Daniel Piñero | UNAM Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (original) (raw)

Papers by Daniel Piñero

Science of The Total Environment, 2022

Membracis mexicana (Hemiptera: Membracidae) is distributed in four biogeographic provinces of Mex... more Membracis mexicana (Hemiptera: Membracidae) is distributed in four biogeographic provinces of Mexico, field observations indicate that there are different forms of this species but so far it has not been recorded how the different forms are and how they are distributed. The aim of this study was to quantify the phenotypic and genetic variation of M. mexicana and determine if the config-uration of biogeographic provinces impacts the distribution of this variation. To do this we ana-lyzed 307 photographs using 19 landmarks and geometric morphometrics to quantify the pheno-typic variation in helmets. We sequenced five molecular markers for 205 individuals to describe the phylogeographic pattern. As a result, we identified three morphological configurations of the helmet of M. mexicana and two genetic lineages. The morphotypes are 1) large and wide helmet with small dorsal spots, 2) small and narrow helmet with large dorsal spots, and 3) small and narrow helmet with small spots. Genetic...

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

The Mexican fruit fly,Anastrepha ludens, is an important pest that causes widespread damage to a ... more The Mexican fruit fly,Anastrepha ludens, is an important pest that causes widespread damage to a number of fruit crops in Mexico. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is commonly used for its control. However, the existence of natural barriers can give rise to a population structure in neutral loci and possibly behavioral or adaptive traits that interfere with SIT. For this reason, it is important to understand the genetic diversity and structure ofA. ludenspopulations and to better understand the evolutionary ecology and population processes in view of possible expansions and possible host shifts due to climate change. We genotyped nine nuclear DNA (nDNA) microsatellite loci among fruit fly populations collected from five biogeographic areas within Mexico, namely, the Mexican Plateau, the Northeastern Coastal Plain, the Pacific Coast, the Gulf Coast of Mexico, and the Soconusco, and a laboratory strain. The nuclear genetic diversity was moderate (fromHe = 0.34 toHe = 0.39) within the...

Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad, 2021

The weevil Trichobaris compacta occurs in southwest USA where it uses Datura wrightii as host pla... more The weevil Trichobaris compacta occurs in southwest USA where it uses Datura wrightii as host plant and to oviposit into its fruits. Previously, we showed that T. compacta can use 4 other Datura species as host plants also, but the mitochondrial lineages of T. compacta do not appear to be specifically associated to any Datura species. Thus, given that T. compacta is distributed from the southwest USA up to the Tehuantepec Isthmus in the Pacific coast ranges of Mexico, we aimed to determine how the genetic variation of T. compacta is distributed along the geographical space. To determine how geography has shaped the genetic population structure of T. compacta we used a 663-bp region of the COI gene in a sample of 232 individuals from 29 different localities. We detected 49 haplotypes, one of which is widely distributed. The un-rooted haplotype network and phylogeny showed that T. compacta integrates one single lineage. Also, the population genetic structure of T. compacta is made up ...

Scientific Reports, 2021

Tropane alkaloids and terpenoids are widely used in the medicine and pharmaceutic industry and ev... more Tropane alkaloids and terpenoids are widely used in the medicine and pharmaceutic industry and evolved as chemical defenses against herbivores and pathogens in the annual herb Datura stramonium (Solanaceae). Here, we present the first draft genomes of two plants from contrasting environments of D. stramonium. Using these de novo assemblies, along with other previously published genomes from 11 Solanaceae species, we carried out comparative genomic analyses to provide insights on the genome evolution of D. stramonium within the Solanaceae family, and to elucidate adaptive genomic signatures to biotic and abiotic stresses in this plant. We also studied, in detail, the evolution of four genes of D. stramonium—Putrescine N-methyltransferase, Tropinone reductase I, Tropinone reductase II and Hyoscyamine-6S-dioxygenase—involved in the tropane alkaloid biosynthesis. Our analyses revealed that the genomes of D. stramonium show signatures of expansion, physicochemical divergence and/or posit...

BMC Ecology and Evolution, 2021

BackgroundIn parasitism arm race processes and red queen dynamics between host and parasites reci... more BackgroundIn parasitism arm race processes and red queen dynamics between host and parasites reciprocally mold many aspects of their genetics and evolution. We performed a parallel assessment of population genetics and demography of two species of pinworms with different degrees of host specificity (Trypanoxyuris multilabiatus, species-specific; andT. minutus,genus-specific) and their host, the mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata), based on mitochondrial DNA sequences and microsatellite loci (these only for the host). Given that pinworms and primates have a close co-evolutionary history, covariation in several genetic aspects of their populations is expected.ResultsMitochondrial DNA revealed two genetic clusters (West and East) in both pinworm species and howler monkeys, although population structure and genetic differentiation were stronger in the host, while genetic diversity was higher in pinworms than howler populations. Co-divergence tests showed no congruence between host...

