION
FEDERICA TAMMARO
Sapienza, Università di Roma, Dip. Scienze di Sanità Pubblica
PhD student
federica.tammaro@uniroma1.it
MOLECULAR EVOLUTION OF A GENE CLUSTER OF FEMALE SERINE PROTEASES INVOLVED

IN POST-MATING MECHANISMS OF THE MALARIA MOSQUITO ANOPHELES GAMBIAE
Tammaro F.1, Mancini E.1, Baldini F.2, Rogers D.3, Via A.4, Raimondo D.4, George P.5, Sharakhov I.5,
Tramontano A.4, Catteruccia F.2-3, della Torre A.1
Proteins involved in reproduction evolve rapidly due to positive selection resulting from intersexual
interaction. In Drosophila, rapid evolution driven by positive selection has been detected in proteases of
the female lower reproductive tract (LRT) known to interact with proteins of the male ejaculate. Similarly,
several proteases specifically expressed in the female LRT of Anopheles gambiae are likely to interact with
male accessory gland products transferred to females upon mating that induce a series of physiological post-
mating responses in females.
Here we report data on the molecular evolution in five members of the A. gambiae complex (A. gambiae s.s.,
A. arabiensis, A. quadriannulatus, A. melas and A. merus) of a clusters of 3 LRT specific genes potentially
involved in post-mating mechanisms. The 3 LRT-specific genes encode serine proteases that are down-
regulated after mating, two of which expressed in the atrium (and likely to digest the mating plug) and one in
the spermatheca. Adaptive evolution was detected in several codons of the 3 genes and evidences of episodic
selection were also found. The high level of replacement polymorphisms found in all 3 proteases suggests
that these duplicated genes might experience relaxed evolutionary constraints that could be important to
rapidly explore and eventually fix new advantageous variants. Moreover, the structural modeling of these
proteins highlighted important differences in their substrate specificity and allowed to localize and better
evaluate the effects of amino acid replacements in sites evolving under selective pressures.
Novel approaches will be developed to characterize the proteolytic activity of these proteases and, thus,
to better intepret the observed evolutionary patterns. Elucidating the functional role of this gene family
would in fact allow to understand its importance in the reproductive success of A. gambiae species, and to
eventually improve malaria vector control strategies.
1 ‘Sapienza’ Università di Roma, Dip. Scienze di Sanità Pubblica, Italy;

2 Universita’ di Perugia, Dip. Medicina Sperimentale e Scienze biochimiche;
3
Imperial College, London, UK;
4 ‘Sapienza’ Università di Roma, Dip. Scienze Biochimiche;
5
DepT. of Entomology, Virgina Tech, Blacksburg, USA
SESSIONE 2_ BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION
BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION
ANDREA GALIMBERTI
Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca
tgalimba@gmail.com
MOLECULAR TOOLS HELP RESOLVING A TAXONOMIC ENIGMA: THE CASE OF PARADOXORNIS

WEBBIANUS AND PARADOXORNIS ALPHONSIANUS (AVES: PARADOXORNITHIDAE).
A. Galimberti1, A. Crottini1 2 3, A. Boto4, L. Serra5, M. Barbuto1, A. Bellati5, S. G. Baccei1, M. Casiraghi1
Two South-East Asian passerines belonging to the Family Paradoxornithidae, Paradoxornis webbianus
(Gould, 1852) and Paradoxornis alphonsianus (Verreaux, 1870), have now settled in the Palude Brabbia
Natural Reserve (Italy – VA) due to an accidental release of 150 specimens in 1995. Nowadays this population
is naturalized and it includes thousands of individuals distributed in a range of few kilometers around the
introduction locality. Even if the Italian bird-list accounts for P. webbianus and P. alphonsianus as separated
species, the controversial systematic of Paradoxornithidae makes their taxonomical characterization
uncertain.
At a morphological level, P. webbianus and P. alphonsianus mainly differ in plumage color and pattern
of breast and head although several intermediate morphs have been described in their natural range of
distribution.
Molecular analyses based on mitochondrial markers (Cyt-b, CoxI, 12S rDNA e 16S rDNA) have been
performed to reveal genetic differences between these taxa and to clarify phylogeographic relationships
among individuals from the Italian naturalized and original Chinese populations.
Results show an almost complete molecular similarity between P. webbianus and P. alphonsianus,
thus supporting the synonymisation of the two taxa. Moreover, the analyses of Chinese samples lead
to the identification of two separated and partially sympatric genetic lineages, not related to any of the
morphologically-identified subspecies recovered during our sampling campaigns.
The patterns of haplotype variability among the investigated sampling sites (in Italy and People’s Republic of
China) suggest the likely provenance of that flock of founders introduced in Italy from a single Chinese locality
(where the two taxa live in sympatry) rather than from different localities as previously hypothesized.
1 Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, ZooPlantLab, Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Bioscienze;

2 Zoological Institute, Technical University of Braunschweig, Spielmannstr. 8, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany;
3 Universita’ degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Biologia, Sezione di Zoologia e Citologia, Via Celoria 26, 20133
Milano, Italy;
4 Stazione Ornitologica Palude Brabbia, Via Ferrarin 6, 21018 Sesto Calende (VA);
5 ISPRA., Via Ca’ Fornacetta 9, 40064 Ozzano Emilia (BO);
6 Università degl studi di Pavia, Dipartimento di Biologia Animale.

MARCO TRIZZINO
A MULTI-GENIC MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THE “HAENYDRA”

LINEAGE (COLEOPTERA, HYDRAENIDAE, GENUS HYDRAENA)
Marco Trizzino, Paolo A. Audisio, Gloria Antonini, Emiliano Mancini & Ignacio Ribera
Hydraena Kugelann represents the largest genus within the water beetle family Hydraenidae, with about 650
species widely distributed all over the world and several hundreds not yet described.
In a recent cladistic analysis, based on morphological characters, Hydraena s.l. was splitted in two subgenera:
Hydraenopsis and Hydraena s.str. Moreover, within Hydraena s.str, some derived and well-supported
monophyletic clades were recognised, and defined as “lineages”. Among them, the “Haenydra” lineage,
previously considered by many authors as a valid genus/subgenus, includes 88 species distributed esclusively
in western Palaearctic, from Portugal to Iran, but absent in North Africa. According mainly to male genitalia
features, “Haenydra” species could be divided into several species groups and complexes.
The aim of the present work was to investigate the molecular phylogeny of the whole “Haenydra” lineage
using both mitochondrial (COI, 16s rDNA, NAD1, tRNALeu) and nuclear (18s rDNA, 28s rDNA) markers,
in order to clarify the evolutionary relationships among the different species groups and complexes, and to
confirm the phylogenetic position of the “Haenydra” lineage within the large genus Hydraena.
In fact, although the monophyly of “Haenydra” is generally accepted, hydraenid specialists have been often
discordant about the phylogenetic position of the lineage within Hydraena, sometimes considering it a basal
taxon, sometimes a derived lineage.
Furthermore, molecular clocks were used to investigate the natural history of Hydraena s.str., and particularly
of “Haenydra”.
Preliminarly results well supported the monophyly and the derived phylogenetic position of the “Haenydra”
lineage, that was splitted in two major monophyletic clades: the H. gracilis and the H. dentipes clades, each
one including several sub-clades, often corresponding to previously defined species groups/complexes.
According to our calibration, the origin of “Haenydra” was estimated to be at ca. 8.3 MY, whereas relevant
geological events such as Messinian salinity crisis and Pleistocene Glacial Cylcles have been pivotal for the
great morphologic diversification of the lineage.
ANNA FABIANI
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata
Ricercatore a tempo determinato

E-mail: anna.fabiani@uniroma2.it
CONSERVATION OF GALÁPAGOS LAND IGUANAS: GENETIC MONITORING AND PREDICTIONS

OF A LONG-TERM PROGRAM ON THE ISLAND OF SANTA CRUZ
Anna Fabiani, Sabrina Rosa, Emiliano Trucchi, Cruz Marquez, Howard L. Snell, Heidi M. Snell,
Washington Tapia Aguilera, Gabriele Gentile
The distribution of the Galápagos land iguanas (Conolophus subcristatus) has been strongly affected by
human activities in the last century. Previously widespread throughout the whole archipelago, today they
inhabit only few islands, with populations often small and isolated. In this study, we analysed the population
genetic structure of land iguanas from Santa Cruz Island to investigate the genetic implications of a semi-
captive conservation program that started in middle 1970s and is still ongoing.
Nine microsatellites were used to measure the level of genetic variability and to detect potential evidence
of inbreeding and genetic sub-structure.
Furthermore, we used Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC), together with software packages for
coalescent-based simulations, to test a priori hypotheses in different demographic scenarios. Despite the
abrupt reduction in size of the original population, no evidence of inbreeding was found and the levels of
genetic variability found place between those of undisturbed populations of the archipelago.
Nevertheless, the source and the repatriated populations started differentiating (FST = 0.016) and genetic
sub-structure was found. Following our results and the simulation of possible future scenarios, we suggest
the genetic measures that should be adopted to avoid further genetic variability depletion and preserve this
vulnerable endemic species.
MICHELE CESARI
Dipartimento di Biologia – Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Assegnista di Ricerca
michele.cesari@unimore.it
BARCODING MEIOFAUNA: THE MODNA (MORPHOLOGY AND DNA) PROJECT ON DNA

BARCODING AND PHYLOGENY OF TARDIGRADA
M. Cesari1, T. Marchioro1, R. Guidetti1, L. Rebecchi1, T. Altiero1, F. Vicente2, Y. Kiosya3, N. Guil4, O. Lisi5,
R. Bertolani1
The MoDNA Project has been undertaken to study the taxonomy and phylogeny of Tardigrada by joining
molecular and morphological approaches. Tardigrades are important elements of meiofauna from marine,
limnic and terrestrial environments, including hostile-life habitats.
Tardigrade taxonomy is almost exclusively based on morphological descriptions of over 1000 species.
Therefore, the DNA barcoding method has been performed, with the aim to add and link molecular
information to the morphological appearance of each individual specimen. The whole tardigrade must
be used for molecular analysis, with consequent difficulties in correlating molecular sequences and
morphology. We have perfected methods which allow to retain individual morphological information
either from the animal before it was used for DNA extraction, or using an egg shell (when ornamented) as a
voucher specimen and extracting DNA from the corresponding newborn, or using the animal as a voucher
specimen and its eggs for DNA extraction. Combining such morphological information (LM and SEM)
with sex ratio and karyological data, it was possible to obtain a good understanding of different species
groups. First results regard the Paramacrobiotus richtersi group, the Macrobiotus hufelandi group, several
species of the genus Ramazzottius, and the supposedly widespread Milnesium tardigradum.
For this study a fragment of the mtDNA COI gene was analyzed in more than 200 specimens sampled
in Europe and America, including many type localities. This new approach has allowed us to barcode 31
species. Some of them can also be distinguished by fine morphological characters, others by karyological
and sex ratio information, others only by very different DNA sequences (cryptic species).
A phylogenetic analysis using 18S nuclear gene and morphology was also performed on 69 specimens,
considering several eutardigrade families.
The presence of four new different superfamilies and of new relationships inside them have been highlighted.
Other collaborations related to this project are in progress.
1 Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy

2 Centre for Environmental Biology and Department of Animal Biology, University of Lisbon, Portugal
3 Department of Genetics and Cytology, Kharkiv National University, Ukraine
4 Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, National Museum of Natural History (CSIC), Spain
5 Dipartimento di Biologia Animale “Marcello La Greca”, Università di Catania, Italy

GENTILE FRANCESCO FICETOLA

Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca – Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ambiente e del Territorio
Assegnista di ricerca
francesco.ficetola@unimib.it
ECOGEOGRAPHICAL VARIATION IN AMPHIBIAN BODY SIZE: FROM PATTERNS TO PROCESSES

Gentile Francesco Ficetola, Antonio Romano, Stefano Scali, Emilio Padoa-Schioppa
Ecogeographical variation is the co-variation between biological features and geographical or ecological
features (e.g., latitude, temperature, precipitation). Body size displays intraspecific ecogeographical
variation in many ectotherms, with populations with large body size associated to particular climates.
However, the mechanisms determining such variation in ectothermic vertebrates are poorly understood.
Here we analysed body size variation in two taxa of urodelans: the Italian crested newt Triturus carnifex
and the spectacled salamanders Salamandrina terdigitata and S. perspicillata.
We used an information-theoretic approach to assess the support of multiple evolutionary and ecological
processes proposed to explain body size variation: heat conservation; endurance to thermal range,
seasonality, starvation resistance, water availability, environmental productivity, parental investment and
evolutionary history. We obtained body size for 2639 newts and 3850 salamanders covering the whole
range of the species, and ecogeographical information on the populations.
Our models included spatial autocorrelation and genetic information, to tease apart spatial and evolutionary
processes. For newts, populations with large body size were associated to cold climates and areas with high
primary productivity; sexual dimorphism increased in cold climates. Evolutionary history of populations
had a significant role but explained little variation.
This suggests that local adaptations (particularly to improve heat balance and optimize parental investment)
and phenotypic plasticity are the most likely drivers of body size variation. Conversely, for Salamandrina
most variation was explained by mortality and deep genetic structuring, suggesting that body size was
mostly determined by ancient evolutionary processes, while recent or ecological processes had a minor
role. Our analysis shows that multiple processes drive body size variation in amphibians.
The difficulty to find generalities is due to the complexity of ongoing processes; the comparison of multiple
mechanism can allow to understand ecogeographical variation.
FRANCESCO SANTINI
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of California at Los Angeles
Senior Research Associate

santini@eeb.ucla.edu
ORIGIN AD EVOLUTION OF THE MODERN CORAL REEF FISH FAUNA

Francesco Santini, Giorgio Carnevale and Michael E. Alfaro
Coral reefs occupy less than 2% of marine surface, yet about 40% of the approximately 170000 marine fish
species live predominantly or exclusively on coral reefs. Earlier studies of tetraodontiform fishes (puffers,
box- and triggerfish) showed that reef-associated fish clades are significantly more diverse than non reef
clades, suggesting that coral reefs have increased fish diversification rates.
Here we test whether reef-association has driven diversification in other fish clades as well using time-
calibrated phylogenies from 28 reef-associated clades. Analysis of diversification rates for 42 groups based
upon method of moments estimates (Magallon and Sanderson, 2001), indicates that reef clades have higher
diversification rates than teleost fish as a whole. However we find that most named reef clades are not
significantly more diverse than percomorphs.
We also apply recently developed comparative methods to test for exceptionally rapid or slow diversification
events within reef families and across time periods.
SESSIONE 3_ FILOGENESI
FILOGENESI
SIMONETTA A. ANGIOI
Università degli Studi di Sassari – Dipartimento di Scienze Agronomiche e Genetica Vegetale Agraria
Post Doc
sangioi@uniss.it
POPULATION STRUCTURE AND GENE FLOW OF EUROPEAN LANDRACES OF THE COMMON

BEAN (PHASEOLUS VULGARIS L.)
SA Angioi1, D Rau1, G Attene1, L Nanni2, E Bellucci2, G Logozzo3, V Negri4, PL Spagnoletti Zeuli3
& R Papa2
The pathways of dissemination of common bean into and across Europe were very complex, with a
number of introductions from Americas that were combined with direct exchanges between European
and other Mediterranean countries. We analyzed a large collection of European landraces of P. vulgaris
with six chloroplast microsatellite (cpSSR) loci and two unlinked nuclear loci (for phaseolin types and
Pv-Shatterproof1). We compared the genetic structure and the level of diversity of this collection with a
group of American individuals representative of the Andean and Mesoamerican gene pools.
The results show that the majority of the European common bean landraces are of Andean origin.
Moreover, bottleneck due to the introduction of P. vulgaris into the Old World, was very weak for chloroplast
analysis but of greater intensity for nuclear analysis. Finally, a relatively high proportion of the European
bean germplasm has derived from hybridization between the Andean and Mesoamerican gene pools.
Based on the analysis of the distribution of genetic diversity and hybrid individuals across European
countries, we suggest that the entire European continent can be regarded as a secondary diversification
centre for P. vulgaris. Lastly, we outline the relevance of these inter-gene-pool hybrids for plant breeding.
1 Dipartimento di Scienze Agronomiche e Genetica Vegetale Agraria, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Sassari, Italy
2 Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali e delle Produzioni Vegetali, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
3 Dipartimento di Biologia, Difesa e Biotecnologie Agro-Forestali, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy
4 Dipartimento di Biologia Applicata, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Perugia, Italy

