Fungi isolated from insects in strawberry crops act as potential biological control agents of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Duponchelia fovealis</Emphasis> (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

Entomopathogenic fungi were collected from insects, belonging to orders Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, and Diptera, with signs of infection. Single-spore colonies were identified based on morphological traits and ribosomal ITS sequences. The most commonly found fungi were Fusarium oxysporum Schlechtendal and Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo-Crivelli) Vuillemin. Isolation of Trichoderma atroviride Bisset, Aspergillus flavipes (Bainier and Sartory) Thom and Church, Aspergillus iizukae Sugiyama, Penicillium mallochii Rivera, Urb and Seifert, Penicillium adametzioides S. Abe ex G. Smith, and Mucor nidicola Madden, Stchigel, Guarro and Starks associated to insects is reported for the first time. Tests with B. bassiana isolates against Duponchelia fovealis Zeller (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), showed high larval mortality in vitro and in greenhouse, demonstrating its potential as biological control agent. Understanding the fungal microbiota from insects can provide promising isolates for use in integrated pest management programs. This is the first report characterizing the mycobiota in insects collected in strawberry crops, and evaluating the pathogenicity of B. bassiana against D. fovealis, a pest that causes severe losses to farmers.     

Supramolecular zippers elicit interbilayer adhesion of membranes producing cell death

Background

The fluorescent dye 10-N-nonyl acridine orange (NAO) is widely used as a mitochondrial marker. NAO was reported to have cytotoxic effects in cultured eukaryotic cells when incubated at high concentrations. Although the biochemical response of NAO-induced toxicity has been well identified, the underlying molecular mechanism has not yet been explored in detail.

Constant light during lactation programs circadian and metabolic systems

Exposure to light at night is a disruptive condition for the adult circadian system, leading to arrhythmicity in nocturnal rodents. Circadian disruption is a risk factor for developing physiological and behavioral alterations, including weight gain and metabolic disease. During early stages of development, the circadian system undergoes a critical period of adjustment, and it is especially vulnerable to altered lighting conditions that may program its function, leading to long-term effects. We hypothesized that during lactation a disrupted light-dark cycle due to light at night may disrupt the circadian system and in the long term induce metabolic disorders. Here we explored in pups, short- and long-term effects of constant light (LL) during lactation. In the short term, LL caused a loss of rhythmicity and a reduction in the immunopositive cells of VIP, AVP, and PER1 in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). In the short term, the affection on the circadian clock in the pups resulted in body weight gain, loss of daily rhythms in general activity, plasma glucose and triglycerides (TG). Importantly, the DD conditions during development also induced altered daily rhythms in general activity and in the SCN. Exposure to LD conditions after lactation did not restore rhythmicity in the SCN, and the number of immunopositve cells to VIP, AVP, and PER1 remained reduced. In the long term, daily rhythmicity in general activity was restored; however, daily rhythms in glucose and TG remained disrupted, and daily mean levels of TG were significantly increased. Present results point out the programming role played by the LD cycle during early development in the function of the circadian system and on metabolism. This study points out the risk represented by exposure to an altered light-dark cycle during early stages of development.

Abbreviations:

AVP: arginine vasopressin peptide; CRY: cryptochrome; DD: constant darkness; DM: dorsomedial; LD: light-dark cycle; LL: constant light; NICUs: neonatal intensive care units; P: postnatal days; PER: period; S.E.M.: standard error of the mean; SCN: suprachiasmatic nucleus; TG: triglycerides; VIP: vasointestinal peptide; VL: ventrolateral; ZT: zeitgeber time.     

Proposal of cutoff points for pediatric daytime sleepiness scale to identify excessive daytime sleepiness

The objective of the present study was to propose cutoff points for the Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale (PDSS) through sensitivity and specificity analyses in order to identify excessive daytime sleepiness, considering parameters such as duration and quality of sleep, health perception, stress control and depressive moods (feelings of sadness) in adolescents. A total of 1,132 adolescents, aged 14–19 years old, of both sexes, from the public high school of São José – SC, answered the questionnaire with information on age, daytime sleepiness, sleep duration, health perception, stress management, depressive moods (feelings of sadness) and quality of sleep. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was used to estimate cutoff points considering the sensitivity and specificity values ??that best identify adolescents with excessive daytime sleepiness, using independent variables as a reference. The majority of the sample was female (54.2%), aged 14–16 years. The girls presented worse quality of sleep (66.4%), and the boys had a more positive perception of health (74.8%), better stress control (64.8%) and lower depressive moods (feelings of sadness) (63.3%). The largest area in the ROC curve was the one that considered sleep quality as a parameter in both sexes (area of the curve = 0.709 and 0.659, respectively, for boys and girls, p < 0.001). Considering sleep quality as a reference, the cutoff point for excessive daytime sleepiness was 15 points. The other parameters used were also significant (p < 0.005). Poor sleep quality was the parameter most strongly related to daytime sleepiness, and a cutoff of 15 points for the PDSS for both sexes should be used in the definition of excessive daytime sleepiness. For the other parameters, stress management, depressive mood (feelings of sadness) and health perception, different cutoff points are suggested for boys and girls.     