Molecular Ecology, 2021

Neutral theory proposes that dispersal stochasticity is one of the main drivers of local diversit... more Neutral theory proposes that dispersal stochasticity is one of the main drivers of local diversity. Haplotypes‐level genetic variation can now be efficiently sampled from across whole communities, thus making it possible to test neutral predictions from the genetic to species‐level diversity, and higher. However, empirical data is still limited, with the few studies to date coming from temperate latitudes. Here, we focus on a tropical mountain within the Transmexican Volcanic Belt to evaluate spatially fine‐scale patterns of arthropod community assembly to understand the role of dispersal limitation and landscape features as drivers of diversity. We sampled whole‐communities of arthropods for eight orders at a spatial scale ranging from 50 m to 19 km, using whole community metabarcoding. We explored multiple hierarchical levels, from individual haplotypes to lineages at 0.5, 1.5, 3, 5, and 7.5% similarity thresholds, to evaluate patterns of richness, turnover, and distance decay of ...

Journal of Biogeography, 2021

AimTo (a) evaluate whether colonization of newly emerged high‐elevation habitats occurred from ne... more AimTo (a) evaluate whether colonization of newly emerged high‐elevation habitats occurred from neighbouring highlands (allopatric divergence and niche conservatism) or from within the same mountain (peripatric or parapatric divergence and niche shift) and (b) test for the effect of past landscape configurations in geographically structuring biodiversity (a West–East structure spanning the central part of the Transmexican Volcanic Belt).LocationTransmexican Volcanic Belt, Mexico.TaxaColeoptera and Araneae.MethodsColeoptera and Araneae communities were collected in a comparative sampling framework. Seven sky‐islands were sampled within two high‐elevation habitats separated by altitude. Samples were individually sequenced for a region of the mtDNA COI gene to delimit Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) and haplotypes within them. Richness was estimated at the community level, as well as genetic diversity within and among mountains and habitats. The West–East structure was tested with a ...

Science of The Total Environment, 2021

Acta Universitaria, 2002

El análisis de la genealogía de alelos o haplotipos ha revolucionado en la última década el estud... more El análisis de la genealogía de alelos o haplotipos ha revolucionado en la última década el estudio de la estructura genética de las poblaciones. En la actualidad no solamente se puede estudiar la cantidad de variación genética en una población, sino también se pueden inferir los procesos que históricamente son responsables de esa estructura genética. Este enfoque está apoyado por la teoría de coalescencia que analiza los patrones de divergencia de alelos o haplotipos bajo diferentes supuestos no sólo relacionados con los aspectos genéticos de las poblaciones sino también con los aspectos demográficos históricos. Estas innovaciones al estudio de la estructura genética tienen impacto en al menos dos grandes áreas de la biología evolutiva. La primera de ellas tiene que ver con los aspectos de conservación de regiones que albergan a las especies estudiadas para generar estrategias de conservación más acorde con los procesos históricos por los que han pasado las especies. La segunda de ...

Ecology and Evolution, 2019

AimTo infer the geological and climatic factors that have shaped the genetic diversity and struct... more AimTo infer the geological and climatic factors that have shaped the genetic diversity and structure of a willow species (Salix humboldtiana) in three basins of Central Mexico.LocationCentral Mexico.MethodsWe collected samples from 11 populations across two hydrological basins (Balsas and Lerma) and one population from another basin (Ameca) within the Mexican Central Plateau (MCP). Individuals were analyzed using sequences of two chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) regions and eight nuclear simple sequence repeats (nSSR). Population genetic diversity and structure were determined from these data. To evaluate whether genetic structure was associated with ecological niche differentiation, we determined whether there is niche equivalence, overlap, or divergence between the Balsas and Lerma basins. Also, we evaluated the relative contributions of geographic distribution and climatic variation on population genetic structuring through redundancy analysis (RDA) and partial RDA.ResultsBoth cpDNA and n...

Frontiers in plant science, 2017

The runner bean is a legume species from Mesoamerica closely related to common bean (Phaseolus vu... more The runner bean is a legume species from Mesoamerica closely related to common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). It is a perennial species, but it is usually cultivated in small-scale agriculture as an annual crop for its dry seeds and edible immature pods. Unlike the common bean, P. coccineus has received little attention from a genetic standpoint. In this work we aim to (1) provide information about the domestication history and domestication events of P. coccineus; (2) examine the distribution and level of genetic diversity in wild and cultivated Mexican populations of this species; and, (3) identify candidate loci to natural and artificial selection. For this, we generated genotyping by sequencing data (42,548 SNPs) from 242 individuals of P. coccineus and the domesticated forms of the closely related species P. vulgaris (20) and P. dumosus (35). Eight genetic clusters were detected, of which half corresponds to wild populations and the rest to domesticated plants. The cultivated popul...