FILOGENESI
ANGELICA CROTTINI
Technische Universitaet Braunschweig/Università degli Studi di Milano
PostDoc
tiliquait@yahoo.it
DISENTANGLING THE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF THE Tubifex SPECIES COMPLEX

(ANNELIDA, CLITELLATA): A COMPARISON BETWEEN MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY AND
CYTOGENETICS.
Roberto Marotta1,2§, Angelica Crottini2,3§, Cristina Fondello2, Elena Raimondi4, Marco Ferraguti2
Tubifex Tubifex Muller 1774 is a common species in the Lambro River (Milano) where it forms complex
tubificid-dominated communities. Recently, an integrative taxonomy approach, using molecular and
morphological analyses, brought to the species status validation of T. blanchardi and revealed the co-
existence of several sympatric cryptic evolutionary lineages.
A cytogenetic approach was used to investigate the evolutionary pattern of species differentiation in this
species complex. Indeed, the analyses of chromosome pattern and variability can help disentangling the
evolutionary processes (e.g.: polyploidy speciation) that shaped the complex relationships characterizing
these taxa. Only few scattered cytogenetic data were so far available for T. Tubifex, and no data exist for
T. blanchardi. We performed a cytogenetic analysis in parallel with a molecular analysis that allowed for
lineage attribution. About 80 cocoons of T. Tubifex and T. blanchardi were collected and dissected.
For each cocoon half of the embryos were used for genetic analyses (by sequencing a fragment of the
mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene) and the other half was processed for the cytogenetic assays. Our preliminary
results show that four different euploid chromosome sets are present across the Tubifex’ 16S rRNA gene
phylogeny, as confirmed also by a FISH assay (with an autologous 18S rDNA molecular probe), and that
there are three genetically differentiated tetraploid taxa.
All analysed T. blanchardi have 50 chromosomes (n=25), whereas the chromosome number of the analyzed
T. Tubifex specimens varies from 75 (triploids), to 100 (tetraploid) and 150 (esaploid), with typically large
metacentrics and small acrocentric chromosome pairs. These results are compatible with the hypothesis
that consecutive polyploidyzation events may have played a creative role in shaping the evolution of the
Tubifex community of the Lambro River.
1 Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), via Morego 30, 16163 Genova, Italy; email: Roberto.Marotta@iit.it
2 Universitá degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Biologia, Sezione di Zoologia e Citologia, Via Celoria 26, 20133
Milano, Italy;
3 Division of Evolutionary Biology, Zoological Institute, Technical University of Braunschweig, Spielmannstr. 8, 38106,
Braunschweig, Germany; email: tiliquait@yahoo.it

4 Università degli Studi di Pavia, Dipartimento di Genetica e Microbiologia “A. Buzzati Traverso”, Via Ferrata 1, 27100,
Pavia, Italy.
§ both authors equally contributed to this study
FILOGENESI
LUCA POZZI
New York University
Phd Student
luca.pozzi@nyu.edu
ASSESSING MOLECULAR DIVERGENCE TIME ESTIMATES AND THE PLACEMENT OF

ALTERNATIVE CALIBRATION POINTS IN THE PRIMATE TREE.
Luca Pozzi, Jason A. Hodgson, Todd R. Disotell
The origins and time of divergence of primates have been difficult to resolve, due to incomplete sampling
of early fossil taxa and to the relatively short window of time in which major lineages diverged from each
other. The main source of contention is related to the discordance between molecular and fossil estimates:
while no putative crown primate fossils date older than 55Ma, most molecule-based estimates extended
the origins of crown primates well before the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K-T) boundary, with estimates up to
90Ma. While a clear understanding of the morphological radiation of clade is affected by the completeness
of the fossil record and the identification of clear synapomorphies, molecular estimates can be biased by
several sources of error, including heterogeneity in molecular rates and the use of potentially erroneous
fossil calibrations.
We present molecular dating analyses for primates using complete mitochondrial genomes for 60 primate
species and 40 species within mammals. We apply an uncorrelated relaxed-clock analysis that accommodates
for heterogeneity in rates of evolution across different branches and takes into account uncertainties in
phylogenetic relationships and the fossil record. We explore the effects of 18 calibration points chosen
across mammals on the divergence-time estimates for major clades within the primate tree by using a
cross-validation method that identifies inconsistent fossils when multiple fossil calibrations are available
for a clade.
In contrast with previous mitogenomic studies, our results support primate monophyly and the position of
tarsiers as sister group of Anthropoidea, with the exclusion of flying lemurs. Our dating results support a
long fuse model of evolution, with an origin in the Late Cretaceous, and the radiation of all major lineages
in the early Tertiary. Our study shows the utility of fossil concordance analyses to critically assess calibration
points to be used in estimating divergence times within primates.
FILOGENESI
FRANCESCO NARDI
Dip. Biologia Evolutiva, Università di Siena
Ricercatore T.D.
nardifra@unisi.it
Inference of divergence times, or dating, is becoming a major topic in phylogenetics, and methodologies
and software implementations have been made available that can handle multi-gene datasets. Nevertheless,
while a number of procedures have been devised in phylogenetic tree construction to test for congruence
across datasets prior to concatenation and to test for the opportunity to combine or partition data, such
procedures are not as developed and widely available in dating analyses.
Here we suggest the use of internal congruence, the rather obvious observation that, if multiple datasets
are applied to estimate dates on the same topology, some will produce similar date estimates and some will
produce more deviant date estimates. We suggest that under the assumption that single gene datasets are
independent estimators of dates along the tree, internal congruence could provide a workable framework
to assess the performance in dating of a given dataset and to detect outliers.
We introduce a metric to compare how much two trees with identical topology differ in terms of date
estimates and a stepwise exclusion algorithm, derived from an unrelated application in Real-Time PCR
analysis, to rank the datasets from the most to the least internally congruent.
The procedure is applied to full mitochondrial genome data, with four groups (insect orders Lepidoptera,
Diptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera) of 14 datasets each (mitochondrial rRNA genes and PCGs except
ATP8). We show, using a randomization test, that there is a rather unique set of genes that consistently
provide more similar, or internally congruent, dates.
A possible use of this rank to select datasets to be used in a multi-dataset analyses aimed at estimating
divergence times is further discussed, as well as its effect over the wideness of confidence intervals.
FILOGENESI
FEDERICO PLAZZI
Università di Bologna
PhD student
federico.plazzi@unibo.it
PHYLOGENETIC REPRESENTATIVENESS: A NEW METHOD FOR EVALUATING TAXON

SAMPLING IN EVOLUTIONARY STUDIES
Federico Plazzi, Ronald Robert Ferrucci, Marco Passamonti
Taxon sampling is a key point in phylogenetic studies. Incomplete, biased, or improper taxon sampling can
lead to misleading results in reconstructing phylogenies. Several methods are available to optimize taxon
choice, involving genetic distance evaluations, interruption of long branches, etc.
However, all are conceived as a posteriori tests, i. e. they can only be carried out after data collection, when
most of the experimental work is already done. We think it would be very useful to have an a priori test,
allowing to compute and predict goodness of taxon sampling before the phylogenetic work starts.
The established taxonomy of the group under study (although not necessary the “true” one), which is
usually available from literature, may help in this: given a master list of organisms, it is possible to measure
to which degree different subsamples do represent the whole assemblage.
For this reason, we proposed a new method to assess the representativeness of a given taxon sampling, by
developing the Clarke and Warwick statistics on taxonomic distinctness. Our method aims to measure
the phylogenetic representativeness of a given sample or set of samples, and it is based entirely on the
pre-existing available taxonomy of the ingroup. Moreover, our method also accounts for instability and
discordance in systematics: we conceived a randomization algorithm on master lists, mimicking taxonomic
revisions, therefore addressing test reliability. A Python-based script suite, called PhyRe, was developed to
implement all analyses, and it is available for free download at www.mozoolab.net.
We showed that this method is sensitive and allows direct discrimination between representative
and unrepresentative samples. It is also informative about the addition of taxa to improve taxonomic
coverage of the ingroup. Provided that the investigators’ expertise is mandatory in this field, phylogenetic
representativeness makes up an objective touchstone in planning phylogenetic studies.
FILOGENESI
ROBERTO FEUDA
Bioinformatics Unit, Biology Department National Universtiy of Ireland Maynooth
THE ORIGIN OF RETINAL BINDING DOMAIN. A PHYLOGENOMICS INVESTIGATION OF THE

ORIGIN OF VISION IN METAZOA.
Roberto Feuda1, Sinead Hamilton1, Stuart J. Longhorn1, James O. McInerney1 and Davide Pisani1
Vision in animals is mediated by opsins, transmembrane G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR) which are
able to react in the presence of light and promote a signaling cascade in the cell. Animals possess two main
classes of visual opsin: protosomes (most of the invertebrates) use R-opsin, while vertebrates use C-opsins;
additionally, most animals also posses RGR opsins which increase the efficiency of the visual process.
Opsins are also known in Cnidara (jellyfishes and corals) but it is not clear whether cnidarian opsins
represent C-, R-, or a third, unrelated opsin class. More precisely, cnidarian Opsins have been suggested as
the sister group of a clade composed by the R and the RGR opsins, to include both C- and R- opsins, or as
the sister group of all the other animal Opsins (R-, C-, and RGR).
Reconstructing a correct opsin phylogeny is key to understand the origin of animal vision, as uncertainty
about the topology has significantly hampered our comprehension of the molecular and system processes
underlying the origin of light sensitivity and vision in animals.
We used three non-bilaterian animals (two Cnidarians, and one Placozoan) and all the available bilaterian
genomes (both vertebrates and invertebrates) to investigate opsin evolution, and evaluate whether we
could clarify the relationships among the opsin classes, with special reference to the cnidarian opsins. In
addition, we investigated the presence of opsin-like sequences in Placozoa (the sister group of Cnidaria
plus Bilateria).
We show that the cnidarian opsins are either R-, or C-opsins, and that early opsin evolution most likely
involved two gene duplications and one loss. Furthermore we found that the closest outgroup of the opsins
is an ophan GPCR family found only in Nematostella and Tricloplax.
1 Bioinformatics Unit, Biology Department National Universtiy of Ireland Maynooth.

FILOGENESI
OMAR ROTA STABELLI

National University of Ireland,Maynooth
omar42@gmail.com
DATING ARTHROPOD RELATIONSHIPS USING SOFT CONSTRAINS AND PHYLOGENOMIC

DATASETS: METHODOLOGICAL AND PALEOECOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
Rota-Stabelli Omar1, Daley Allison2 and Pisani Davide1
With a documented fossil record of 520 my and more than a million living species, arthropods are the most
abundant group of animals on earth, accounting for 80% of the metazoan biodiversity.
Still, knowledge of their relationships is source of vigorous debate and their exemplar radiation is mainly
unexplored by molecules, in particular by long phylogenomic datasets. Here we use three distinct large
phylogenomic and mitogenomic datasets of up to 198 genes and 80 species to reconstruct and date the
relationships within the arthropod and among their ecdysozoan outgroup.
We show that these three datasets agree in supporting morphologically recognised groups such as
Pancrustacea, Mandibulata and Chelicerata, while relationships among (pan)crustacean classes are
disputable and in clear discordance with those proposed by Regier and colleagues (2010, Nature).
We calibrated our molecules with 30 soft constrains based on fossil records spanning from the Precambrian
to the Cretaceous, and described evolution using the best fitting replacement and clock models.
Results suggest that while the arthropods and their immediate Onycophora, Tardigrada, Nematoda and
Scalidophora outgroups originated in the Ediacaran or even earlier, radiation of crustaceans major groups
occurred in the Cambrian and that of chelicerates, insects and myriapods in the Orodovician.
From a methodological point of view, most of the estimates varied depending on the type and length of
dataset, suggesting that particular care should be given for the selection of molecular marker and that the
ideal approach should be to cross-test clock studies with more then one marker. From a paleontological
perspective, our results imply that extant crustacean classes appeared at the end of the Cambrian explosion.
Crustaceans radiation overlaps with the beginning of trilobites decay, suggesting an ecological displacement
of the latter by crustaceans
1 Department of Biology, The National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
2 Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE-752 36, Sweden.
FILOGENESI
EMILIANO TRUCCHI
University of Roma Tor Vergata
Post doc
emiliano.trucchi@uniroma2.it
RE-FRAMING MODEL CHOICE IN PHYLOGEOGRAPHIC APPROXIMATE BAYESIAN

COMPUTATION
S. Vicario, E. Trucchi and V. Sbordoni
Likelihood estimate when comparing complex evolutionary hypotheses, as in phylogeography, is often

an unaffordable mathematical task. Methods that rely on approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) may
constitute a valid alternative in such a situation though user need to be extremely careful in applying the
method and in choosing and comparing the models. We will focus i) on the possibility of adopting a full-
data approach in model-choice without a tolerance threshold (Full Data Resample) rather than a Local
Weighted Regression of a simulated subset closest to the observed data and ii) on the estimate of the
goodness-of-fit of simulated on the observed data by using a posterior predictive statistics to assess overall
models adequacy. The latter can be used to both evaluate the representativeness of the models in respect of
the observed data and to test the efficiency of the chosen summary statistics.
Efficacy of the two methods targeted to estimate relative posterior of competing hypotheses was analyzed
in different test conditions: the entertained model set include or not the correct model. Using the same
simulated data we show the utility of adequacy to spot when no correct model is entertained.
The Full Data Resample method can be considered a conservative and extremely accurate approach.
The swapping for this high accuracy is a high level of indecision when the right answer is available.
Conversely, the Local Weighted Regression method enhances the contrast in posterior estimates thus quite
always resulting in a decision among competing scenarios. Being this approach structured in “anyway”
finding an answer, it was fenced in a very high level of errors in our false attribution test.
Since in phylogeography the probability to include the true hypothesis among those tested is very rare, we
strongly suggest to use both methods when testing alternative evolutionary hypotheses.
SESSIONE 4_ ORGANISM EVOLUTION
ORGANISM EVOLUTION
ELENA BITOCCHI
Università Politecnica delle Marche
PhD
e.bitocchi@univpm.it; elena_bitocchi@yahoo.it
ORIGIN AND DOMESTICATION OF THE COMMON BEAN (PHASEOLUS VULGARIS L.)

