In this paper, we determine by fluorescent in situ hybridization the variability in the chromosomal location of 45S rDNA clusters in 38 species belonging to 7 genera of the Triatominae subfamily, using a triatomine-specific 18S rDNA probe. Our results show a striking variability at the inter- and intraspecific level, never reported so far in holocentric chromosomes, revealing the extraordinary genomic dynamics that occurred during the evolution in this group of insects. Our results also demonstrate that the chromosomal position of rDNA clusters is an important marker to disclose chromosomal differentiation in species karyotypically homogenous in their chromosome number.

The precise control of the ambient humidity during contact angle measurements is needed to obtain stable and valid data. For a such purpose, a simple low-cost device was designed, and several modified surfaces relevant to biosensor design were studied. Static contact angle values for these surfaces are lower than advancing contact angles published for ambient conditions, indicating that thermodynamic equilibrium conditions are needed to avoid drop evaporation during the measurements.

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The voltammetric behavior of [Ru(NH(3))(6)](3+) on bare gold and that on 2-thiobarbituric acid (TBA)-modified gold surfaces are almost identical, with formal rate constants for the electron-transfer process of 0.25 and 0.21 cm s(-1), respectively. A detailed analysis of the modified surface allowed us to establish that this behavior is due to (i) a high surface coverage of 0.67, (ii) a low adsorption resistance that minimizes the potential drop across the TBA monolayer, (iii) the enhanced hydrophilic character of the modified surface compared with that of bare gold, and (iv) a low decay constant for the electronic coupling of the TBA adlayer that minimizes the tunneling barrier for the electron transfer. The electron-transfer process from Au and Au|TBA electrodes to the soluble [Ru(NH(3))(6)](3+/2+) redox couple can be explained according to the multistate model under the Landau-Zener formalism in the nonadiabatic regime that was recently proposed (Feldberg, S. W.; Sutin, N. Chem. Phys. 2006, 324, 216-225). The behavior of soluble [Ru(NH(3))(6)](3+) changes from semi-infinite linear diffusion on Au to finite-length bounded on Au|TBA, in agreement with a surface dimension of 2.17 for the TBA adlayer with a bidimensional underlying gold surface. This value for the surface dimension was determined by two essentially different electrochemical techniques with different sensing capabilities: cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The estimated dielectric constant of the adlayer (around 37) and the low potential drop across the monolayer suggest the formation of a "mirror" pattern of water molecules in the diffusion layer, which explains this result.