A 3000 year record of Caribbean reef urchin communities reveals causes and consequences of long‐term decline in Diadema antillarum

Urchins are the last abundant grazers of macroalgae on most Caribbean reefs following the historical overexploitation of herbivorous fishes. The long‐spined urchin Diadema antillarum was particularly effective at controlling macroalgae and facilitating coral dominance on Caribbean reefs until its ecological extinction from a catastrophic disease epidemic in the early 1980s. Despite their important role in the structure and functioning of Caribbean reef ecosystems, the natural dynamics of Caribbean reef urchin communities are poorly known due to the paucity of ecological survey data prior to large‐scale human disturbances and the Diadema dieoff. To help resolve the baseline abundances and ecological roles of common urchin taxa, we track changes in urchin abundance and composition over the past 3000 yr from analysis of subfossil urchin spines preserved in reef matrix cores collected in Caribbean Panama. Echinometra consistently dominated the subfossil spine assemblage, while Diadema was consistently rare in the subfossil record in this region. Rather than increasing during a period of heightened human exploitation of their fish competitors and predators, Diadema began declining over a millennium ago. Convergent cross mapping (CCM) causality analyses reveal that Diadema abundance is causally related to coral community composition. Diadema is negatively affected by Acropora cervicornis dominance, likely due to the tight association between this coral and the threespot damselfish, an effective Diadema competitor. Conversely, Diadema positively affects the abundance of the coral Madracis mirabilis, possibly via its control of macroalgae. Causal relationships were not detected among abundances of individual urchin taxa, indicating that inter‐specific echinoid competition is not a factor limiting Diadema recovery. Our detailed record of prehistorical and historical urchin community dynamics suggests that the failure of Diadema to recover over 30 yr after its mass mortality event may be due in part to the prey release of damselfish following the long‐term overfishing of piscivorous fishes.     

Dung beetles and their ecological functions in three agroforestry systems in the Lacandona rainforest of Mexico

There is growing interest in evaluating the impact that management intensity of agroecosystems has on animal communities and their ecological functions. Dung beetles are a highly used focal taxon for assessing the effects of anthropogenic disturbances and management practices on biodiversity. In the Lacandona rainforest region in southern Mexico, we quantified several metrics of the dung beetle community (number of species, number of individuals, total biomass, mean beetle size) and four of their ecological functions (dung removal, soil excavation, seed dispersal, seed exhumation) in conserved rainforest and three agroforestry systems with different management intensities: rustic cocoa, polyculture cocoa, and rubber monoculture. We also assessed the correlation between dung removal and the other functions, as well as the relationships between functions and community metrics. Land-use type affected the dung beetle communities as well as their functions, with negative effects on response variables in the most intensely managed agroecosystems (polyculture cocoa and rubber). Rustic cocoa had values similar to those of the conserved forest for all functions and community metrics, except the mean number of species per trap. Dung removal was correlated with the other ecological functions. The mean number of species per trap was significantly associated with all four functions. In our study region rustic cocoa plantations favor the maintenance of a high proportion of dung beetle species and maintain their ecological functions. Our findings corroborate that agroecosystems with less intense management may contribute to buffering the effects of landscape homogenization caused by more intensely managed agroecosystems, such as rubber plantations.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Anemia tomentosa</Emphasis> var. <Emphasis Type="Italic">anthriscifolia</Emphasis> in vitro culture: sporophyte development and volatile compound profile of an aromatic fern

Anemia tomentosa var. anthriscifolia is an aromatic fern with a pleasant woody aroma and antimycobacterial activity. In this paper, we describe for the first time its spore-derived gametophyte development and the effect of indole-3-acetic acid and jasmonic acid on in vitro gametophyte/sporophyte development, as well as volatile compound production. Volatiles were obtained by simultaneous distillation and extraction (SDE) and analyzed by high resolution gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Spore-derived gametophytes were able to develop into sporophytes independently of the media culture composition, even when no plant growth regulator was added. Fifty different substances were detected in all in vitro A. tomentosa SDE extracts, while 20 were detected in the wild SDE plant extract. Monoterpenes were more prevalent (69.8–89.8%) than sesquiterpenes (9.4–28.7%) in in vitro plants, while sesquiterpenes represent 97.5% of the volatiles produced by the wild-grown plants. The major monoterpene components in in vitro plants were α-pinene (9.3–24.3%), trans-pinocarveol (20.6–27.9%), pinocarvone (15.4–25.1%) and myrtenyl acetate (6.4–12.3%). The triquinane sesquiterpenes silphiperfol-6-ene (0.6–2.9%), α-guaiene (0.5–2.5%), β-barbatene (1.1–3.9%) and 9-epi-presilphiperfolan-1-ol (2.5–5.6%) represent the most abundant sesquiterpenes. The changes in the monoterpene/sesquiterpene rates between micropropagated and wild plants are not related to the presence of JA or IAA in the media culture. Further studies are still needed to obtain a complete understanding of the factors leading to these results, which could be related to differences in the irradiance levels of in vitro plants versus those from a wild environment, as well as the developmental stage of the plants. This is the first report of the use of plant growth regulators on Anemia tomentosa in vitro culture development and their effects on volatile profiles.     

Low‐gluten,nontransgenic wheat engineered with CRISPR/Cas9

Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disorder triggered in genetically predisposed individuals by the ingestion of gluten proteins from wheat, barley and rye. The α‐gliadin gene family of wheat contains four highly stimulatory peptides, of which the 33‐mer is the main immunodominant peptide in patients with coeliac. We designed two sgRNAs to target a conserved region adjacent to the coding sequence for the 33‐mer in the α‐gliadin genes. Twenty‐one mutant lines were generated, all showing strong reduction in α‐gliadins. Up to 35 different genes were mutated in one of the lines of the 45 different genes identified in the wild type, while immunoreactivity was reduced by 85%. Transgene‐free lines were identified, and no off‐target mutations have been detected in any of the potential targets. The low‐gluten, transgene‐free wheat lines described here could be used to produce low‐gluten foodstuff and serve as source material to introgress this trait into elite wheat varieties.