Bitocchi E.*, Bellucci E.*, Goretti D.*, Angioi S.**, Desiderio F.*, Rossi M.*, Logozzo G.***, Nanni L.*,
Rau D.**, Negri V.****, Spagnoletti Zeuli P.***, Attene G.**, Papa R*
Phaseolus vulgaris is characterised by two geographic gene pools, one located in Mesoamerica and the
second in the southern Andes, with parallel geographic structures in their wild and domesticated beans.
In the 1980s, a wild P. vulgaris population was discovered in Ecuador and northern Peru, which was
described as a new distinct wild gene pool. This population was suggested to be the ancestral populations
of the common bean on the basis of sequence studies of the genes coding for phaseolin, the main seed-
storage protein. The occurrence of independent domestication events in Mesoamerica and the Andes is
well established; however, the number of domestication events that occurred in the two different regions
remains a topic of discussion.
We have carried out various studies using multilocus molecular markers with the wild and domesticated
genotypes of the common bean, including an analysis of the structure of the European landraces. Recently,
we analysed a representative panel containing both wild and domesticated P. vulgaris (215 accessions
overall) at the nucleotide diversity level, for five independent genes. Moreover, we analysed the effects of
domestication in Mesoamerica on the nucleotide diversity of 48 loci.
Here, we present a summary of the results obtained from these studies, with particular focus on the origin
of the species and the effects of domestication on the common bean genome. Our data indicate a new
scenario for the structure and evolution of wild P. vulgaris, especially questioning the Peru-Ecuador origin,
and arguing in favour of a Mesoamerican origin of the species. Moreover, the data support the occurrence
of a single domestication event in Mesoamerica, and they also tend to support the same scenario in the
Andes.
* Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali e delle Produzioni Vegetali (SAPROV), Università Politecnica delle Marche,
Via Brecce Bianche, 60131Ancona (Italy)
** Dipartimento di Scienze Agronomiche e Genetica Vegetale Agraria,Università degli Studi di Sassari, Via E. De
Nicola, 07100 Sassari (Italy)
*** Dipartimento di Biologia Difesa e Biotecnologie Agro-forestali, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Campus
Macchia Romana, 85100 Potenza (Italy)
**** Dipartimento di Biologia Vegetale e Biotecnologie Agro-ambientali e Zootecniche, Università degli Studi di
Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno 74, 06121 Perugia (Italy)
ORGANISM EVOLUTION
LUCA CORNETTI
Fondazione Edmund Mach
PhD student
cornetti@cealp.it
EVOLUTIONARY RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ZOOTOCA VIVIPARA SUBSPECIES AS INFERRED

FROM PATTERNS OF GENETIC VARIATION IN ALPINE POPULATIONS.
Transition from oviparous to viviparous reproductive modality, which is likely to have a pronounced effect
on the reproductive success and the fitness of the organisms concerned, is a relevant evolutionary event.
Squamate reptiles are of particular interest for studying this shift as it has been shown that viviparity has
evolved from oviparity far more often in squamate reptiles than in all other lineages of vertebrates.
The lacertid lizard Zootoca vivipara is one of the few squamate species with both oviparous and viviparous
populations. In most of the range, from the British Isles and central France into Scandinavia and eastern
Russia, populations are viviparous, whereas two distinct, allopatric oviparous populations are restricted
to the southern margin of the range.
The ‘western oviparous group’, recently ascribed to subspecies Z. vivipara louislantzi, is found in southern
France and northern Spain, while the ‘eastern oviparous group’, corresponding to the subspecies Z. vivipara
carniolica is located in northern Italy, southern Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. The presence of Z. vivipara
vivipara and Z. vivipara carniolica in Central and Eastern Alps makes this region an interesting area to
investigate about taxonomical and ecological distribution of these two morphologically undistinguishable
subspecies.
We collected a small amount of tissue tail of 193 samples of Zootoca vivipara sp.in Central and Eastern
Alps. We analysed cytb gene (mtDNA), a nuclear gene (c-Mos, oocyte maturation factor, maybe related
to reproductive modality) and nine nuclear microsatellites.
This study allowed us to describe taxonomical and ecological distribution of the two subspecies in Central
and Eastern Alps along with their evolutionary relationships. We analysed genetic variation between
subspecies, within each subspecies and population structure within subspecies.
All these data concur to gain insights about the evolutionary shift from oviparity to viviparity.
ORGANISM EVOLUTION
ISABELLA D´ANNA
Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology- Department for Evolutionary Biology
PhD student
isabella.danna@tuebingen.mpg.de
PRISTIONCHUS UNIFORMIS, SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO. HOST SWITCHING IN A

NEMATODE
Pristionchus pacificus is an established model system in evolutionary and developmental biology. Studies of
other Pristionchus species, such as the closely related gonochoristic Pristionchus uniformis, can help us gain
a comprehensive understanding of the hermaphroditc P. pacificus. Nematodes of the genus Pristionchus
have a species-specific necromenic association predominantly with scarab beetle.
One interesting exception is Pristionchus uniformis, one of a few Pristionchus species that shows host
switching. In particular, P. uniformis is observed in both the chrysomelid Leptinotarsa decemlineata
(Colorado potato beetle), and scarab beetles. In this study we provide a first insight into the ecology and
genome organization of the species P. uniformis. Specifically, we present the reconstruction of P. uniformis
chromosomes by generating a genetic linkage map based on 48 nuclear markers, tested on a meiotic
mapping panel of 42 inbred lines. We can show evidence for macrosynteny and are currently investigating
if colinearity is also conserved between P. pacificus and P. uniformis.
In parallel, we plan to integrate this newly acquired knowledge of the P. uniformis genome to identify the
genetic basis of the unique association between the nematode P. uniformis and the toxic Colorado potato
beetle. Indeed P. uniformis is the only nematode species that we could isolate from both North America and
Western Europe and from both the long living scarab beetles and the leaf beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata,
which is characterized by a much shorter life cycle.
We are currently investigating if the absence of other nematodes in the Colorado potato beetle could be
justified by the toxicity in the beetle hemolymph and how P. uniformis has evolved a resistance to it.
ORGANISM EVOLUTION
ALESSANDRO DELL’ANNA
Università degli Studi Milano Dipartimento di Biologia Sezione Zoologia S/N 7B
PhD
E-mail: alessandro.dellanna@unimi.it
THE EARLY EMERGENCE OF A CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM IN BASAL METAZOANS

A. Dell’Anna1, G. Zega1, S. Piraino2, C. Di Benedetto3, A. Leone4, X. Bailly5, P. Pagliara2, R. Pennati1
A shared feature of cnidarian and bilaterian animals is the presence of a nervous system composed of
interconnected neural cells. The number of neural cells, the complexity of their connectivity, and their
organization into regionalized neural assemblies show a great deal of variation in all animal groups.
The evolutionary origin of this neuroanatomical complexity and diversity in eumetazoan nervous systems
represents a fundamental problem in neurobiology. Recently, a number of comparative developmental and
genetic analyses suggested that the diversity of nervous systems of protostomes and deuterostomes arose
from a common evolutionary origin (Lichtneckert and Reichert, 2005; Denes et al., 2007; Arendt et al.,
2008; Lichtneckert and Reichert 2008) and that the urbilaterian nervous system was already a remarkably
complex centralized structure (De Robertis, 2008).
To shed light on this question, we analyzed and compared the nervous system of the larva of the
cnidarian Clava multicornis and of the acoel Symsagittifera roscoffenses since cnidarians are now regarded
as early bilateral animals whereas acoels as the basalmost triploblastic metazoans (Baguña et al 2008).
Immunohistological analysis showed that the nervous system of the cnidarian planula larva possesses a
surprising high level of histological and functional organization with a strikingly large and ordered array of
sensory cells located at the anterior pole. Conversely the nervous system of the acoel exhibits a stereotypical
organization and is formed by six longitudinal neurite bundles and an anterior concentration of sensory
cells.
Our observations suggest that cephalization and the potential to differentiate a centralized nervous system
early occurred at the dawn of Bilateria radiation in the last common ancestor of cnidarians and acoels.
Further steps of nervous system evolution could have been the acquisition of a stereotypical organization
of the nervous elements linked to evolution of unidirectional synapses.
1 Università di Milano, Dip. Biologia, Sezione Biologia Riproduttiva e Funzionale

2 Università del Salento, DISTEBA, 73100 Lecce
3 Università di Milano, Dip. Biologia, Sezione Zoologia e Citologia
4 CNR-ISPA, Lecce
5 Station Biologique de Roscoff, France

ORGANISM EVOLUTION
FABRIZIO GHISELLI
Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica Sperimentale - Università di Bologna
Assegnista di RicercaItalia
fabrizio.ghiselli@unibo.it
THE MITOCHONDRIAL BOTTLENECK: STRICT SEX-SPECIFIC MTDNA SEGREGATION IN THE

GERMLINE OF THE DUI SPECIES VENERUPIS PHILIPPINARUM (BIVALVIA VENERIDAE)
Fabrizio Ghiselli, Liliana Milani e Marco Passamonti
Doubly Uniparental Inheritance (DUI) is one of the most striking exceptions to the common rule of Strict
Maternal Inheritance (SMI) of metazoan mitochondria and has been found in several bivalve species.
In DUI, two mitochondrial genomes are present, showing different transmission routes, one through
eggs (F-Type), the other through sperm (M-Type). Moreover, M- and F-Types experience peculiar tissue
distributions, with males being heteroplasmic in their soma, while females usually not.
We performed a Real-Time Multiplex qPCR analysis on the Manila clam Venerupis philippinarum to
quantify M- and F-Types in somatic tissues, gonads and gametes, as well as mtDNA duplication rates during
early embryo development. In most male somatic tissues, the MType is largely predominant; something
similar is found for a few females too, actually showing MmtDNAs in their soma.
On the contrary, in the germline we evidenced a strict sex-specific mtDNA segregation, since both sperm
and eggs do carry exclusively M- and F-Type respectively. Because of this, we propose that the sex-specific
mtDNA transmission is achieved through a 3-checkpoint process. The cytological mechanisms of male
mitochondria segregation in males and degradation in females during the early embryo development (that
we named checkpoints #1 and #2) are already known for DUI species; we propose for the first time, a third
checkpoint that would act when Primordial Germ Cells (PGCs) are first formed and would work for both
mtDNAs. DUI provides a privileged point of view to unveil the processes by which mitochondria enter
the germline (i.e. the “mitochondrial bottleneck”) and the evidences we observed on a strict selection
of sex-specific mtDNAs in the germline could be a first step in that direction. Actually, a sound working
hypothesis is that these processes might be based on similar molecular mechanisms in SMI species.
ORGANISM EVOLUTION
ROBERTO GUIDETTI
Department of Biology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
roberto.guidetti@unimore.it
DORMANCY STRATEGIES IN TARDIGRADES: EVOLUTIONARY ASPECTS AND ECOLOGICAL

MEANINGS
Roberto Guidetti, Tiziana Altiero, Roberto Bertolani, Lorena Rebecchi
Dormancy includes any form of resting stage, regardless of cues required for induction or termination. It
involves a temporary suspension of active life, a reduced or suspended metabolism and a developmental
standstill. One of the few phyla including species able to suspend the metabolism in any stage of the life
cycle performing the extreme form of dormancy (cryptobiosis) is represented by tardigrades.
Tardigrades are aquatic animals distributed all over the world in many water and terrestrial environments,
frequently inhabiting unpredictable (e.g. mosses, lichens, etc.) or hostile-life habitats (e.g. deserts, polar
regions, etc.). Dormancy includes any form of resting stage, regardless of cues required for their induction
or termination. It involves a temporary suspension of active life, a reduced or suspended metabolism and a
developmental standstill. Dormancy in tardigrades is characterized by a wide variety of adaptive strategies .
This unequalled diversity of strategies is represented by anhydrobiosis, cryobiosis, anoxybiosis, osmobiosis,
encystment, cyclomorphosis and resting eggs.
These dormancy forms evolved to withstand a wide range of unfavorable environmental conditions and
can be grouped into quiescence and diapause according to their inducing factors, performing process,
duration, and of course, adaptive meanings. The evolution of tardigrade dormancy strategies received little
attention though it had a strong impact on their life cycle, ecology and evolution.
A comparative analysis of the tardigrade resting stages will be performed focusing our attention to their
evolution and ecological meaning.
ORGANISM EVOLUTION
MATTEO MONTAGNA
Department of Biology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
matteo.montagna@unimi.it
DNA BARCODING A TOOL TO DETECT CRYPTIC SPECIES? AMBLYOMMA CAJENNENSE, A

CASE OF STUDY
M. Montagna1, E. Ferri2, L. Beati3, D. Sassera1, M. Casiraghi2, S. Epis1, C. Bandi1
The purpose of the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) is to obtain a complete molecular “catalogue
of life”. The main goal is to simplify identification of any kind of biological sample, but also to create a world
DNA-sequence bank, purpose that is getting more and more important every day, considering the rising
rates in species extinction. Barcoding means identification of taxa using a simple molecular approach,
consisting of a PCR and subsequent sequencing of the obtained product. DNA barcoding is also usefull to
help the detection of cryptic species. The barcoding approach can be very useful for ticks, as identification of
tick samples based on morphology requires experience and a high level of knowledge of these arthropods,
furthermore most discriminating morphological features are sometimes visible only in adult specimens,
making species identification of immature stages simply impossible in a number of cases.
The main problem with barcoding is being able to correctly evaluate the capability of molecular markers
to discriminate between different species. A molecular marker with high interspecific variability but high
intraspecific identity needs to be used, in order to obtain a “barcoding gap” necessary to discriminate between
different species. The genus Amblyomma comprises 126 species of hard ticks, 57 restricted to Neotropical
region, among them there are species that are thought to mask “cryptic species”. Correct identification of all
the species belonging to this genus of the family Ixodidae is often difficult, in fact through the years there
have been a number of changes in the taxonomic keys for the identification of certain species as well as in
some species names. In order to aid the identification of species of the genus Amblyomma, here we present
the testing of a barcoding approach on 560 samples from 69 species of the genus Amblyomma with specific
attention on comprehensive sampling strategy of Amblyomma cajennense (106 specimens ) from different
population (11 localities) of the area in wich the species is distributed. As suggested by CBOL protocols,
our PCR target was a fragment of 610 bp of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI).
Amplification of this target in PCR was obtained with universal primers for diverse metazoan invertebrates
LCO1490 and HCO2198. PCR was successful on all samples, allowing us to perform DNA sequencing and
to obtain the desired 610 bp DNA fragment for all 560 samples. The obtained sequence database was tested
with a specific leave-one-out test, estimating the genetic distance, in order to assess the presence of the
“identity percentage gap” between intra- and interspecific variation. The barcoding approach was coherent
with the morphological identification of the samples in most cases, but a few situations of disagreement
arose. In details we examined the variability of COI fragment (610 bp) in Amblyomma cajennense samples
and we found that the intra specific variation of specimens belonging to different population reach value
typical for interspecific variation.
1DIPAV, Sezione di Patologia Generale e Parassitologia, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy;
2 Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Bioscienze, ZooPlantLab, Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy;
3 U.S. National Tick Collection, IAP-Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, USA
ORGANISM EVOLUTION
ROBERTA PENNATI
Department of Biology. University of Milano
COMPARATIVE NEUROANATOMY OF ASCIDIAN AND AMPHIOXUS LARVAE: INFERENCES

ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM OF THE CHORDATE ANCESTOR
Roberta Pennati, Simona Candiani§, Giuliana Zega, Fiorenza De Bernardi Mario Pestarino§
Tunicates and Cephalochordates are invertebrate chordates and occupy key phylogenetic positions to
understand the evolution of chordate characters. They are exclusively marine, the adults are filter-feeding
animals and develop through a lecitotrofic swimming larva. Their larvae display typical chordate central
nervous systems, consisting of a dorsal neural tube, which develops from a neural plate.
Although the gross neuroanatomy of protochordate larvae have been extensively studied by conventional
analysis, we used molecular tools to dissect the fine details of nervous system components in the larvae of
the ascidian Ciona intestinalis and of the lancelet Branchiostoma floridae.
During differentiation, neurons acquire an important phenotypic character given by the neurotransmitter
that is released to excite or inhibit the target cells.
We analyzed the differentiation of serotonergic, GABAergic, cholinergic, dopaminergic, glutamatergic
and glycinergic neurons in the central nervous systems of our animal models by studying the expression
pattern of neurotransmitter synthesis genes. Moreover, we localized some metabotropic receptors of
serotonin, GABA and acetylcholine to get a more complete framework of the functional organization of
neural networks. We obtained two maps of the distribution of the main neurotransmitters that allowed us
to compare the basic functional organization of the nervous system among chordates.
We noted that some functional regions are conserved among the CNS of ascidian larva and that of
cephalochordates and vertebrates, thus revealing features shared by all chordates that possibly could be
already present in their last common ancestor.
§Department of Biology. University of Genova. 16132 Genova.

