A preliminary note on Incurvarioidea in New Zealand

Abstract

The Monotrysian superfamily Incurvarioidea (Lepidoptera) is now known to be present inNew Zealand. A mummified partly decayed male, parasitised pupae, larval head capsules, and characteristic cocoons are associated with long (1500–2000 mm) meandering cortical scribble-like mines in sapling Weinmannia, Nothofagus and Myrsine. The fragments and larval biology display features of Prodoxidae, but cannot be assigned to a genus.

Wing pattern, some forewing venation, pupal structure, male genitalia and some female ovipositor structures, larval head capsule and pronotum, and details of the pupal cell and larval mine are described and illustrated.     

Designing cross-linked lipase aggregates for optimum performance as biocatalysts

Cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs) are prepared by precipitation of an enzyme and then chemical cross-linking the precipitate. Three CLEAs of lipase with glutaraldehyde concentrations of 10 mM (CLEA A), 40 mM (CLEA B) and 60 mM (CLEA C) were prepared. Studies show that there is a trade-off between thermal stability vs transesterification/hydrolysis rate vs enantioselectivity. The initial rates for transesterification of β-citronellol for the uncross-linked enzyme and CLEAs A, B and C were 243, 167, 102 and 40 µmol mg^?1 h^?1, respectively. Their thermal stabilities in aqueous media, as reflected by their half-life values at 55°C, were 6, 9, 13 and 16 h, respectively. The enantioselectivity, E values (for kinetic resolution of β-citronellol by transesterification) were 19, 74, 11 and 6, respectively. These results show that CLEA C was the most thermostable; the uncross-linked enzyme was best at obtaining the highest transesterification rate; and CLEA A was best suited for the enantioselective synthesis. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the morphology of CLEA was dependent upon the extent of cross-linking.     

Zum 70. Geburtstag Von Professor Dr. Habil. Theo Wetzel

Information on the structure of the population of Phomopsis species in Ukraine, that describes the structure of Phomopsis spp. cultivated on medium: the morfological characteristics, properties of pathogenicity and phytotoxicity. It is described the method of evaluation and selection of unsusceptible forms of sunflower to phomopsis. It includes the optimal infection level, the forms of an inoculum that is effective and optimal way for artificial infection.     

Off‐host aggregation in the non‐fed,female brown dog tick,Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille), is induced by tick excreta and enhanced by low relative humidity

We report that Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Ixodida: Ixodidae) faeces and its main component, guanine, act as assembly pheromones in short‐range Petri plate bioassays. Arrestment activity in response to guanine was lower than that in response to natural excreta, indicating the presence of other active ingredients in natural excreta. The selective removal of appendages was used to establish the important roles played by the palps and the front pair of legs in the detection of the pheromone. Reaction to chemically pure guanine at varying concentrations occurred without a dose response; thus only the presence of guanine, not a critical amount, is required to induce assembly. Higher speed and intensity of clustering occurred at 33% relative humidity (RH). We conclude that female adults of R. sanguineus are more prone to assemble under dry conditions that match the arid microhabitats preferred by this species and that this tendency allows this tick to reside in human dwellings and dog kennels that maintain standards of comfort at 30–50% RH. Cleaning or removing tick excreta‐covered surfaces on which ticks aggregate from within and around human dwellings may prove useful as a means of interfering with the establishment of off‐host clusters of R. sanguineus.     

Rendiconti Delle Sedute E Brevi Comunicazioni

Abstract

The development of effective strategies to rehabilitate compromised environments is one of the major challenges facing the postindustrial society, since most of the habitats are becoming progressively polluted due to indiscriminate discharge of contaminants generated by anthropogenic activities. Several aquatic photosynthetic organisms can be used to treat wastewaters in primary and tertiary treatments, including cyanobacteria, algae and higher plants. In this review, we summarize the results obtained in the remediation of polluted waters by photosynthetic organisms and discuss the future perspective of phytoremediation.     

Were Ancestral Proteins Less Specific?

