Revisiting the use of Iprodione and Trichoderma in the integrated management of onion white rot

The biocontrol properties of Trichoderma species are well documented, but their effectiveness in antagonism of the problematic Sclerotium cepivorum, the causal agent of white rot in Allium species, appears limited with reports of significant control only relating to deliberately-mutated strains of Trichoderma. Our previous studies have indicated the possibility of using selected naturally-occurring strains of the antagonist in the suppression of other diseases; now in vitro and controlled environment in vivo studies have indicated that a degree of control of Onion White Rot is possible, and that the selected antagonist strains can be used in integrated treatments with Iprodione to good effect. The possible value of such treatments is considered in light of other approaches to the suppression of this continuing problem.     

A web server to locate periodicities in a sequence

Summary : FT is a tool written in C++, which implements the Fourier analysis method to locate periodicities in aminoacid or DNA sequences. It is provided for free public use on a WWW server with a Java interface. Availability : The server address is http://o2.db. uoa.gr/FT Contact : shamodr@atlas.uoa.gr      

In Amnio MRI of Mouse Embryos

Mouse embryo imaging is conventionally carried out on ex vivo embryos excised from the amniotic sac, omitting vital structures and abnormalities external to the body. Here, we present an in amnio MR imaging methodology in which the mouse embryo is retained in the amniotic sac and demonstrate how important embryonic structures can be visualised in 3D with high spatial resolution (100 µm/px). To illustrate the utility of in amnio imaging, we subsequently apply the technique to examine abnormal mouse embryos with abdominal wall defects. Mouse embryos at E17.5 were imaged and compared, including three normal phenotype embryos, an abnormal embryo with a clear exomphalos defect, and one with a suspected gastroschisis phenotype. Embryos were excised from the mother ensuring the amnion remained intact and stereo microscopy was performed. Embryos were next embedded in agarose for 3D, high resolution MRI on a 9.4T scanner. Identification of the abnormal embryo phenotypes was not possible using stereo microscopy or conventional ex vivo MRI. Using in amnio MRI, we determined that the abnormal embryos had an exomphalos phenotype with varying severities. In amnio MRI is ideally suited to investigate the complex relationship between embryo and amnion, together with screening for other abnormalities located outside of the mouse embryo, providing a valuable complement to histology and existing imaging methods available to the phenotyping community.     

Utility of the white gene in estimating phylogenetic relationships among mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae)

The utility of a nuclear protein-coding gene for reconstructing phylogenetic relationships within the family Culicidae was explored. Relationships among 13 species representing three subfamilies and nine genera of Culicidae were analyzed using a 762-bp fragment of coding sequence from the eye color gene, white. Outgroups for the study were two species from the sister group Chaoboridae. Sequences were determined from clone PCR products amplified from genomic DNA, and aligned following conceptual intron splicing and amino acid translation. Third codon positions were characterized by high levels of divergence and biased nucleotide composition, the intensity and direction of which varied among taxa. Equal weighting of all characters resulted in parsimony and neighboring-joining trees at odds with the generally accepted phylogenetic hypothesis based on morphology and rDNA sequences. The application of differential weighting schemes recovered the traditional hypothesis, in which the subfamily Anophelinae formed the basal clade. The subfamily Toxorhynchitinae occupied an intermediate position, and was a sister group to the subfamily Culicinae. Within Culicinae, the genera Sabethes and Tripteroides formed an ancestral clade, while the Culex-Deinocerites and Aedes- Haemagogus clades occupied increasingly derived positions in the molecular phylogeny. An intron present in the Culicinae- Toxorhynchitinae lineage and one outgroup taxon was absent in the basal Anophelinae lineage and the second outgroup taxon, suggesting that intron insertions or deletions may not always be reliable systematic characters.