SESSIONE 5_ HUMAN EVOLUTION
HUMAN EVOLUTION
CATERINA CHIANELLA
Dipartimento di Biologia ed Evoluzione, Università di Ferrara
caterina.chianella@unife.it
IDENTIFYING GENETIC BASES OF HUMAN ADAPTATION TO HIGH ALTITUDE

Caterina Chianella, Alex Panziera, Pierpaolo Maisano Delser, and Silvia Fuselli
High-altitude is the only environment colonized by modern humans where no behavioral buffering is
available to face the peculiar and unavoidable stress: hypoxia. Life at low oxygen pressure needs specific
biological adaptations to deliver enough oxygen to maintain aerobic metabolism. In the last decades
many studies investigated the relationship between altitude and adaptive phenotypic traits, but to date no
association between genetic variants and adaptive traits to hypoxia-related stress have been found in native
American highlands.
Here we aim at identifying the genetic bases of human adaptation to high altitude by studying the evolution
of candidate genes.
To this goal we (i) identified candidate genes by means of a bioinformatic approach, (ii) studied their
molecular evolution comparing different species and (iii) began to investigate their genetic variation in
Andean native populations.
The transcription factor HIF1a, a master regulator of O2 homeostasis, and additional 8 loci encoding for
proteins that either regulate HIF1 activity (PHD1,2,3 and VHL) or represent its targets (NOS3, EDN1,
EPO, VEGFA), were selected as candidate genes. Applying phylogenetic methods for comparative analysis
of DNA we found that the candidate genes mostly evolved under purifying selection, as expected when
important metabolic activity is conserved. Few codons were identified showing signature of adaptive
evolution, and may represent good targets for the high altitude human population study.
We collected DNA and phenotypic measures from individuals of three Andean populations living at 3000-
4000 m. Our re-sequencing analysis of coding and regulatory regions of two candidate genes, EPO and
VHL, showed that these loci are extremely conserved also within humans, the few polymorphic sites being
located in regulatory regions. Further candidate genes re-sequencing and comparison with low altitude
populations from the same geographic regions will allow us to define a possible adaptive role of the genetic
variation identified in our study.
HUMAN EVOLUTION
SILVIA FUSELLI
Università di Ferrara
Ricercatore
silvia.fuselli@unife.it
HUMANS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT: THE EVOLUTION OF LOCI INVOLVED IN METABOLISM

OF EXOGENOUS MOLECULES IN GLOBALLY DIVERSE POPULATIONS
Silvia Fuselli and Pierpaolo Maisano Delser
Genes involved in biotransformation of exogenous substances are particularly interesting from the
evolutionary point of view because of their role as mediators between the organism and the environment.
The chemical environment varies significantly with diet, climate, lifestyle, etc., and thus in humans a great
deal of inter-ethnic differentiation is expected for these genes.
Here we analyzed the degree of human population differentiation at 614 single nucleotide polymorphisms
(SNPs) in 121 genes coding for biotransformation proteins of exogenous substances in 52 globally diverse
populations from the Human Genome Diversity Panel (HGDP). To identify the type of genes and genetic
variants preferentially targeted by selection, we applied a statistical approach that considers the degree of
population differentiation (Fst) looking for signals of adaptation enriched in our candidate genes. Under
an assumption of neutrality, the geographic structure of genetic diversity is determined by demographic
history which affect all loci similarly. By contrast, natural selection acts in a locus-specific manner and
local positive selection in particular tends to increase Fst.
The same approach was used to test the hypothesis that the selective regime acting on genes involved in
biotransformation of exogenous molecules changed when human populations shifted from an economy
based hunting and gathering to one in which food was produced by farming and animal breeding, in
the Neolithic period. To this aim we compared present-day HGDP hunting-gathering populations with
geographically close food producers from East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Our analyses show that, in general, genes involved in biotransformation of exogenous compounds are not
enriched of SNPs showing signals of adaptive evolution, both globally and comparing hunter-gatherers and
food producers. However, specific categories of genes and sites show patterns indicating that population
history alone is not enough to explain the observed genetic differences between different subsistence
economies.
HUMAN EVOLUTION
SILVIA GHIROTTO
Università degli studi di Ferrara
PhD
ghrslv@unife.it
NO EVIDENCE OF NEANDERTAL ADMIXTURE IN CRO-MAGNOID AND MODERN EUROPEAN

MITOCHONDRIAL GENOMES
Silvia Ghirotto1, Francesca Tassi1, Andrea Benazzo1 and Guido Barbujani1
Neandertals, the archaic human form documented in Eurasia until 29,000 years ago, share no mitochondrial
haplotype with modern Europeans. Whether this means that the two groups were reproductively isolated is
controversial, and indeed nuclear data have been interpreted as suggesting that they admixed.
We explored the range of demographic parameters that may have generated the observed mitochondrial
diversity, simulating 2.5 million genealogies under five evolutionary models differing as for the relationships
among Neandertals, modern Europeans and Cro-Magnoids, the anatomically modern humans who
coexisted with Neandertals for millennia. We compared by Approximate Bayesian Computation the
simulation results with mitochondrial diversity in 7 Neandertal, 3 Cro-Magnoid, and 150 opportunely
chosen modern Europeans. A model of genealogical continuity between Cro-Magnoid and Europeans,
with no Neandertal contribution, received overwhelming support from the analyses.
The maximum degree of Neandertal admixture was estimated at 0.3%, one order of magnitude less than
suggested by studies of the Neandertal nuclear genome. However, results based on nuclear and mitochondrial
data might be reconciled if smaller population sizes led to faster lineage sorting for mitochondrial DNA,
and Neandertals shared a longer period of common ancestry with the non-African’s than with the African’s
ancestors.
1 Dipartimento di Biologia ed Evoluzione, Università di Ferrara, via Borsari 46, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
HUMAN EVOLUTION
VALERIA MONTANO
Sapienza Università di Roma, Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale. Istituto Italiano di Antropologia.
Univesitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona (as visiting student)
student
valeria.montano@upf.edu
PRE-NEOLITHIC SIGNALS OF POPULATION EXPANSION IN BANTU SPEAKERS DETECTED BY

HIGH RESOLUTION ANALYSIS OF Y-CHROMOSOME LINEAGES
Valeria Montano, Marcari V.1, Batini C.4, Berniell-Lee G2., Anayale O.3, Comas D.2, Destro-Bisol G.1
Bantu speaking populations represent a subject of particular interest for linguistics, archaeologists and
molecular anthropologists. While linguistic data suggests that a population expansion driven by Neolithic
revolution (~ 3-5 kya ago) could have been responsible for the spreading of Bantu languages, from the genetic
point of view the effective role of population expansion in the whole process has not been clarified.
We studied 17 populations from Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon and Congo, which are thought to be in
continuity with the groups who took part to the “Western stream” of the Bantu expansion. A total of 505
male individuals were typed for 20 SNPs and 17 STRs of the Y-chromosome.
We detected signals of structure which seem to not follow a global pattern of geographic distribution
according to the analysis of spatial PCs (Jombart et al., 2008). Using Batwing software (Wilson et al., 2003)
under a model of constant population size followed by a demographic expansion, we estimated a time since
expansion of 8 kya from an ancestral population size of approximately 2800 individuals.
Dividing the dataset with a geographic criterion, more recent estimates of time since expansion were obtained
for Gabonese populations relative to Nigeria and Cameroon (~5,6, ~11,0 and ~9,0 kya, respectively).
This was paralleled by a larger ancestral effective population size (~3600 for Gabon vs ~1600 for Nigeria
and Cameroon), apparently mirroring the higher genetic variability in Gabon both at the population and
haplogroup level. Accordingly, we suggest that population expansion events are likely to have occurred
in sub Saharan Africa before the Neolithic age. However, only Gabonese region seems to have undergone
strong recent migration processes.
1 Dipartmento di Biologia Ambientale, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy; Istituto Italiano di Antropologia,
Rome, Italy
2Unitatde Biologia Evolutiva, Department de Ciencies Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat “Pompeu Fabra”,
Barcelona, Spain
3Department of Zoology, Ibadan University, Ibadan, Nigeria
4Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, UK

HUMAN EVOLUTION
FREDERICK T. WEHRLE
Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Germany
student
frederick.wehrle@behaviouralstudies.com
SENSORY DRIVE OF COLOUR SIGNALS IN HUMANS
Sensory drive is a broad concept which assesses the evolutionary dependences of similar animal behaviours
in different contexts. Sensory and behavioural adaptations in an ancestral context (preexisting bias) are
thought to impose selection pressures on new traits emerging in more recent contexts and thus to “drive”
their evolution. These selection pressures may either favour traits that maximally stimulate the sensory
system of the recipient (sensory exploitation) or traits that optimally match the original stimulus (sensory
trap). In Catarrhine primates (old world monkeys, apes and humans), colour stimuli in the food context
are thought to have coevolved with trichromatic colour vision in a way that signals of good food quality
trigger attraction behaviour.
This attraction is thought to impose selection pressure on pelage and skin colouration as signals for mate
choice in the more recent sexual context. This context is particularly important in humans, who live in
large, interdependent social groups and who are known to signal sexually relevant content like hormonal
state or health via changes in skin colouration. With innovative computerised methods we experimentally
assess the selection pressures imposed on colour signals in the food and the sexual context in humans.
Based on our results we discuss the applicability of the sensory drive models to the evolution of human
skin colour signals as well as their limitations.
SESSIONE 6_ THEORY
THEORY
GIUSEPPE DAMIANI
Istituto di Genetica Molecolare, CNR, Pavia
ricercatore
giuseppe.damiani@igm.cnr.it
DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW EVOLUTIONARY THEORY

Giuseppe Damiani1 and Enrica Capelli2
Many experimental evidences, as for example the distribution of retroelements and DNA mutations in
complex genomes, lead to the discovery of mechanisms based on epigenetic signals, editing of nucleic
acids, reverse transcription, and micro-recombination, that promote DNA changes and horizontal transfer
of genetic information between cells and organisms. The natural genetic engineering systems are triggered
into action by a metabolic shift from an anabolic-syntropic phase to a catabolic-entropic one. The Lotka-
Volterra oscillation between these two alternate and complementary phases at the levels of molecules,
cells, organisms, and populations might explain many evolutionary dynamics and the emergence of
collective behaviours and fractal structures near the critical points in many physical and biological systems.
In the catabolic phase, the genetic apparatus and the Darwinian processes allow the reproduction and
conservation of biological systems. In the anabolic phase, the epigenetic apparatus and the Lamarckian
processes produce innovative adaptations in response to environmental variations. In complex animals,
the acquired immunity regulates the selective proliferation of the cells with adaptive mutations during
the physiological responses to stresses. The same immunotrophic process allows the maternal selection of
embryos with adaptive mutations and maintains the metabolic biodiversity of animal populations. A better
understanding of how the genetic apparatus interacts with the environment by means of the epigenetic
systems will allow the design of interventions to reduce the population load of complex diseases.
1Istituto di Genetica Molecolare, CNR, Pavia

2Dipartimento di Biologia Animale, Università di Pavia
References
The Yin and Yang of anti-Darwinian epigenetics and Darwinian genetics.
Damiani G. - Riv Biol. 2007. 100(3):361-402.
Corrections to chance fluctuations: quantum mind in biological evolution?

Damiani G. - Riv Biol. 2009. 102(3): 421-448.
SESSIONE 6_ THEORY
THEORY
EMANUELE: SERRELLI
Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca
Dipartimento di Scienze Umane per la Formazione “Riccardo Massa”
PhD student
emanuele.serrelli@unimib.it
FITNESS LANDSCAPES AND SURFACES OF SELECTIVE VALUE
The notion of “fitness landscapes” was presented by Sewall Wright in 1932. Its influence in evolutionary
biology was extensive in several directions up to the present day. One direction consists in studies that
built “fitness landscapes” although, according to my analysis, they employed only a part of Wright’s ideas
- i.e. the one concerning “surfaces of selective value” (cf. Wright 1988) - focusing on one or few genetic or
phenotypic traits of the studied systems. The model Wright fostered in 1932 was about the entire genotypic
space of a Mendelian population, characterized by huge dimensionality.
The lack of formal tools and computational power have prevented its actual construction, but understanding
the original idea and how it differs from the realized models seems useful, all the most after the recent
proposal by Sergey Gavrilets (e.g. Gavrilets 1997; 2004) of revising the overall structure of the genotype
space. Understanding crucial differences is necessary here as well: for example, the newly proposed
diagrams - namely, nearly flat, holey surfaces - do not represent the whole genotypic space, but the existence
and properties of “nearly neutral networks” within it. The latter are fundamental for building particular
speciation models called “spontaneous clusterization” (Gavrilets 2010).
I will present, on the one hand, Wright’s primal proposal and the revision advanced by Gavrilets, on the
other hand, the fruitful “surface of selective value” method, that consists in (1) representing genetic or
phenotypic variants as points that are distributed on a bi-dimensional surface, so that the distance between
points be proportional to the “reachability” between variants; (2) extruding such a surface along a third,
orthogonal dimension that represents the considered variants’ fitness. The method aids the study of the
role of fitness and other factors in evolutionary dynamics.
SESSIONE 6_ THEORY
THEORY
STEFANO MONA
University of Bern, Svizzera
Post-Doc
stifano1@yahoo.it
GENETIC CONSEQUENCE OF HABITAT FRAGMENTATION DURING A RANGE EXPANSION

Stefano Mona and Laurent Excoffier
Habitat fragmentation is often defined as a process where the habitat of a species is broken into smaller and
isolated patches, accompanied (or not) by a loss of the total area available.
Here we investigated the genetic consequences of habitat fragmentation during a range expansion. Range
expansions are known to leave specific footprint on the genetic diversity of a meta-population both in
homogeneous and in some form of heterogeneous environment. Habitat fragmentation can be considered
as the simplest form of environmental heterogeneity, i.e. a mixture of habitat and non-habitat.
To model habitat fragmentation during a range expansion, we simulated a forward expansion in a two-
dimensional square array of 50x50 demes. The array was partitioned into group of demes (patches) by
adding barrier to dispersal defining 100 patches of 5x5 demes. Demes were allowed to exchange migrants
with the surroundings demes at a rate m1 if belonging to the same patch and at rate m2 if a barrier is present
(with m2 < m1). Demographic and migration histories were then used to generate genetic diversity in a
sample of genes under a coalescent approach. Sampling was performed at different scales: demes, patches,
region (group of four neighbouring patches) and at the landscape level.
By varying the carrying capacity (k), m and time of the expansion, we found they all exert a strong influence
on the genetic diversity of the meta-population, particularly when sampling within demes and patches (but
not at the region and landscape level). Moreover, we found that genealogies at all sampling levels depend
on k and m separately, rather than on their product. Finally, we performed additional simulations removing
the barriers sometimes after the expansion, to determine how fast genetic diversity can be restored.
We found that, under many conditions, the process may take a large number of generations.
SESSIONE 6_ THEORY
THEORY
TELMO PIEVANI
University of Milan - Bicocca
telmo.pievani@unimib.it
“EXTENDED SYNTHESIS”: A PROGRESSIVE SHIFT OF RESEARCH PROGRAMMESTEFANO

MONA AND LAURENT EXCOFFIER
The theory of evolution shows a 150 years history of theoretical and empirical extensions and revisions,
without any apparent radical change of “paradigm”. We would like to present here a tentative extension of
the neo-Darwinian structure of evolutionary theory. The ongoing transition from the Modern Synthesis to a
so-called “Extended Synthesis” is interpreted through the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes,
proposed by the epistemologist Imre Lakatos and updated. The current situation in evolutionary biology
is represented by a “progressive” shift of the neo-Darwinian research programme, moving from the quite
rigid framework of the Modern Synthesis to the more inclusive and pluralistic “core” and “protective belt”
of the Extended Synthesis. So, we argument against the idea that we would have now more “theories of
evolution” or a new “theory” with post-Darwinian features.
What we actually see at the front of the researches in evolutionary biology is quite different: an extended
and strongly corroborated neo-Darwinian core (with its four main factors: variation and inheritance,
natural selection, genetic drift, migration and macro-evolutionary effects), surrounded by a protective
belt of auxiliary assumptions in progress, concerning i.e. multiple patterns about modes and rhythms of
speciation, levels of selection, the effective agency of natural selection in the genome, the relationships
between evolution and development, epigenetics, phenotypic plasticity, endosymbiosis.
This analysis of the rational and continuous dynamics of growth of biological knowledge seems much
needed also for a critical examination of some popular controversies about evolution.
Keywords
Exaptation, Extended Synthesis, Modern Synthesis, Neo-Darwinism, Pluralism, Research Programme.
POSTER SESSION
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
DANIELE PORRETTA
Istituto/Organizzazione: Università di Roma “La Sapienza” Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale
Phd
daniele.porretta@uniroma1.it
INFLUENCE OF THE CELLULAR ENDOPARASITE MIDICHLORIA MITOCONDRII ON THE

