In vitro evaluation of native entomopathogenic fungi and neem (Azadiractha indica) extracts on Spodoptera frugiperda

The control of Spodoptera frugiperda is based on synthetic insecticides, so some alternatives are the use of entomopathogenic fungi (EF) and neem extract. The objective of the study was to evaluate in vitro effectiveness of native EF and neem extracts on S. frugiperda larvae. Six EF were identified by DNA sequencing of ITS regions from three EF (Fusarium solani, Metarrhizium robertsii, Nigrospora spherica and Penicillium citrinum). They were evaluated in concentrations of 1 × 10⁸ spores/ mL. In addition, a second bioassay was carried out evaluating only F. solani, M. robertsii and N. sphaerica and the addition of vegetable oil. On the other hand, extraction of secondary metabolites from neem seed (Azadirachta indica) was carried out by performing, mass (g) and solvent volume (mL ethanol and water) combinations, which were subjected to microwaves and ultrasound. Subsequently, these extracts were evaluated in concentrations of 3%, 4% and 5%. A survival analysis was performed for each of the bioassays. With respect to the results of the first bioassay, F. solani obtained a probability of survival of 0.476 on the seventh day, while in the second bioassay, M. robertsii obtained 0.488 survival probability. This suggests that the expected percentage of larvae that stay alive on the sixth day is 48.8%. However, in the evaluation of the neem extract the combination 1:12/70% to 4% caused 84% mortality of larvae. The use of native HE and neem extracts has potential for the control of S. frugiperda.     

Transmission of Megatrypanum Trypanosomes to Cervus dama by Tabanidae1

Four fallow deer, Cervus dama, became infected with Trypanosoma (Megatrypanum) sp. by oral application of triturated guts from tabanids collected in an area with deer but without any cattle; four control calves remained negative. Upon challenge with triturated guts from tabanids from an area with pastured cattle, the four calves became infected with Trypanosoma (M.) theileri. The prepatent period in deer was five days or less. Haematopota spp. and Tabanus spp. were identified as vectors of the deer trypanosomes. It is concluded that the trypanosomes of C. dama belong to a Megatrypanum species that is not identical with T. theileri.     

The 1.76 A resolution crystal structure of glycogen phosphorylase B complexed with glucose, and CP320626, a potential antidiabetic drug

CP320626, a potential antidiabetic drug, inhibits glycogen phosphorylase in synergism with glucose. To elucidate the structural basis of synergistic inhibition, we determined the structure of muscle glycogen phosphorylase b (MGPb) complexed with both glucose and CP320626 at 1.76 A resolution, and refined to a crystallographic R value of 0.211 (R(free)=0.235). CP320626 binds at a novel allosteric site, which is some 33 A from the catalytic site, where glucose binds. The high resolution structure allows unambiguous definition of the conformation of the 1-acetyl-4-hydroxy-piperidine ring supported by theoretical energy calculations. Both CP320626 and glucose promote the less active T-state, thereby explaining their synergistic inhibition. Structural comparison of MGPb--glucose--CP320626 complex with liver glycogen phosphorylase a (LGPa) complexed with a related compound (CP403700) show that the ligand binding site is conserved in LGPa.     

Flavopiridol inhibits glycogen phosphorylase by binding at the inhibitor site

Flavopiridol (L86-8275) ((-)-cis-5, 7-dihydroxy-2-(2-chlorophenyl)-8-[4-(3-hydroxy-1-methyl)-piperidinyl] -4H-benzopyran-4-one), a potential antitumor drug, currently in phase II trials, has been shown to be an inhibitor of muscle glycogen phosphorylase (GP) and to cause glycogen accumulation in A549 non-small cell lung carcinoma cells (Kaiser, A., Nishi, K., Gorin, F.A., Walsh, D.A., Bradbury, E. M., and Schnier, J. B., unpublished data). Kinetic experiments reported here show that flavopiridol inhibits GPb with an IC(50) = 15.5 microm. The inhibition is synergistic with glucose resulting in a reduction of IC(50) for flavopiridol to 2.3 microm and mimics the inhibition of caffeine. In order to elucidate the structural basis of inhibition, we determined the structures of GPb complexed with flavopiridol, GPb complexed with caffeine, and GPa complexed with both glucose and flavopiridol at 1.76-, 2.30-, and 2.23-A resolution, and refined to crystallographic R values of 0.216 (R(free) = 0.247), 0.189 (R(free) = 0.219), and 0.195 (R(free) = 0.252), respectively. The structures provide a rational for flavopiridol potency and synergism with glucose inhibitory action. Flavopiridol binds at the allosteric inhibitor site, situated at the entrance to the catalytic site, the site where caffeine binds. Flavopiridol intercalates between the two aromatic rings of Phe(285) and Tyr(613). Both flavopiridol and glucose promote the less active T-state through localization of the closed position of the 280s loop which blocks access to the catalytic site, thereby explaining their synergistic inhibition. The mode of interactions of flavopiridol with GP is different from that of des-chloro-flavopiridol with CDK2, illustrating how different functional parts of the inhibitor can be used to provide specific and potent binding to two different enzymes.     