Some have hypothesized that ancestral proteins were, on average, less specific than their descendants. If true, this would provide a universal axis along which to organize protein evolution and suggests that reconstructed ancestral proteins may be uniquely powerful tools for protein engineering. Ancestral sequence reconstruction studies are one line of evidence used to support this hypothesis. Previously, we performed such a study, investigating the evolution of peptide-binding specificity for the paralogs S100A5 and S100A6. The modern proteins appeared more specific than their last common ancestor (ancA5/A6), as each paralog bound a subset of the peptides bound by ancA5/A6. In this study, we revisit this transition, using quantitative phage display to measure the interactions of 30,533 random peptides with human S100A5, S100A6, and ancA5/A6. This unbiased screen reveals a different picture. While S100A5 and S100A6 do indeed bind to a subset of the peptides recognized by ancA5/A6, they also acquired new peptide partners outside of the set recognized by ancA5/A6. Our previous work showed that ancA5/A6 had lower specificity than its descendants when measured against biological targets; our new work shows that ancA5/A6 has similar specificity to the modern proteins when measured against a random set of peptide targets. This demonstrates that altered biological specificity does not necessarily indicate altered intrinsic specificity, and sounds a cautionary note for using ancestral reconstruction studies with biological targets as a means to infer global evolutionary trends in specificity.     

Identification of Bioactive Compounds against Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) by Bioassays and in Silico Assays

Most of the hematophagous insects act as disease vectors, including Aedes aegypti, responsible for transmitting some of the most critical arboviruses globally, such as Dengue. The use of repellents based on natural products is a promising alternative for personal protection compared to industrial chemical repellents. In this study, the repellent effect of essential oils extracted from Lippia thymoides, Lippia alba, Cymbopogon winterianus, and Eucalyptus globulus leaves was evaluated. Essential oils used showed repellent activity against Ae. aegypti in laboratory bioassays, obtaining protection rates above 70 % from 3.75 mg/mL and higher concentration for all analyzed oils. GC/MS identified 57 constituents, which were used in the ligand-based pharmacophore model to expose compounds with requirements for repellents that modulate mosquitoes behavior through odorant-binding protein 1 Ae. aegypti. Ligand-based pharmacophore model approach results suggested that repellent activity from C. winterianus, L. alba, and L. thymoides essential oils’ metabolites is related to Citronelal (QFIT=26.77), Citronelol (QFIT=11.29), Citronelol acetate (QFIT=52.22) and Geranil acetate (QFIT=10.28) with synergistic or individual activity. E. globulus essential oil's repellent activity is associated with Ledol (0.94 %; QFIT=41.95). Molecular docking was applied to understand the binding mode and affinity of the essential oils’ data set at the protein binding site. According to molecular docking, Citronelol (ChemPLP=60.98) and geranyl acetate (ChemPLP=60.55) were the best-classified compounds compared to the others and they can be explored to develop new repellents.     

Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells induced PAX8 promotes ovarian cancer cell growth by stabilizing TAZ protein

Our previous studies have shown that the Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) can regulate metastasis and development of ovarian cancer. However, its specific mechanism has yet to be fully revealed. In this study, an RNA-seq approach was adopted to compare the differences in mRNA levels in ovarian cancer cells being given or not given ADSCs. The mRNA level of paired box 8 (PAX8) changed significantly and was confirmed as an important factor in tumour-inducing effect of ADSCs. In comparison with the ovarian cancer cells cultured in the common growth medium, those cultured in the medium supplemented with ADSCs showed a significant increase of the PAX8 level. Moreover, the cancer cell growth could be restricted, even in the ADSC-treated group (P < .05), by inhibiting PAX8. In addition, an overexpression of PAX8 could elevate the proliferation of ovarian cancer cells. Moreover, Co-IP assays in ovarian cancer cells revealed that an interaction existed between endogenous PAX8 and TAZ. And the PAX8 levels regulated the degradation of TAZ. The bioluminescence images captured in vivo manifested that the proliferation and the PAX8 expression level in ovarian cancers increased in the ADMSC-treated group, and the effect of ADSCs in promoting tumours was weakened through inhibiting PAX8. Our findings indicate that the PAX8 expression increment could contribute a role in promoting the ADSC-induced ovarian cancer cell proliferation through TAZ stability regulation.     

Stability of delayed memristive neural networks with time-varying impulses

This paper addresses the stability problem on the memristive neural networks with time-varying impulses. Based on the memristor theory and neural network theory, the model of the memristor-based neural network is established. Different from the most publications on memristive networks with fixed-time impulse effects, we consider the case of time-varying impulses. Both the destabilizing and stabilizing impulses exist in the model simultaneously. Through controlling the time intervals of the stabilizing and destabilizing impulses, we ensure the effect of the impulses is stabilizing. Several sufficient conditions for the globally exponentially stability of memristive neural networks with time-varying impulses are proposed. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.