MITOCHONDRIAL GENETIC DIVERSITY IN IXODES RICINUS TICK
Porretta D. 1, Mastrantonio V. 1, Epis S. 2, Bandi C. 2, Sassera D. 2, Pistone D. 2, Kramer L. 3, Rinaldi L.4,
Genchi C. 2 and S. Urbanelli1
Occurrence of intracellular bacteria is widespread in arthropods and other invertebrates. These symbionts
can play an important role in shaping mtDNA evolution. As mtDNA is a marker of choice for reconstructing
historical patterns of population demography, biogeography and speciation, the indirect selection on this
molecule from linkage disequilibrium with maternally inherited symbionts could have an impact on
all these issues. Ixodes ricinus (Acari: Ixodidae) is a mayor vector of human and animal diseases such
as Lyme borreliosis, tick-borne encephalitis, ehrlichiosis and babesiosis. Recently, it has been found to
harbour an intracellular alpha-proteobacterium, namely Midichloria mitochondrii. The bacterium is
localized both in the cytoplasm and intermembrane space of the mitochondria of ovarian cells. It is the
only prokaryote known to exist within the mitochondria of any animal or multicellular organism and is
the most prevalent and widely spread symbiont ever associated with Ixodes ricinus complex ticks. In order
to investigate whether Midichloria could have played a role in shaping mtDNA evolution of I. ricinus, here
we investigated mitochondrial DNA diversity and the infection pattern of Midichloria in tick populations
across the geographic range of the species.
1 Department of Environmental Biology University of Rome “La Sapienza”

2 Department of Veterinary Pathology Hygiene and Public Health, University Milan
3 Department of Veterinary Anatomic Pathology, University of Parma
4 Department of Pathology and Animal Health, University of Naples Federico II

POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
ANDREA BENAZZO
Phd
bnzndr@unife.it
HOW THE TEMPORAL SAMPLING SCHEME AFFECTS GENETIC INFERENCES ON POPULATION

DEMOGRAPHY: A SIMULATION STUDY
Andrea Benazzo, Giorgio Bertorelle
One of the main goals in population genetics is to understand if and how past demographic events shaped
the current genetic variation pattern of a species. Both modern and ancient DNA data can be used to address
this question, but obtaining ancient samples and genetically type them is often difficult and expensive.
It is therefore important to identify the conditions under which a population genetics study can clearly
benefit from ancient DNA data.
We focused on recent demographic events, especially those related to human activities and occurred in the
last 100-200 years ago. The identification of the genetic impact possibly due to these events is relevant not
only in evolutionary studies but also in conservation biology and management.
Through extensive coalescent simulations, we compared 11 different sampling schemes analyzing the
simulated data with different estimators commonly used to reconstruct past demographic events from
DNA variation data.
Sampling schemes differed by the relative weight given to modern and ancient DNA typing, and by the
number of time points in the past when samples are assumed to be available. Preliminary results show
that both the bias and the variance of simple population size estimators based on summary statistics are
different under different sampling schemes. Similarly, the demographic dynamic reconstructed using more
sophisticated approaches, such as the Bayesian skyline plot or the approximate Bayesian computation, are
affected by the temporal distribution of the samples.
Our results underline the importance of typing ancient samples and, when possible, selecting them
according to their age and to the question addressed.
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
GIULIA RICCIONI
Assegnista
giulia.riccioni@unibo.it
MODELLING BLUEFIN TUNA MEDITERRANEAN SEA COLONIZATION THROUGH ABC
The aim of this study is to analyse different models describing demographic scenarios of Atlantic Bluefin
Tuna in the Mediterranean Sea using an ABC approach to model the complex dynamics of this pelagic fish.
Indeed, in spite of recent progress due to genetic surveys and intensive electronic tagging experiments, its
spatial dynamics are still partially unknown. These complex dynamics are difficult to explore with classical
population genetics tools (likelihood-based or Bayesian methods) because of the lack of flexibility required
to describe these scenarios. Moreover in a recent study (Riccioni et al. 2010 ) we could not ascertain
thoroughly the presence of signals of bottleneck in the Mediterranean sea as the results are not fully
coherent and each subpopulation shows its own demographic history.
In reason of these difficulties we propose to determine if these results describe the real ecological and
demographic history of ABFT using ABC to test different scenarios taking into account the colonization of
the Mediterranean sea (~ 12000 ya)(Alvarado Bremer et al. 2005).
Indeed Pleistocene glaciations may have limited inter-oceanic gene flow and reproduction of Atlantic
bluefin tuna. Oceanographic studies suggest that temperatures in the Mediterranean during the LGM most
likely prevented bluefin tuna reproduction (sea surface temperature lower than 24°C). Therefore we can
hypothesize a more recent re-colonization of the Mediterranean sea by ABFT during the Holocene. The
small scale structuring detected in the Mediterranean sea suggest a possible split into several partially
independent subpopulations in this basin .
This kind of complex scenario can be compared to alternative ones with ABC enabling the identification of
the model that better reproduces the current genetic diversity.
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
EMILIANO CARNIERI
Presidente sez. ANISN sez. di Livorno
e.carnieri@provincia.livorno.it
MICHELANGELO BISCONTI
Museo di Storia Naturale del Mediterraneo di Livorno
Borsista
zoologia.museo@provincia.livorno.it
TEACHING PALAEOANTHROPOLOGY AT THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF THE

MEDITERRANEAN (2002-2010): EIGHT YEARS OF CHANGING IN HUMAN EVOLUTION
DIDACTICAL EXPERIENCES
The Room of Mankind of the Natural History Museum of the Mediterranean contains display cabinets,
diorama, interactive tools, reconstructions and specimens dealing with the origin and the natural history
of Homo sapiens.
Since 2002 didactical labs on human evolution have been organized and proposed to the students visiting
the museum. The anthropological labs have been attended mainly by students of Primary schools.
We analysed the problems found in teaching human evolution at the museum during eight years of
activities and we discuss how and the reason why we changed some modules and didactical labs.
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
EMILIANO CARNIERI
THE MISSING LINK IN HUMAN EVOLUTION: AN OLD BUT EVERGREEN MYTH.
In the last three decades paleoanthropologists have been change opinion about human evolution process,
which is more complex and not linear as researchers thought in the past. As matter of fact every time a
human fossil had been discovered it was described as the more important and oldest missing link.
At the beginning of the ‘90s of the last century a lot of new species were found and described and a
different approach in the studies caused a deep change in the way human evolution was considered:
humans evolved like the other species. However, it is not changed the way in which a new fossil is presented
and described on newspapers.
The most recent discoveries are discussed from this point of view to understand the reason why the
missing link concept still survives.
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
EMILIANO CARNIERI
MARCO BALESTRI
membro del direttivo sez. ANISN di Livorno
HUMAN EVOLUTION, CHARLES DARWIN, THE ORIGIN HUMAN MIND AND RELIGIOUS
BELIVIES: HIGH SCHOOLS STUDENT POINT OF VIEW
The authors present the results of an didactical experience made with three classes at Liceo Classico
of Livorno (Italy). We discuss together with the students about the concept of natural selection, the
relationship between humans and apes, human evolution models and the origin of human mind. The
students present a good knowlodge about the natural history of Homo sapiens, but some of them think
that some aspects (mind and soul) of humans are created by God.
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
MARCO FONDI
Laboratory of Microbial and Molecular Evolution, Dept, of Evolutionary Biology, University of Florence
PhD
marco.fondi@unifi.it
THE GENOME AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE HYDROCARBON-DEGRADING BACTERIUM

ACINETOBACTER VENETIANUS VE-C3
M. Fondi1, G. Emiliani2, E. Rizzi3, G. Corti3, M.C. Papaleo1, E. Perrin1, I. Maida1, F. Baldi 4, G. De
Bellis3, R. Fani1
Some strains of the genus Acinetobacter were demonstrated to be able to degrade alkanes of various
chain lengths and were shown to possess genomic distinctness from the other strains belonging to the
genus. Accordingly, these strains were designated as members of the species Acinetobacter venetianus.
In particular, one of them, isolated from a bacterial oil-degrading consortium from the Venice lagoon
(Italy), namely A. venetianus VE-C3, was shown to be able to grow on C10, C14 and C20. Moreover
fragmentation of diesel fuel at the cell wall was observed, thus suggesting strong bioemulsifying activity
by A. venetianus VE-C3.
These physiological properties led us to choose this strain as a good candidate for the determination of the
complete genome sequence in order to gain more insights i) on the molecular mechanisms responsible
for the degradation of n-alkanes, ii) on the genetic features of a representative of the species A. venetianus
and iii) on the evolutionary pathway leading to the diversification of the representatives of this genus.
Preliminary analysis of genome assembly allowed us to identify putative orthologous and xenologous
regions of A. venetianus VE-C3 compared to the available Acinetobacter species genomes. In particular,
this analysis pointed out a strong genomic distinctness from the strains belonging to other species of
this genus. Moreover, gene prediction resulted in the identification of about 3600 putative genes. The
predicted genes were clustered in COG categories allowing the identification of putative niche-adaptation
specific gene sets that have probably played a key role in the evolution of this microorganism.
In addition to its interest for comparative evolutionary genomics with closely related bacteria this affords
an opportunity for analysis and manipulation of genes and gene products, and paves the way for a future
analysis of metabolic transformations in the environment.
1 Laboratory of Microbial and Molecular Evolution, Dept, of Evolutionary Biology, Via Romana 17-19, University
of Florence, I-50125 Florence, Italy.
2 Tree and Timber Institute, National Research Council, Via Biasi, 75, 38010 San Michele all’Adige, Trento, Italy
3 Istituto di Tecnologie Biomediche, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ITB-CNR), Segrate (MI), Italy
4 Department of Environmental Sciences, Cà Foscari University, Calle Larga S. Marta, Dorsoduro 2137, 30121
Venice, Italy
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
PAOLO FRANCALACCI
Dipartimento di Zoologia e Genetica Evoluzionistica – Università di Sassari
professore associato
pfrancalacci@uniss.it
MITOCHONDRIAL DNA VARIABILITY OF THE BLACK-STRIPED PIPEFISH SYNGNATHUS

ABASTER IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA
Daria Sanna1, Francesca Biagi1, Ben Alaya Hajer5, Alejandro Romero3, Joaquin De Juan3, Jean-Pierre
Quignard4, Piero Franzoi2, Patrizia Torricelli2, Marcella Carcupino1, Paolo Francalacci1
Syngnathids are abundant and widespread in marine and brackish seagrass habitats, but their weak
swimming ability restricts the potential for dispersal. Only a few papers have dealt with the population
genetics of syngnathids. The aim of this study was to provide data on mitochondrial DNA variation of
Syngnathus abaster, in the Mediterranean sea. We analysed both control (HVS-II) and coding regions
(12S, 16S and Cytochrome b). Overall, 136 specimens were sampled from 12 sites distributed along
coasts of Italy (Sardina, Latium and Venetian lagoon), France (Corsica, Montpellier lagoon and Marseille
lagoon), Spain (Mar Menor lagoon) and North Africa (Tunisis lagoon). Sequences obtained from all
the mitochondrial regions investigated were pooled to obtain a unique dataset. Results evidenced the
occurrence of three main groups correspondent to three areas of the Mediterranean basin different for
environmental and ecological parameters (western Mediterranean, eastern Mediterranean and Adriatic
sea). Even if a low level of genetic divergence among populations characterised each cluster, there is
no occurrence of haplotype sharing among the sites. This finding suggests that genetic settlement has
undergone an independent development at each geographic location. The results obtained agree with the
genetic differentiation that commonly occur within populations from western and eastern Mediterranean,
due to the present and historical ecological and geological barriers which separate the two basins. On
the other hand, such results may account for an unidirectional colonization of the Mediterranean basin
according to the linear stepping stone model.
1Dipartimento di Zoologia e Genetica Evoluzionistica, Università di Sassari - Italy

2Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Università Cà Foscari (Venezia) - Italy
3Departamento de Biotecnología. Universidad de Alicante - Spain
4Laboratoire d’Ichthyologie, Université de Montpellier - France
5Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université Tunis El Manar - Tunisia

POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
PAOLO GRATTON
Centro Ricerca e Innovazione - Research and Innovation Center, Fondazione E. Mach, San Michele
all’Adige, Italy.
Collaboratore a Progetto
paolo.gratton@iasma.it
EVOLUTIONARY RELATIONSHIPS AND ORIGINS OF A THE CRITICALLY ENDANGERED

ENDEMIC SALMO CARPIO.
Paolo Gratton and Andrea Gandolfi
Through the last decades, genetic studies are increasingly unveiling the genetic structure of the brown trout
(Salmo trutta) complex, resulting from the combined forces of geography, history, and natural selection.
Genetic and ecological data have also demonstrated how alteration of habitats and unsustainable fishing
practices (implying introduction, translocation, and restocking) disrupted most of this biodiversity
legacy.
The Garda Lake endemic form S. carpio (carpione del Garda) is one of the most important pieces of
biodiversity among Italian freshwater fish. Though its population has dramatically declined within the
last 50 years, still very little is known about its genetic composition and evolutionary relationships with
other trout strains in the Mediterranean basin. Early studies revealed that S. carpio harbors multiple
mtDNA lineages and hypothesized its hybrid origin from marble trout (Salmo marmoratus) and another
rather undefined parental form. These data also questioned the recognition of S. carpio as a separate
lineage within the Salmo trutta complex. Moreover, no extensive data allowed to assess its reproductive
isolation and possible introgression from allochtonous gene pools.
We analyzed a large sample of S. carpio and other supposedly autochtonous Italian trouts with nuclear
microsatellites and mtDNA sequence markers in order to obtain a broad genetic characterization of this
form. Our results show that S. carpio forms a very well defined gene pool and that it has no evidence of
any introgression from allochtonous strains.
Preliminary data from a set of nuclear coding and intronic regions (10 amplicons) are revealing that SNPs
polymorphism within the S. carpio population recurrently encompasses and exceeds variation among
marble trout from three distant watersheds (Adda, Adige and Isonzo), thus suggesting that hybridization
among differentiated evolutionary lineages may have played a role in the origin of this taxon after the
formation of the Garda Lake ca. 15,000 years BP.
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
FRANCESCO PAPARAZZO
Section of Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biology 2, Ludwig Maximillians University, Munich,
Germany
PhD student
paparazzo@bio.lmu.de
Drosophila melanogaster is a model species for studying host defense in invertebrates. The fungus Beauveria
bassiana (Cordycipitaceae) is a generalist enthomopatogen and variability in resistance to infection has
been reported both within and between D. melanogaster populations. Host and parasite populations from
Africa, Asia and Europe will be used to investigate variability in resistance to infection and host parasite
interactions. Variability in resistance genes expression profile will be assessed and selection at candidate
genes will be studied at a population level.
The results of a side experiment adressing the latitudinal effect on host parasite interactions are reported.
A tropical (Drosophila ananassae) and a temperate (Drosophila pseudoobscura) species are infected with
temperate and tropical B. bassiana strains and mortality rates are recorded.
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
SIBELL TORRES VILACA

Università di Ferrara
PhD student
trrsll@unife.it
BIOGEOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE SPECIES COMPLEX BASILEUTERUS CULICIVORUS (AVES,

PARULIDAE) IN THE NEOTROPICS
Sibelle Torres Vilaça, Fabricio Rodrigues Santos
The taxonomic status of Basileuterus culicivorus complex has been under debate for a long time. There are
uncertainties about the relationships among recognized species (B. culicivorus and B. hypoleucus), and
whether B. culicivorus can be considered as a single species. Although there are several genetics studies
within the Parulidae family, only a few sampled Neotropical resident species.
In order to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships among these species and their biogeographic history
we used a broad geographic sampling from Mexico to Argentina of B. culicivorus and B. hypoleucus.
sing a mitochondrial gene (Cytochrome b), a nuclear intron (intron 5 of β-fibrinogen) and five
microsatellites, a total of 150 samples were typed.
Phylogenetic reconstructions identified highly structured groups according to their spatial distribution.
The basal position of northern clades suggest a origin on the North of B. culicivorus distribution.
The known subspecies of B. culicivorus formed monophyletic groups, except two ones from Brazil and
Paraguay. Basileuterus hypoleucus sequences did not form a monophyletic clade, being more related to B.
culicivorus from Brazil and Paraguay. The divergence time analysis indicated that the deep separation of
the basal lineages of B. culicivorus occurred in Late Pliocene. Contrasting with the other geographically
structured populations from Central and South America, the clade of birds from Brazil, Paraguay and
Argentina showed a remarkably high population growth starting in the mid-Pleistocene, according
to the most plausible evolutionary scenario expected for parulid birds of a range expansion directed
southwards.
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
VALENTINA MILANA
Department of Biology and Biotechnology, ‘Sapienza’, University of Rome
Post Doc
valentina.milana@uniroma1.it
GENETIC STRUCTURE IN LAGOON SAMPLES OF A. BOYERI: EFFECTS OF HABITAT

