Genetic Screens Identify Host Factors for SARS-CoV-2 and Common Cold Coronaviruses

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Altruism can evolve when relatedness is low: evidence from bacteria committing suicide upon phage infection

High relatedness among interacting individuals has generally been considered a precondition for the evolution of altruism. However, kin-selection theory also predicts the evolution of altruism when relatedness is low, as long as the cost of the altruistic act is minor compared with its benefit. Here, we demonstrate evidence for a low-cost altruistic act in bacteria. We investigated Escherichia coli responding to the attack of an obligately lytic phage by committing suicide in order to prevent parasite transmission to nearby relatives. We found that bacterial suicide provides large benefits to survivors at marginal costs to committers. The cost of suicide was low, because infected cells are moribund, rapidly dying upon phage infection, such that no more opportunity for reproduction remains. As a consequence of its marginal cost, host suicide was selectively favoured even when relatedness between committers and survivors approached zero. Altogether, our findings demonstrate that low-cost suicide can evolve with ease, represents an effective host-defence strategy, and seems to be widespread among microbes. Moreover, low-cost suicide might also occur in higher organisms as exemplified by infected social insect workers leaving the colony to die in isolation.     

Host-selection behaviour by genetically identical aphids with different plant preferences

The behaviour of summer and autumn winged forms of the black bean aphid, Aphis fabae Scopoli (Homoptera: Aphididae), was compared on two plants utilized at different stages of the insect’s life cycle. Adult autumn migrants (gynoparae) are monophagous, colonizing spindle (Euonymus europaeus), whereas polyphagous summer winged aphids (alate virginoparae) are associated with a variety of herbaceous plants, including broad bean (Vicia faba). When aphids from a single clone were given access to a spindle leaf and a bean seedling in choice tests, many virginoparae settled and larviposited on both plant species over 24 h. By contrast, gynoparae showed a clear preference for spindle, with 93.5% of settled adults and 98.3% of larvae on this plant species. Close‐up video monitoring showed that gynoparae discriminated beans from spindle within a 5‐min period, whereas virginoparae behaved similarly on both plant species. For gynoparae, the major behavioural difference on the two plants appeared after a brief (epidermal) stylet penetration, with many insects taking flight within a few seconds of stylet withdrawal from bean. Factors detected during stylet insertion by gynoparae must therefore inhibit take‐off on spindle. Electrical recording experiments showed that aphids often punctured a cell membrane during brief probes on both plant species, and intracellular stylet activities always included a waveform associated with ingestion. When gynoparae puncture spindle cells their behaviour is probably modified by intracellular metabolites detected via gustation of ingested epidermal cell sap. These cues may inhibit the take‐off reflex which otherwise follows probing.     

Genetics and Mechanism of Resistance to Meloidogyne arenaria in Peanut Germplasm

Segregation of resistance to Meloidogyne arenaria in six BC₅F₂ peanut breeding populations was examined in greenhouse tests. Chi-square analysis indicated that segregation of resistance was consistent with resistance being conditioned by a single gene in three breeding populations (TP259-3, TP262-3, and TP271-2), whereas two resistance genes may be present in the breeding populations TP259-2, TP263-2, and TP268-3. Nematode development in clonally propagated lines of resistant individuals of TP262-3 and TP263-2 was compared to that of the susceptible cultivar Florunner. Juvenile nematodes readily penetrated roots of all peanut genotypes, but rate of development was slower (P = 0.05) in the resistant genotypes than in Florunner. Host cell necrosis indicative of a hypersensitive response was not consistently observed in resistant genotypes of either population. Three RFLP loci linked to resistance at distances of 4.2 to 11.0 centiMorgans were identified. Resistant and susceptible alleles for RFLP loci R2430E and R2545E were quite distinct and are useful for identifying individuals homozygous for resistance in segregating populations.     

Application of a reverse dot blot DNA–DNA hydridization method to quantify host‐feeding tendencies of two sibling species in the Anopheles gambiae complex

A DNA–DNA hybridization method, reverse dot blot analysis (RDBA), was used to identify Anopheles gambiae s.s. and Anopheles arabiensis (Diptera: Culicidae) hosts. Of 299 blood‐fed and semi‐gravid An. gambiae s.l. collected from Kisian, Kenya, 244 individuals were identifiable to species; of these, 69.5% were An. arabiensis and 29.5% were An. gambiae s.s. Host identifications with RDBA were comparable with those of conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by direct sequencing of amplicons of the vertebrate mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Of the 174 amplicon‐producing samples used to compare these two methods, 147 were identifiable by direct sequencing and 139 of these were identifiable by RDBA. Anopheles arabiensis bloodmeals were mostly (94.6%) bovine in origin, whereas An. gambiae s.s. fed upon humans more than 91.8% of the time. Tests by RDBA detected that two of 112 An. arabiensis contained blood from more than one host species, whereas PCR and direct sequencing did not. Recent use of insecticide‐treated bednets in Kisian is likely to have caused the shift in the dominant vector species from An. gambiae s.s. to An. arabiensis. Reverse dot blot analysis provides an opportunity to study changes in host‐feeding by members of the An. gambiae complex in response to the broadening distribution of vector control measures targeting host‐selection behaviours.     