N-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosylamine: A potent T-state inhibitor of glycogen phosphorylase. A comparison with α-D-glucose

Structure-based drug design has led to the discovery of a number of glucose analogue inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase that have an increased affinity compared to α-D-glucose (K_i = 1.7 mM). The best inhibitor in the class of N-acyl derivatives of β-D-glucopyranosylamine, N-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosylamine (1-GlcNAc), has been characterized by kinetic, ultracentrifugation, and crystallographic studies. 1-GlcNAc acts as a competitive inhibitor for both the b (K_i = 32 μM) and the α (K_i = 35 μM) forms of the enzyme with respect to glucose 1-phosphate and in synergism with caffeine, mimicking the binding of glucose. Sedimentation velocity experiments demonstrated that 1-GlcNAc was able to induce dissociation of tetrameric phosphorylase α and stabilization of the dimeric T-state conformation. Co-crystals of the phosphorylase b-1-GlcNAc-IMP complex were grown in space group P4₃2₁2, with native-like unit cell dimensions, and the complex structure has been refined to give a crystallographic R factor of 18.1%, for data between 8 and 2.3 Å resolution. 1-GlcNAc binds tightly at the catalytic site of T-state phosphorylase b at approximately the same position as that of α-D-glucose. The ligand can be accommodated in the catalytic site with very little change in the protein structure and stabilizes the T-state conformation of the 280s loop by making several favorable contacts to Asn 284 of this loop. Structural comparisons show that the T-state phosphorylase b-1-GlcNAc-IMP complex structure is overall similar to the T-state phosphorylase b-α-D-glucose complex structure. The structure of the 1-GlcNAc complex provides a rational for the biochemical properties of the inhibitor.     

The cytokineplast: purified, stable, and functional motile machinery from human blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes

We examined the formation of motile, chemotactically active, anucleate fragments from human blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN, granulocytes), induced by the brief application of heat. These granule-poor fragments are former protopods (leading fronts, lamellipodia) that become uncoupled from the main body of the cell and leave it, at first with a connecting filament that breaks and seals itself. The usual random orientation of such filaments can be controlled by preorientation of cells in a gradient of the chemotactic peptide, N-formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine (F-Met-Leu-Phe) (2x10(-9) M- 1x10(-8)). Cytochalsin B, 2.5-5 μg/ml, prevents fragment formation; colchicine, 10(-5) M, does not. In scanning electron micrographs, fragments are ruffled and the cell body rounded up and rather smooth. In transmission electron micrographs, fragments contain microfilaments but lack centrioles and microtubules. Like intact cells, both bound and free fragments can respond chemotactically to an erythrocyte destroyed by laser microirradiation (necrotaxis); the free, anucleate fragments may do so repeatedly, even after having been held overnight at ambient temperatures. We propse the name cytokineplast for the result of this self-purification of motile apparatus. The exodus of the motile machinery from the granulocyte requires anchoring of the bulk of the cell to glass and uncoupling, which may involve heat-induced dysfunction of the centrosome. In ultrastructural studies of the centrosomal region after heat, centriolar structure remains intact, but pericentriolar osmiophilic material appears condensed, and microtubules are sparse. These changes are found in all three blood cell types examined: PMN, eosinophil, and monocyte. Of these, the first two make fragments under our conditions; the more sluggish monocyte does not. Uncoupling is further linked to centrosomal dysfunction by the observation that colchicines-treated granulocytes (10(-5)M, to destroy the centrosome’s efferent arm) make fragments after less heat than controls. If motive force and orientation are specified mainly from the organelle-excluding leading front, then endoplasmic streaming in PMN is a catch-up phenomenon, and microtubules do not provide the vector of locomotion but rather stabilize and orient the “baggage” (nucleus, granuloplasm)—i.e., they prevent fishtailing. Moreover, constraints emanating from the centrosome may now be extended to include, maintenance of the motile machinery as an integral part of the cell.     