DISCONTINUITY AND LOW DISPERSAL ABILITY
Valentina Milana1, L. Sola1, E. Angiulli1 and A. R. Rossi1
Species inhabiting fragmented environments characterized by limited dispersal capabilities, are

particularly exposed to the effects of genetic drift, and thus often show high levels of genetic divergence
and local adaptation. These characteristics make them particularly suitable to investigate the evolutionary
mechanisms of differentiation and, ultimately, microevolution. Atherina boyeri is a typical species of these
environments, as it is one of the most common inhabitants of brackish waters of Mediterranean Sea and
Eastern Atlantic, with introduced populations in several lakes. This study aimed to assess the genetic
differentiation of A. boyeri lagoon populations, to infer the possible geographic origin of introduced
populations, and to compare the genetic variability of native and introduced ones. To achieve these goals
ten microsatellite loci were examined in 428 specimens from three Italian lakes and 11 lagoons along the
Italian and Albanian coasts. The results obtained indicate a strong population structure with geographic
base. The population clustering, and the reduced gene flow detected among lagoons, is attributable to the
low dispersal capabilities of the species. This implies that the populations are substantially self-replenished
on a local scale, thus favouring their isolation and the effect of genetic drift. In this picture, genetic results
here reported suggest that lagoon big-scale sand smelts do not constitute a single panmittic unit. As far as
lake samples, all show a reduction of genetic variability, probably attributable to founder events, and their
origin could be reconnected to Tyrrhenian lagoons. Data obtained, besides the useful contribution for the
comprehension of the evolutionary mechanism of genetic differentiation, provide pivotal indications for
the correct management and conservation of lagoon environments.
1 Department of Biology and Biotechnology, ‘Sapienza’, University of Rome, Via Borelli 50, 00161 Rome, Italy
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
RAOUL MANENTI
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Milano
Dottorando, non strutturato

raoul.manenti@unimi.it r
EXPRESSION AND ROLE OF THE TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR POU IV IN THE DIFFERENTIATION

OF NEURONS ORIGINATING FROM PLACODAL AREAS IN THE ASCIDIAN CIONA INTESTINALIS
(TUNICATA, CHORDATA)
Raoul Manenti1, Simona Candiani2, Mario Pestarino2, Andrea Pasini3, Roberta Pennati1, Fiorenza De
Bernardi1, Roberta De Santis1, Roberta Corti1, Giuliana Zega1
Placodes are specialized territories of vertebrate embryos from which sensory organs and their associated
ganglia differentiate. Ascidians are considered the closest living relatives of vertebrates. In embryos of
the ascidian Ciona intestinalis, two regions sharing homologies with the hypophyseal/olfactory and otic/
lateral line placodes have been described.
Transcription factors of the POU IV family are widely expressed in placode derivatives and involved in
the differentiation of sensory neurons of zebrafish, chick and mouse. Two alternative transcripts of POU
IV with different functions in neuron specification and outgrowth have been described. In C. intestinalis
embryos, all sensory neurons express Ci-POU IV gene.
The aim of this work was to study how Ci-POU IV drives differentiation of sensory neurons in ascidians.
We discovered two alternative transcripts sharing fundamental homologies with those of mouse POU IV
gene and analyzed their different expression patterns. By means of a bioinformatic approach, we looked
for Ci-POU IV possible target genes containing in the surroundings of their ATG the specific consensus
sequence. We selected 8 regions corresponding to 6 genes, whose activity is going to be evaluated.
Among the predicted target genes, we found Ci-Pans (neural gene marker) and Ci-TPH (serotonin
rate-limiting synthesis enzyme, Tryptophane Hydroxylase). Moreover, we designed Morpholino oligos
to perform gene knock-down experiments for the different isoforms of Ci-POU IV. Preliminary results
revealed that the expression of Ci-Pans, Ci-TPH and Ci-vGlut (a glutamate transporter) are differently
regulated by the two transcripts.
Sensory neurons both originating from the hypophyseal/olfactory and the otic/lateral placodal domain
were affected. These results indicated that the POU IV isoforms were already involved in placode derivatives
specification and terminal differentiation in ascidians as in vertebrates suggesting that the genetic cascade
of sensory organs specification was conserved in their last common ancestor.
1 Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria, 26 20133 Milano (Italy);
giuliana.zega@unimi.it
2
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Genova, viale Benedetto XV, Genova
3
Institut de Biologie du Développement de Marseille Luminy (IBDML), UMR6216, CNRS/Université de la
Méditerranée, Marseille, France.
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
PATRIZIA MARTELLINI
Istituto Superiore” Carlo Dell’Acqua” – Legnano Mi
Docente di Biologia
titaxs@alice.it
CHARLES DARWIN’S GIRLFRIEND
Very few people know that Emma Wedgwood wasn’t the only great love in Darwin’s life.
Fanny Owen of Woodhouse, the sister of his school friend William Owen, was Darwin’s first love. Fanny
was a pretty free spirit, unusual in Jane Austen times. She was great at riding and shooting and Charles
admired her a lot for this reason. She called him “Postillion” and he called her “Housemaid”; the couple
very often went riding together across the country and rolled together on strawberries fields.
Charles said about her: “Fanny as all the world knows is the prettiest, plumpest, most charming personage
that Shropshire possesses, and Birmingham too” and called her “la belle Fanny”.
These were the years in which Darwin studied at Cambridge’s Christ’s College; a very good period for
him. He later wrote “ Upon the whole, the three years I spent at Cambridge were the most joyful of my
happy life” In that period Charles developed a beetles mania and, with his second cousin William Darwin
Fox, looked for rare species of beetles in the countryside around Cambridge.
He also founded a dining club, named “Glutton Club”. They met once a week to eat meat of animals,
“unknown to human palate”; also during his voyage Charles loved to taste uncommon animals. Fanny
reproved Charles, complaining that he preferred beetles to her!
Then he was given the opportunity to travel around the world. Fanny wrote him: “I shall not forget you!”
Only four months later, when Charles arrived in Brasil, his sister sent him a letter to inform him that
Fanny had married Robert Myddelton Biddulph; he was obviously completely shocked!
Would Darwin’s life be different if he had married “la Belle Fanny” instead of the religious Emma?
This is what we will try to discover, also examining the content of the several letters they exchanged and
arrived to us.
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
ELENA BITOCCHI
PhD
ADAPTATION AND DIVERSITY ALONG AN ALTITUDINAL GRADIENT IN ETHIOPIAN BARLEY

(HORDEUM VULGARE L.) LANDRACES REVEALED BY MOLECULAR ANALYSIS.
Tanto Hadado T.1 2, Rau D.1 3, Bitocchi E.1, Papa R.1
To determine the level and pattern of genetic variation in barley (Hordem vulgare L.) landraces from North
Shewa zone, in the central highlands of Ethiopia, the genetic variability at seven nuclear microsatellite loci
was examined. Analysis was carried out on a total of 106 landrace populations sampled in two growing
seasons (Meher and Belg, the long and short rainy season, respectively), across three districts (Ankober,
Mojanawadera and Tarmaber), and, within each district, all along an altitudinal gradient (from 1798 to
3324 m a.s.l). Genetic variation has been ascribed to differences between altitudinal classes (FST = 0.10)
more than between seasons or among districts (FST = 0.02).
The most relevant outcome of the experiment is that altitude level largely overrides geographical distance
as main cause of divergence among individual plants.
Moreover, results also suggest that the patterns of clinal variation among districts and seasons are
inconsistent with a simple model drift and dispersal (seed exchange). They suggested instead a role for
historical patterns of colonization, or, alternatively, present-day selective forces acting on some of the SSR
analysed.
1 Sezione di Agronomia e Genetica Agraria, Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali e delle Produzioni Vegetali
(SAPROV), Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
2 Present address: Institute of Biodiversity Conservation, P.O. Box 30726, Addis Abab, Ethiopia
3 Present address: Dipartimento di Scienze Agronomiche e Genetica Vegetale Agraria,Università degli Studi di
Sassari, Via E. De Nicola, 07100, Sassari, Italy

POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
ELENA BITOCCHI
PhD
NUCLEOTIDE DIVERSITY ANALYSIS IN MESOAMERICAN WILD AND DOMESTICATED

PHASEOLUS VULGARIS L.
Goretti D.1, Bitocchi E.1, Bellucci E.1, Rossi M.1, Nanni L.1, Attene G. 2, Papa R1
The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a diploid (2n = 2x = 22), annual species that is predominantly
self-pollinating and is the most important grain legume for direct human consumption. For P. vulgaris,
many aspects of its molecular and phenotypic diversity, migration dynamics and population structure are
well known. To date, in contrast, little information is available on the level and extent of its nucleotide
diversity. The common bean was domesticated independently in Mesoamerica and in the Andes, and the
largest diversity of its wild and domesticated forms is found in Mesoamerica, where a single domestication
event is believed to have occurred. The main aims of the present study were to develop SNP markers and
to identify genes and genomic regions that are related to the adaptive processes during domestication of
P. vulgaris. We developed 48 primer combinations to amplify and sequence in particular the orthologous
counterparts of genes previously studied in wild and domesticated soybean.
A sample of 47 genotypes was developed to represent the wild and domesticated Mesoamerican populations
(39), including 8 additional genotypes from the Andean and phaseolin I gene pools, P. coccineus and P.
dumosus.
Here, we present and discuss the results from the sequencing of 48 gene fragments (including loci
previously identified as potentially under selection during the domestication process in Mesoamerica).
1 Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali e delle Produzioni Vegetali (SAPROV), Università Politecnica delle Marche,
Via Brecce Bianche, 60131Ancona (Italy)
2 Dipartimento di Scienze Agronomiche e Genetica Vegetale Agraria,Università degli Studi di Sassari, Via E. De
Nicola, 07100 Sassari (Italy)

POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
MAURO MANDRIOLI
Laboratory of Evolutionary Genetics, Dept. Biology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, via Campi
213/D, 41125 Modena, Italy.
mauro.mandrioli@unimo.it
EXOGENOUS, NON PATHOGENIC, BACTERIA ENHANCE THE DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

LIFESPAN: WHEN HOLOBIONT IS MORE EVOLVABLE THAN INDIVIDUAL ORGANISM
All the insects up to date studied are inhabited by a large microbial community resident in gut and
other organs (such as gonads and salivary glands). For several years, the interactions between insects and
their gut microbiota have been related to the bacterial contribution to the metabolism of their host only.
Actually, these interactions represent only a limited fraction of occurring exchanges between bacteria and
the insects they inhabit and new scenarios have been opened.
For example, recent studies revealed that the gut microbiota provides resistance against natural pathogens
and parasites and interacts with the host immune system. Experiments of bacterial supplementation in
the food indicated that the presence of bacteria during the first two days of the adult life enhances the
Drosophila lifespan, despite unchanged food intake. Interestingly, the continuous presence of bacteria in
the food and the later supplementation reduce the Drosophila lifespan. The analysis of the lifespan of the
third instar larva indicates that bacteria did not affect their longevity.
As a whole, these results indicate that longevity may be due to the interactions between the gut microbiota
and the host and not only to the host genome. Therefore, variation in the gut microbiota may affect fly
longevity and fitness, according to the hologenome theory suggesting that the genetic wealth of diverse
microbial symbionts can play important roles both in adaptation and in evolution of animals.
During periods of rapid changes in the environment, the diverse microbial symbiont community can
aid the holobiont in surviving, multiplying and buying the time necessary for the host genome to evolve.
The distinguishing feature of the hologenome theory is that it considers all of the diverse microbiota
associated with the animal as part of the evolving holobiont making each insect a sort of ‘superorganism’
as proposed by Wilson and Sober.
POSTER SESSION
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ANNASTELLA GAMBINI
Dipartimento di Scienze Umane per la Formazione, Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca
annastella.gambini@unimib.it
BIODIVERSITY AT SCHOOL: EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVE AND REFERENCE FRAMEWORK
The importance of biodiversity as a concept to understand life and the relationships that living things
establish with the external world makes it one of the main overarching topics in the teaching of Biology. It
is important to conceive biodiversity as a reference framework to understand life at any level of complexity.
Specific literature on sciences education barely deals with this topic as such. Our Biology education
research group at the University of Milano-Bicocca devised three educational experiences to teach and
learn the concept of biodiversity at three different levels of complexity: cells, organisms and ecosystems.
The first one is an experience based on microscope observation of microorganisms taken from different
water environments. This experience, by exploiting learning tools made by ourselves, highlights the variety
of organisms in the microscopic world, generally little known in school practices.
The second experience proposes the study of some Mediterranean Sea invertebrates bred in a sea aquarium
in our Department, carried on through an active methodology that comes from the latest suggestions of
educational literature.
The third experience involves the study of a water place (a fontanile in the Po plain) characterized by
some differentiated areas within it. Collecting data and documentation materials are usually shared in
group by students and lead to a collaborative product.
The experiences are carried on with students that will be primary school teachers, although they could be
proposed to children and teenagers in the same format introduced here.
The aim of this proposal is to increase - through observation, work sharing, and group discussions - the
knowledge of natural environments and its biodiversity taking responsibility for the loss of this diversity,
and becoming aware of the importance of its conservation.
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ADRIANA BELLATI
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale, Università degli Studi di Pavia
PhD student
adriana.bellati@unipv.it
COMPARING MORPHOLOGICAL VARIABILITY AND MOLECULAR DIVERGENCE: A

PRELIMINARY STUDY IN PODARCIS MURALIS (LAURENTI, 1768) FROM THE TUSCAN
ARCHIPELAGO (ITALY)
Adriana Bellati1, Daniele Pellitteri-Rosa1, Roberto Sacchi1, Andrea Galimberti2, Maurizio Casiraghi2,
Annamaria Nistri3, Mauro Fasola1, Paolo Galeotti1
The genus Podarcis (Wagler, 1830) has evolved and diversified in the Mediterranean Basin, where it
represents the predominant reptile group. In recent years, analysis of DNA sequences has significantly
revised the traditional systematic of Podarcis species based on morphological characters. In particular,
sometimes subspecies may deserve species status, while in other cases their phenotypic divergences
are thought to be due to local adaptation, so that they should be better regarded as eco-phenotypes.
The Common wall lizard, Podarcis muralis (Laurenti, 1768), is widespread in southern, western and
central Europe, where it has spread in a wide variety of habitats. The high morphological variability of
this species have given rise in the past to a complex taxonomic framework, allowing the proliferation of
many morphological subspecies. In particular, seven subspecies exclusive of the Tuscan Archipelago were
recognized, mainly due to the chromatic polymorphism of the insular populations. Here, we used molecular
markers, that are less influenced by local adaptation than morphological characters, to investigate the
genetic variability of P. muralis populations. DNA sequences were obtained from museum specimens
representing all morphological subspecies indicated for the Tuscan Archipelago. Our results do not
completely agree with the morphological subspecific division in P. muralis: in fact, several morphological
subspecies show minimal or no difference in mtDNA haplotypes. Nevertheless, a strong genetic structure
was found in our dataset, that may be useful in clarifying the biogeography of the Archipelago, providing
new highlights about the genetic variation and the phylogeny of this species too.
1 Dipartimento di Biologia Animale, Università di Pavia, Via Ferrata 1, I-27100 Pavia, Italy
2 Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Bioscienze,Università di Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, I-20126 Milano,
Italy
3 Museo Zoologico de La Specola, Università di Firenze, Via Romana 17, I-50125 Firenze, Italy
POSTER SESSION
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MICHELE BELLONE
Università del Piemonte Orientale
michele.bellone@mfn.unipmn.it
TRANSCRIPTOMICS ASSESSMENT OF EVOLUTIONARY CONSERVED RESPONSE TO