Chewing lice from high‐altitude and migrating birds in Yunnan,China, with descriptions of two new species of Guimaraesiella

In total, 366 birds representing 55 species in 24 families and eight orders, were examined for chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) in two high‐altitude localities in Yunnan Province, China. In Ailaoshan, almost all of the birds examined were resident passeriforms, of which 36% were parasitized by chewing lice. In Jinshanyakou, most birds were on migration, and included both passerine and non‐passerine birds. Of the passerine birds caught in Jinshanyakou, only one bird (0.7%) was parasitized by chewing lice. The prevalence of Myrsidea and Brueelia‐complex lice on birds caught in Ailaoshan was higher than in previous reports. Of the chewing lice identifiable to species level, three represent new records for China: Actornithophilus hoplopteri (Mjöberg, 1910), Maculinirmus ljosalfar Gustafsson & Bush, 2017 and Quadraceps sinensis Timmermann, 1954. In total, 17 new host records are included, of which we describe two as new species in the Brueelia‐complex: Guimaraesiella (Cicchinella) ailaoshanensis sp. nov. ex Schoeniparus dubius dubius (Hume, 1874) and G. (C.) montisodalis sp. nov. ex Fulvetta manipurensis tonkinensis Delacour & Jabouille, 1930. This published work has been registered in ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9FC3D8EE‐2CED‐4DBE‐A1DB‐471B71260D27 .     

Bloodmeal analysis in Culicoides midges collected near horses,donkeys and zebras in the Eastern Cape,South Africa

An upsurge in African horse sickness (AHS) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, from 2006 led to an epidemiological reassessment of the disease there. Light trapping surveys carried out near horses, donkeys and zebras in 2014–2016 collected 39 species of Culicoides midge (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) that are potential vectors of AHS. To establish if these midges fed on equids, DNA sequences were obtained from the gut contents of 52 female midges (35 freshly blood‐fed, 13 gravid and four parous), representing 11 species collected across 11 sites. Culicoides leucostictus fed on all three equids. Culicoides bolitinos, Culicoides imicola and Culicoides magnus fed on both horses and donkeys. Culicoides onderstepoortensis fed on donkeys, and Culicoides similis and Culicoides pycnostictus fed on zebras. Bloodmeals from cows, pigs, warthogs, impalas and a domestic dog were also identified in various species, but none of the midges tested had fed on birds. These results contribute to knowledge of the vectorial capacity of several species of Culicoides with regard to AHS in the Eastern Cape and point to potential reservoir hosts, of which donkeys, zebras and domestic dogs have previously been found to harbour AHS. Blood‐fed midges were also obtained throughout winter, indicating the potential for endemic AHS in the province.     

Host‐size decisions of female parasitoid wasps seeking hidden hosts

1. Choice of host size may play a critical role in parasitoid success, a task that takes on added complications when dealing with concealed hosts, but most such studies of insect behaviour have only taken place in the laboratory. 2. This study investigates the success of a wasp (Alabagrus texanus: Braconidae) in finding host caterpillars Herpetogramma theseusalis (Crambidae) of the most effectively handled size hidden in shelters, in both the field and the laboratory. 3. First, the study tested wasp preference and success in parasitizing large, middle‐sized and small caterpillars (> 5, 3–5, < 3 mm) presented in the open, one at a time, in the laboratory. The wasps attacked (inserted or attempted to insert their ovipositor) a higher proportion of middle‐sized (3–5 mm) caterpillars compared with either small (< 3 mm) or large (> 5 mm) caterpillars. Naïve wasps attacked large caterpillars more often than did experienced wasps. Wasps responded to increasing caterpillar size by increasing the number of legs used to pin their prey rather than by increasing handling time. 4. The frequencies of visits to shelters in the field containing a majority of either large or middle‐sized caterpillars were then compared, followed by a test providing the wasps with similar choices under controlled laboratory conditions. Wasps most frequently visited shelters containing a majority of middle‐sized caterpillars both in the field and under controlled laboratory conditions. 5. The combined results confirmed that the wasps can size‐select their hosts both in the field and in laboratory tests.     

Biotic and abiotic determinants of the formation of ant mosaics in primary Neotropical rainforests

1. Ants are widespread in tropical rainforests, including in the canopy where territorially dominant arboreal species represent the main part of the arthropod biomass. 2. By mapping the territories of dominant arboreal ant species and using a null model analysis and a pairwise approach this study was able to show the presence of an ant mosaic on the upper canopy of a primary Neotropical rainforest (c. 1 ha sampled; 157 tall trees from 28 families). Although Neotropical rainforest canopies are frequently irregular, with tree crowns at different heights breaking the continuity of the territories of dominant ants, the latter are preserved via underground galleries or trails laid on the ground. 3. The distribution of the trees influences the structure of the ant mosaic, something related to the attractiveness of tree taxa for certain arboreal ant species rather than others. 4. Small‐scale natural disturbances, most likely strong winds in the area studied (presence of canopy gaps), play a role by favouring the presence of two ant species typical of secondary formations: Camponotus femoratus and Crematogaster levior, which live in parabiosis (i.e. share territories and nests but lodge in different cavities) and build conspicuous ant gardens. In addition, pioneer Cecropia myrmecophytic trees were recorded.