Physical mapping of three fruit ripening genes：Endopolygalacturonase,ACC oxidase and ACC synthase from apple（Malus x domestica） in an apple rootstock A106（Malus sieboldii

The apple rootstock,A106(Malus sieboldii),had 17 bivalents in pollen mother cells at meiotic metaphase 1,and 17 chromosomes in a haploid pollen cell.Karyotypes were prepared from root-tip cells with 2n=34 chromosomes,Seven out of 82 karyotypes(8.5%) showed one pari of satellites at the end of the short arm of chromosome 3.C-bands were shown on 6 pairs of chromosomes 2,4,6,8,14,and 16 near the telomeric regions of short arms.Probes for three ripening-related genes from Malus x domestica:endopolygalacturonase(EPG,0.6kb),ACC oxidase(1.2kb),and ACC synthase(2kb)were hybridized in situ to metaphase chromosomes of A106.Hybridization sites for the EPG gene were observed on the long arm of chromosome 14 in 15 out of 16 replicate spreads and proximal to the centromere of chromosomes 6 and 11.For the ACC oxidase gene,hylridization sites were observed in the telomeric region of the short arm of chromosomes 5 and 11 in 87% and 81% of 16 spreads respectively,proxiaml to the centromere of chromosome 1 in 81% of the spreads,and on the long arm of chromosome 13 in 50% of the spreads. Physical mapping of three fruit ripening genes in an apple rootstock A106.Twenty five spreads were studied for the ACC synthase gene and hybridization sites were observed in the telomeric region of the short arm of chromosome 12 in 96% of the spreads.chromosomes 9 and 10 in 76% of the spreads,and chromosome 17 in 56% of the spreads.     

Divergence estimates and early evolutionary history of Figitidae (Hymenoptera: Cynipoidea)

We examine the phylogenetic relationships of Figitidae and discuss host use within this group in light of our own and previously published divergence time data. Our results suggest Figitidae, as currently defined, is not monophyletic. Furthermore, Mikeiinae and Pycnostigminae are sister‐groups, nested adjacent to Thrasorinae, Plectocynipinae and Euceroptrinae. The recovery of Pycnostigminae as sister‐group to Mikeiinae suggests two major patterns of evolution: (i) early Figitidae lineages demonstrate a Gondawanan origin (Plectocynipinae: Neotropical; Mikeiinae and Thrasorinae: Australia; Pycnostigminae: Africa); and (ii) based on host records for Mikeiinae, Thrasorinae and Plectocynipinae, Pycnostigminae are predicted to be parasitic on gall‐inducing Hymenoptera. The phylogenetic position of Parnips (Parnipinae) was unstable, and various analyses were conducted to determine the impact of this uncertainty on both the recovery of other clades and inferred divergence times; when Parnips was excluded from the total evidence analysis, Cynipidae was found to be sister‐group to [Euceroptrinae + (Plectocynipinae (Thrasorinae + (Mikeiinae + Pycnostigminae)))], with low support. Divergence dating analyses using BEAST indicate the stem‐group node of Figitidae to be c. 126 Ma; the dipteran parasitoids (Eucoilinae and Figitinae), were estimated to have a median age of 80 and 88 Ma, respectively; the neuropteran parasitoids (Anacharitinae), were estimated to have a median age of 97 Ma; sternorrhynchan hyperparasitoids (Charipinae), were estimated to have a median age of 110 Ma; the Hymenoptera‐parasitic subfamilies (Euceroptinae, Plectocynipinae, Trasorinae, Mikeiinae, Pycnostigminae, and Parnipinae), ranged in median ages from 48 to 108 Ma. Rapid radiation of Eucoilinae subclades appears chronologically synchronized with the origin of their hosts, Schizophora (Diptera). Overall, the exclusion of Parnips from the BEAST analysis did not result in significant changes to divergence estimates. Finally, though sparsely represented in the analysis, our data suggest Cynipidae have a median age of 54 Ma, which is somewhat older than the age of Quercus spp (30–50 Ma), their most common host.