TOXICANTS ACROSS DIFFERENT SPECIES
Bellone M, Mignone F, Rapallo F, Stürzenbaum SR, Swain S, Rudzok S, Bauer M, Viarengo A, Dondero F.
Ecotoxicology focuses on the investigation of toxic effects of pollutants across all levels of biological
organisations, from molecules to ecosystems. Such an approach allows the collection of great amount of
data that can be used not only for applied research, but also to increase our knowledge about biodiversity
and the evolutionary dynamics that lie behind it.
Here we present a comparative study based on transcriptomics data aimed to identify evolutionary conserved
molecular responses to wide-spread pollutants, the heavy metal Nickel and the organophosphate pesticide
Chlorpyrifos, in three different models: human helpG2 cultured cells, the nematode Caenorhabditis
elegans and the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. To this end, we investigated the frequencies
of orthologs between the three species whose expression was altered by pollutants and their putative
biological functions.
Datasets from previous microarrays experiments were analysed with TDHand, a web-based tool for gene
expression data analysis and storage that we are developing using a customized version of the Linear
Models for Microarray Analysis (LIMMA) software. Orthologs were identified using the InParanoid
database and their frequencies in the lists of differentially expressed genes were calculated with a new
tool, able to perform a bootstrapped statistical test, that we created and embedded in TDHand.
In most treatments we found a significant number of orthologs amongst the differentially expressed genes
of each specie; their Gene Ontology terms were analysed to identify those genes that have retained or
changed their function during the course of evolution.
Our approach proved to be useful for two reasons: first, it helps to compare microarray data from different
species and experiments, thus constituting a good framework for comparative transcriptomics. Second, it
allows to integrate the evolutionary approach into the field of ecotoxicology, in order to enable for a better
understanding of toxicant responses across different model species.
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LINO OMETTO
Centro Ricerca e Innovazione, Area Ambiente, Fondazione Edmund Mach
PostDoc
lino.ometto@iasma.it
ALTITUDE ADAPTATION IN CARDAMINE

Lino Ometto1, Luisa Bresadola1, Mingai Li1, and Claudio Varotto1
As sessile organisms, plants are forced to cope with circadian and seasonal changes in both the type and
levels of environmental stress. In response, plants have developed a series of physiological adaptations
that involve the up-regulation of hundreds of genes. The activation mechanism and the identity of some
of these genes are quite known in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana.
However, little is known about the importance of stress responsive genes (SRG) in the adaptation to
high altitude, where, for example, temperature drops are a common source of stress. To this purpose, we
studied the molecular evolution of SRG in two Arabidopsis relatives adapted to disjoint altitudinal ranges:
Cardamine resedifolia, which typically grows above 1800 m of altitude, and C. impatiens, normally found
below 1200 m. First we sequenced and identified about 3,000 sets of ortholog genes, including many SRG.
Then, based on each gene sequence evolution pattern (i.e. dN/dS ratio) we assessed the rate of molecular
evolution and the eventual action of positive selection. Genes involved in stress response show signature
of adaptive evolution in both Cardamine species.
For instance, the rate of molecular evolution is significantly faster for SRG (and for cold responsive genes
alone) than for the other genes. However, the rate of molecular evolution for SRG does not differ between
C. impatiens and C. resedifolia, suggesting that only some genes or their expression are important in
conferring high altitude adaptation to C. resedifolia. When analyzed singularly, few genes show signatures
of positive selection or differential species-specific evolution. This hints to pervasive adaptive evolution of
SRG or/and of ancient episodes of adaptive evolution in the two Cardamine species.
1 IASMA Research and Innovation Centre, Environment and Natural Resources Area, Fondazione Edmund Mach,
38010 San Michele all’Adige (TN), Italy.
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GIORGIO BINELLI
Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze Molecolari, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria
Professore Associato
giorgio.binelli@uninsubria.it
OCCURRENCE OF HYBRIDIZATION BETWEEN ULMUS MINOR AND ULMUS PUMILA IN

NORTHERN ITALY
Bertolasi B1, Zago L1, Vanetti I2, Binelli G2, Sebastiani F3, Vendramin GG3, Gorian F1
Ulmus minor is a species of constitutive importance in European woods that has undergone a progressive
and severe demographic reduction after the introduction of Dutch Elm Disease (DED), a fungal
(Ophiostoma spp.) disease vectored by elm bark beetle. Growth habitus of younger individuals, born after
the introduction of pest, is totally altered from tree to a big sucker bush. Another threat to the conservation
of the species integrity has been the introduction of Ulmus pumila, an exotic species introduced in the late
nineteenth century from Siberia and quickly naturalized. U. pumila is resistant or tolerant to DED, thus
replacing in many sites the original U. minor populations.
Besides, cases of hybridization have been allegedly reported on a morphological basis. In this work, a
genetic study of two mixed population, characterised by the presence of both species and of putative
hybrids was performed by the use of nuclear SSRs. As for genetic variability, heterozygosity was found high
for both species, while moderate but significant inbreeding, departure from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
and linkage disequilibrium were found at all loci for the minor trees.
A cluster of minor trees was also identified by Bayesian analysis and showed spatial structure as revealed
by ACS. A second goal of this study is to assess the occurrence and the magnitude of natural hybridization
between the two species. To this purpose we will test the occurrence of asymmetrical introgression by
paternity analysis of young seedlings obtained from U. minor mother trees.
In doing this, we will be facilitated by the isolation of the population chosen, a riparian wood surrounded
by open fields in a range of many km., where only scattered Ulmus trees are reported. Identification of
hybrid trees, if confirmed, will pave the way for the identification and isolation of genes involved in the
resistance to DED.
1 Centro per lo Studio e la Conservazione della Biodiversità Forestale, Peri (VR)

2 Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze Molecolari, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Varese
3 Istituto Genetica Vegetale CNR, Firenze.
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MICHELE CESARI
Dipartimento di Biologia – Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia
michele.cesari@unimore.it
ANALYSIS OF THE TPS GENE AND ANHYDROBIOSIS IN TARDIGRADES

M. Cesari, T. Altiero, L. Rebecchi
Habitats that unpredictably desiccate and rehydrate can be considered extreme and require specific
adaptations to stressors. Tardigrades can withstand desiccation by entering anhydrobiosis, often requiring
accumulation of trehalose, a non-reducing disaccharide.
Trehalose allows anhydrobiosis by acting as a water replacement molecule and vitrifying agent. It has
been demonstrated that trehalose accumulation is different in various tardigrade species. Therefore, the
analysis of a gene involved in its metabolic pathway, such as the trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (tps)
gene, could be very useful to elucidate the evolutionary relationships among tardigrade taxa. T
he presence of the gene and potential differences in its sequence were investigated because many tardigrade
species do not have the ability to enter anhydrobiosis. Sequences of the tps gene were determined by
amplification using degenerate primers based on conserved protein sequence and cloning on three
different anhydrobiotic species. Once a tps sequence was obtained from one species (Paramacrobiotus gr.
richtersi), specific primers were designed and used to amplify it in many species, which were chosen for
their different phylogenetic positions and habitats (freshwater and terrestrial), while their anhydrobiotic
responses were tested by analysing their survival after experimental desiccation.
The gene was amplified in all desiccation tolerant species and in one out of three limnic and desiccation
intolerant species: its presence in the latter species is not surprising, since trehalose may also be used as
an energy source. Moreover, the tps gene was also found in Milnesium tardigradium, a species where no
trehalose was detected in desiccated animals. The tps gene was very conserved in all analysed tardigrade
species, while it is very variable compared to other eukaryotes.
Therefore tps DNA sequence is not a good phylogenetic marker inside the phylum, but its aminoacidic
sequences gave interesting insights on the relationships of the phylum within Panarthropoda.
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SILVIA GHIROTTO
PhD
ghrslv@unife.it
TESTING FOR A SOUTHERN ROUTE OF EARLY HUMAN DISPERSAL FROM AFRICA

Silvia Ghirotto1, Luca Penso-Dolfin1, Vincenza Colonna2, Guido Barbujani1
Although paleontological and genetic data strongly suggest that anatomically modern humans originated
in Africa and dispersed from there some 60,000 years ago, there is still disagreement on the details of the
dispersal process, and on the possibility of admixture with preexisting human forms. Based on analyses
of skull shapes, Lahr and Foley (1994) proposed that some Southern Asian and Melanesian populations
originated from an earlier (100,000 years ago) expansion of modern humans through the horn of Africa,
rather than through the Near East. So far, the likelihood of such a Southern route of expansion has only
been tested against genetic data in a controversial study of mtDNA (Macalulay et al. 2005). In this study we
analyzed genetic variation at 243,855 SNPs in 5 populations of Southern Asia and Melanesia (Dalit, Irula,
Iban) and of Eastern Asia (Chinese, Japanese). We compared the genetic distances between individuals and
populations with the expectations of two dispersal models, respectively including one (through Palestine)
or two (through Palestine and the Horn of Africa) processes of expansion from Africa. We supported the
results of this analysis by explicit spatial simulations based on a serial coalescent algorithm, in which we
evaluated by Approximate Bayesian Computations the posterior probability of either model, at the same
time estimating some relevant demographic and evolutionary parameters.
1 Dipartimento di Biologia ed Evoluzione, Università di Ferrara, via Borsari 46, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
2 CNR-IGB, Institute of Genetics and Biophysics, Via Pietro Castellino 111, 80131 Naples, Italy
POSTER SESSION
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GIACINTO LIBERTINI
giacinto.libertini@tin.it
EVOLUTIONARY DEFINITION OF “NORMALITY”
The statistical concept of “normal range” (alias “reference values” or, shortly, “normality”) is trivial and
needs no particular explanation. But, applying this concept to a biological community that lives to a great
extent in modified ecological conditions, the dysfunctions (diseases) deriving from conditions to which
the species is not adapted become statistical normality.
It is therefore essential, in the study of biological phenomena, to use the concept of normality referred
exclusively to the ecological niche (habitat, dietary habits, lifestyle, etc.) to which a species is adapted and
to consider abnormal any different condition and the consequential diseases.
This evolutionary definition of normality is not at all a simple semantic curiosity but a fundamental
concept that must be the basis of a really scientific Medicine. For our species, many diseases that are
regarded as consequence of the interaction between genes predisposing to a disease and environmental
factors, if we consider their almost complete absence in populations living in primitive conditions, much
closer to the ecological niche to which our species is adapted, turn out to be, in fact, the consequence of
alterations of the normal (ancestral) ecological niche.
It follows that many common diseases (hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, type 1-diabetes,
autoimmune diseases - type 2-diabetes included -, eye refractive defects, hearing loss, chronic respiratory
diseases, dental caries, pyorrhoea, crowded teeth, constipation, haemorrhoids, anal rhagades, colon
diverticulosis, appendicitis, nephrolithiasis, cholelithiasis, osteoporosis, back pain, allergies, mental
and psychiatric disorders, practically all types of cancer, etc.) could be prevented almost completely by
precautionary measures that correct as much as possible the alterations of our ecological niche, obviously
in ways and manners compatible with the modern organization.
Actually, a rational health-care policy should be based first of all on the evolutionary concept of normality
and only in the second place on the present medical practice that appears clearly more and more inadequate
to contrast the exponential spreading of most of the diseases as direct consequence of the increasing
alteration of our ecological niche.
This implies a drastic redefinition both of sanitary and social framework: the main problem is that, for
health operators, to cure is much more profitable - in terms of earnings, social advance and scientific
success - than to prevent using evolutionary concepts. But, the future will compel to alternatives that are
less self-interested and ineffective and more rational and fruitful.
COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO PARADIGMS ABOUT AGING
According to the current prevailing interpretations, the age-related fitness decline shown by many species
in natural conditions, commonly defined as “aging”, is an effect of:
1) the age-related decline of natural selection (mutation accumulation hypothesis);
2) a balance between possible advantages at a younger age and the disadvantages of fitness decline
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(antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis);

3) limited “resources” - not better defined - whicht are used preferentially for reproduction and not for
soma maintenance (disposable soma hypothesis).
This interpretation (“first paradigm”) is challenged by a different paradigm (“second paradigm”) that
explains aging as an adaptive phenomenon and, in shorts, maintains:
1) Age-related decline of natural selection cannot explain age-related fitness decline;
2) There is no evidence for antagonistic pleiotropic genes or for limited “resources” causing age-related
fitness decline;
3) The first paradigm predicts a direct relation between environmental mortality and the proportion
of deaths caused by aging. The second paradigm predicts the opposite. Observational data falsify the
prediction of the first paradigm and confirm that of the second.
4) The limitations in cell turnover determined by telomere-telomerase system are a plausible mechanism
underlying senescence. This is hardly explainable by the first paradigm. On the contrary, this is compatible
with the second paradigm and, in fact, the adaptive hypothesis predicts and requires the existence of
specific mechanisms causing the fitness decline.
5) For the first paradigm aging is only a common term for many age-related different diseases: aging as
a distinct entity does not exist and, in principle, cannot be mastered. On the contrary, for the second
paradigm, all manifestations of aging have common mechanisms: aging is a distinct entity and, in
principle, can be mastered.
The coexistence of the two paradigms or the formulation of intermediate hypotheses appears impossible.
Therefore, a choice based on scientific data is indispensable.
ARE C. ELEGANS AND D. MELANOGASTER VALID ANIMAL MODELS FOR STUDIES ON

AGING?
C. elegans and D. melanogaster are common animal models for studies on aging, but there are strong
arguments against the validity of these models for this type of studies:
I) Many bird and mammal species - our species included - show an increment of mortality with increasing
chronological age in natural conditions. This phenomenon (“A” phenomenon) is well documented and,
being existent in the wild, is influenced by natural selection. On the contrary, animals as C. elegans and D.
melanogaster show in natural conditions a constant mortality rate but, in artificial protected conditions,
they display an age-related mortality increment starting from ages not existing in the wild. In fact,
in natural conditions: 1) the longevity of C. elegans is reduced up to 10 fold compared with standard
laboratory culture conditions and few individuals of this species remain fertile in the wild after 10 days;
2) D. melanogaster has a reported adult life span in the wild of 10-12 days. Therefore, the mortality
increment for these two species (“B” phenomenon), being a laboratory artifact, cannot be influenced by
selection. “A” and “B” phenomena are radically different in their possible evolutionary determinants and
so the results of experiments on “B” phenomenon are not automatically applicable to “A” phenomenon.
II) C. elegans and D. melanogaster (and in general the adult insects) are composed by cells with no turnover,
while birds and mammals have cells and tissues with turnover. If, as it seems likely, the slowdown and
later the stopping of cell turnover, and the correlated cell senescence, are pivotal elements in the age-
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related fitness decline of birds and mammals, it is rather doubtful to use experiments on animals with no
cell turnover to explain the fitness decline in animals with cell turnover.
III) Animals as C. elegans and D. melanogaster have life cycles thoroughly different from those of bird and
mammal species. Studies on aging that use these animal models implicitly assume that their adult stages
are equivalent to the postnatal stages of birds and mammals for the extension of their results to these
species. But this assumption is not proved and seems quite doubtful.
The appropriateness of C. elegans and D. melanogaster as animal models for aging is a problem that
cannot be neglected in aging studies. Unfortunately, in renowned texts and very influential journals, the
issue is not considered and it is frequent that experiments modifying – in laboratory conditions and at
ages non-existent in the wild - the life table of C. elegans and D. melanogaster are presented as meaningful
advances in the understanding of human aging!
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EMILIANO MANCINI
Sapienza Università di Roma, Dipartimento di Scienze di Sanità Pubblica
emiliano.mancini@uniroma1.it
ADAPTIVE EVOLUTION OF MALE ACCESSORY GLAND PROTEINS INVOLVED IN POST-

MATING REPRODUCTIVE MECHANISMS OF THE AFRICAN MALARIA MOSQUITO ANOPHELES
GAMBIAE.
Mancini E.1, Tammaro F.1, Baldini F.2, Serrao A.2, Rogers D.3, George P.4, Sharakhov I.4, Catteruccia F.1,
Della Torre A1.
Genes encoding proteins involved in reproduction often evolve rapidly in many taxa - due to positive
selection triggered by intersexual interaction - and can contribute to the establishment of barriers to
fertilization that might lead to speciation. For instance, the divergence of accessory gland proteins -
transferred along with sperm to the female reproductive tract during copulation - has been shown to be
partly responsible for species-specific usage of gametes in some Drosophila species.
Similarly to Drosophila, males of Anopheles gambiae transfer their accessory glands (MAGs) products to
females during mating as a solid mass, the ‘mating plug’, that induces a series of physiological responses
in females, such as enhanced ovulation, oviposition, and refractoriness to further mating. Several A.
gambiae MAG-specific genes have been recently identified, but the analysis of their functional roles in
post-mating mechanisms is still in progress.
In order to complement these ongoing functional analyses with evolutionary data, we aimed to assess
divergence and detect adaptive evolution at a molecular level in a set of genes specifically expressed in A.
gambiae MAGs.
We analysed two structural proteins of the mating plug (Plugin and a transglutaminase) and a cluster of
three MAG-specific paralog genes - that may represent important modulators of female behaviour - in 6
species of the A. gambiae complex collected in sub-saharan Africa.
Our results show a high conservation of the structural components of the mating plug in all species and
the existence of species-specific products of MAG paralog genes with differential expression patterns that
might be indicative of unique species-specific regulations and/or functions of these proteins.
The integration of evolutionary and functional analyses might help clarifying some crucial aspects of A.
gambiae reproductive biology, and thus hopefully, providing new targets for the development of novel
malaria vector control strategies.
1 ‘Sapienza’Università di Roma, Dip. di Scienze di Sanità Pubblica, Italy

2 Universita’di Perugia, Dip. di Medicina Sperimentale e Scienze biochimiche
3 Imperial College, London, UK
4 Dept. of Entomology, Virgina Tech, Blacksburg, USA

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GLORIA MASSAMBA N’SIALA

Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia
ARE THERE TRADE-OFFS BETWEEN THERMAL TOLERANCE AND LIFE-HISTORY

PERFORMANCES IN THE MARINE POLYCHAETE OPHRYOTROCHA LABRONICA
(POLYCHAETA, DORVILLEIDAE)?
Gloria Massamba-N’Siala1, Piero Calosi2, David T. Bilton2, John I. Spicer2, Daniela Prevedelli1 and
Roberto Simonini1
In order to gain insights into the link between organismal fitness and physiological functions, the
phenotypic plasticity of life-history traits and thermal tolerances to heat and cold have been simultaneously
investigated in laboratory individuals of the gonochoric polychaete Ophryotrocha labronica, acclimated
for two months to one of seven temperatures (10°C, 15°C, 20°C, 25°C, 30°C, 35°C and 40°C). Life-history
and thermal tolerance responses showed different temperature-dependent patterns: generally non-
monotonic for life-history and monotonic for thermal tolerances. Acclimation to increasing and decreasing
temperature positively affected tolerance to heat and cold. Correlation analysis showed that life-history
traits co-vary or trade-off differently respect to tolerance to cold or heat. Individuals able to better tolerate
colder temperature showed higher survival capacities, whilst no link was found between survivorship and
variation in heat thermal tolerance. Body size was positively related with heat tolerance. Fecundity was
among the traits that did not correlate neither to heat nor to cold tolerance, but all the other reproductive
performances did: increase cold tolerance was associated with diminished reproductive investment during
the entire lifespan, which was yet concentrated in few reproductive events in cold-tolerant individuals.
Our study show for the first time in a marine organism that a number of life-history traits co-varies and
trades-off with measures of physiological performance, thus indicating the possibility that these traits are
underlain by shared and antagonistic temperature-dependent biochemical and physiological pathways.
1 Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 213/D – 41100 Modena, Italy
2 Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, PL4 8AA, Plymouth, U.K.
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LILIANA MILANI
Dipartimento BES - Università di Bologna
Dottoranda
liliana.milani@unibo.it
MITOCHONDRIAL INHERITANCE AND GERMLINE DETERMINATION IN A BIVALVE SPECIES

WITH DOUBLY UNI PARENTAL INHERITANCE (DUI).
Milani Liliana, Ghiselli Fabrizio, Maurizii Gabriella, Passamonti Marco
Metazoan mitochondria are inherited maternally, but a noteworthy exception is Doubly Uniparental
Inheritance (DUI). In DUI males, during zygote segmentation, sperm mitochondria (M) aggregate and
end up in the primordial germ cells, thereafter being transmitted through sperm, while they degrade
in females, which transmit egg mitochondria only (F). The molecular dynamics of this segregation are
unknown, but they are thought to be similar to those selecting mitochondria to enter the germline of
all metazoans (i.e. the “mitochondrial bottleneck”). Moreover, a role of M mitochondria in germline
determination has been proposed for DUI. Using in vivo staining, we confirmed the M displacement
pattern in Venerupis philippinarum, a well-known DUI species. We also evidenced a role of microtubules
in the movement of M mitochondria in male embryos: actually, a microtubule bunch is formed next to the
cleavage furrow, where sperm mitochondria are localized. Moreover, we searched by TEM for a cytoplasm
cloud-like material called nuage, which is transferred to germ cells only and includes specific proteins (i.e.
Vasa-like proteins), miRNAs and other post-transcriptional regulatory elements. The nuage is normally
located in the chromatoid body (Cb) in spermatocytes, and in the Balbiani body (Bb) or mitochondrial
cloud in developing oocytes.
There are evidences that some of the Bb-associated mitochondria are taken up by primordial germ cells,
suggesting a selection for a specific sub-population of mitochondria to be transmitted to offspring.
We identified both Cb and Bb by TEM analyses on V. philippinarum gonads, but, surprisingly, two Bb
were found. Further analyses are planned to verify whether this unusual characteristic is related to DUI
or not. All that considered, DUI is an useful model system to study mitochondrial inheritance, because of
the unique chance to analyze separately two distinct mitochondrial lineages, understanding where they
localize and which ones enter the germline.
.
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AURORA PEDERZOLI
Dipartimento di Biologia-Università di Modena Reggio Emilia
aurora.pederzoli@unimore.it
EVOLUTION AS A UNIFYING CONCEPT IN NATURAL SCIENCE.

Pederzoli A.1, Guidetti R.1, Fioroni C..2, Fregni P..2, Pini L..3, Sinceri S..1 & Veronesi P..1
In teaching natural science, a real integration among the different disciplinary subjects rarely exists.
Teachers are not accustomed to planning their lessons with a multidisciplinary approach. In particular at
high school level, teachers with different educational training (biologists, geologists, chemists) can teach
the same subject-matter with different point of view, privileging or disregarding some aspects. Evolution
is a unifying concept in natural science as it explains the basic mechanisms to understand the Natural
Word and it is particularly suitable for a multidisciplinary educational approach.
We settled an experimental project of alternative didactic in the form of scientific integrated laboratory
to students of the School of Specialization for the Secondary Teaching(SSIS) of the University of Modena
and Reggio Emilia. The teaching activities were implemented by a Project Based Learning strategy.
According this method the teacher presents a problem (find a valid method for a multidisciplinary
approach to evolution) and the students, working in group (cooperative learning strategy), have to find
the subject-matters for the solution (problem solving). The teacher has to be a mentor rather than a
source of solutions. The project can be schematized in four phases.
1.elaboration of conceptual maps (software C-map tool) in small groups. Members of each group had
different scientific degree to create a heterogeneous team.
2.presentation, comparison and discussion of each map in plenary session to realize a sharing map on
evolution in which the relationship between biological and geological basic concepts were emphasized.
Conceptual maps are fundamental planning instruments for their explicit description of the concepts.
3.transformation of the sharing map in a didactic project indicating the actions for a realistic teaching
proposal.
4.realization by each group of a poster on a specific theme based on the biological and geological concepts
of the sharing map.
In this experimental project the students of SSIS played both the role of teachers (steps1,2,3) and of
students(step 4) and the resulting products were original and of good quality.
1 Dipartimento di Biologia
2 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra
3 Scuola di Specializzazione per l’Insegnamento Secondario - Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia
.
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
DÁŠA SCHLEICHEROVÁ
Department of Animal and Human Biology, University of Turin, Italy
Post-doc
dasa.schleicherova@unito.it
ALTERNATIVE REPRODUCTIVE STRATEGIES AND FITNESS IN HERMAPHRODITES

Dasa Schleicherova, Maria Cristina Lorenzi and Gabriella Sella
The outcrossing hermaphrodite, Ophryotrocha diadema, is a small microscopic polychaete worm (2-3
mm long) with external fertilization. Paired hermaphrodites reproduce by pseudocopulation, a behaviour
interpreted as egg trading. Since sperm are immotile, during pseudocopulation individuals stay in close
physical contact. However, in a laboratory strain of O. diadema exist also individuals (functional males)
that mate only in the male role fertilizing partner’s eggs.
Despite they exhibit an hermaphroditic phenotype (i.e. they have mature oocytes), they never spawn them.
Therefore, functional males act only as males and allocate no resources at all to the female function.
Thus, in the first experiment, we verified if there is a significant difference in the number of sperm
produced by functional males and by hermaphrodites. Our results document that there is no significant
difference in the number of sperm.
In the second experiment we investigated if there is a significant difference in the ability of fertilization
(paternity) between functional males and hermaphrodites. To this aim we set up 2 experimental groups (1.
functional male with yy-dominant phenotype and 2 hermaphrodites with ww-recessive phenotype/ bowl;
2. hermaphrodite with yy-dominant phenotype and 2 hermaphrodites with ww-recessive phenotype/
bowl). Paternity was assigned through colour-phenotype of offspring. Our results show that there is a
high significant difference in the ability of fertilization between functional males and hermaphrodites due
probably to more efficient competition of functional males with hermaphrodites.
Thus, our results also document an important aspect of behavioural interactions of functional males in
the hermaphroditic O. diadema population.
.
POSTER SESSION
IV CONGRESSO SIBE
FRANCESCO SCALFARI
Polo Univeritario di Asti
Direttore
scalfari@uni-astiss.it
EDUCATION AND RESEARCH ACTIVITIES IN BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION AT WWF

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER “VILLA PAOLINA” OF ASTI.
Francesco Scalfari1, Enrico Caprio2, Giorgio Baldizzone3
The Environmental Education Center “Villa Paolina” is placed in the north of the city of Asti, at the
beginning of the NATURE2000 site IT1170002 “Valmanera”; it is surrounded by a 10 ha park, with dry
meadows, bushes, a portion of Valmanera stream and some forests.
In the center are developed many kinds of activities: education addressed to schools, workshop co-
operation, design and development of external projects, permanent courses and training for adults, several
scientific research in self managed protected areas, such as action plans, monitoring of birds, insects and
vegetation. The center has become a leading WWF environmental education center at national scale
and is one of the information point of an ecoregional project of WWF-Italy, in particular the so called
“biocorridoio appenninico” a part of Appenine that starts from Appennino Tosco-Emiliano National
Park to Maritime Alps.
These activities are developed using the most updated techniques and will be based on: methods of study
and identification of principal Taxa, techniques of sampling, preparation and conservation of samples,
methodology of floristic and faunistic censuses, statistical analysis, Geographic Information Systems
analysis and data base management, application of results of data analysis
One of the most ambitious projects we’re carrying on is to create a School of Biodiversity with the
collaboration of the Universities and Departments of Biology and Life Sciences of Piedmont. Biodiversity
School activities are developed as follows: professionals courses for stakeholders and technicians;
interregional coordination center for the study of Biodiversity, in collaborations with similar centers
working in other regions and countries; permanent field station for field studies activities; master on
biodiversity and evolution and summer school, started in 2005, in Biodiversity, Evolution, Environment
with the intent to orienteer high school students to university studies in natural science, biology and
environmental science.
1 Polo Universitario di Asti – Via Gioachino Testa, 89 – 14100 Asti scalfari@uni-astiss.it

2 Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e dell’Uomo Università degli Studi di Torino
3 Centro di Educazione Ambientale WWF “Villa Paolina” - Asti
IV CONGRESSO SIBE

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La SIBE/ISEB è arrivata al suo quarto Congresso.

Il comitato organizzatore del IV congresso SIBE

Il congresso è realizzato grazie al contributo

Ha contribuito alla realizzazione del congresso

Progetto grafico: Francesca Brizi

A partire dalle ore 8_ registrazione

ore 9.15_ inizio congresso

ore 10.30_ coffee break

ore 11_ Sessione 1 - Molecular evolution

ore 13_ pausa pranzo

ore 14.30_ Simposio - L’evoluzione a scuola. Introduce e modera Alessandra Magistrelli

ore 16_ coffee break

Gentile Francesco Ficetola

ore 18_ fine programma del giorno.

Trasporto con autobus dei partecipanti ai Giardini di Porta Venezia.

ore 19_ Aperitivo al Biolab

Introduzione: Giancarlo Lombardi, Presidente Fondazione Collegio delle Università Milanesi,

ore 21_ Una notte al museo - Night at the Museum

ore 10.30_ coffee break

ore 11_ Simposio: Comunicare l’evoluzione. Introduce e modera Chiara Ceci

ore 13_ pausa pranzo

ore 14.30_ Sessione 3 – Filogenesi

Omar Rota Stabelli

ore 16.30_ coffee break

ore 17_ Poster session

ore 18.30_ fine programma del giorno

ore 10.30_ coffee break

ore 11_ Sessione 4 - Organism evolution

ore 13_ pausa pranzo

ore 14.30_ Sessione 5 - Human Evolution

ore 16_ coffee break

ore 16.30_ Sessione 6 - Evolutionary Theory

ore 17.30_ Assemblea generale SIBE ed elezione nuovo direttivo

ore 19_ fine congresso

GIOVEDÌ 2 SETTEMBRE 2010 ORE 20.00

Biodiversità, fra natura e cultura: l’importanza della divulgazione scientifica.

ore 19_ Aperitivo al BIOLab

ore 20.00_ Tavola rotonda

ore 21.00_ Una notte al museo - Night at the Museum.

L’ANNO INTERNAZIONALE DELLA BIODIVERSITÀ: FRA NATURA E CULTURA

L’iniziativa ha ottenuto il patrocinio del Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca.

VENERDÌ 3 SETTEMBRE ORE 11

Introduce e modera Chiara Ceci

Marco Ferrari è biologo, giornalista scientifico, caposervizio scienze di Geo.

VENERDÌ 3 SETTEMBRE ORE 20.30

Per maggiori informazioni:

SABATO 4 SETTEMBRE ORE 2030

Biodiversity and Evolution

Gentile Francesco Ficetola

Omar Rota Stabelli

SHORT INTERSPERSED ELEMENTS ACTIVITY, ADAPTATION AND GENOMIC DISTRIBUTION

THE MIDICHLORIA MITOCHONDRII GENOME PROJECT.

THE SEXUALLY ANTAGONISTIC GENES OF DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

MITHOCONDRIAL DNA (MTDNA) TEMPORAL VARIATION IN WILD AND DOMESTIC PIGS

I d’Este 32, 44100 Ferrara, Italy

A SURVEY OF MITOCHONDRIAL EVOLUTION IN METAZOA: LARGE VARIABILITY IN LITTLE

THE EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS OF PLASMIDS AND CHROMOSOMES INHABITING THE

EXPLORING THE ROLE OF MUTATION AND SELECTION ON SYNONYMOUS VARIABILITY IN

MOLECULAR EVOLUTION OF A GENE CLUSTER OF FEMALE SERINE PROTEASES INVOLVED

1 ‘Sapienza’ Università di Roma, Dip. Scienze di Sanità Pubblica, Italy;

MOLECULAR TOOLS HELP RESOLVING A TAXONOMIC ENIGMA: THE CASE OF PARADOXORNIS

1 Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, ZooPlantLab, Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Bioscienze;

5 ISPRA., Via Ca’ Fornacetta 9, 40064 Ozzano Emilia (BO);

6 Università degl studi di Pavia, Dipartimento di Biologia Animale.