Coffee volatiles induced after mechanical injury and beetle herbivory attract the coffee berry borer and two of its parasitoids

The coffee berry borer (CBB), Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari), is the most important insect pest of coffee worldwide. In this study, we used headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry to sample and identify volatile compounds from Robusta coffee berries, Coffea canephora Pierre ex Froehner, infested with CBB and with mechanical damage. Furthermore, we evaluated the behavioral responses of the CBB and two of its parasitoids, Prorops nasuta Waterstone and Phymastichus coffea LaSalle, to three selected coffee volatile compounds in a Y-tube olfactometer. We found in the effluvia of red coffee berry compounds not previously reported for this coffee species. Our results show that Robusta coffee berries release induced volatiles either by insect herbivory or by mechanical damage. Small amount of butyl acetate, unknown compound 2, α-longipinene, longiborneol and longiborneol acetate are produced only in infested coffee berries fruits. Quantitatively, nine compounds account for the difference between healthy berries, infested, or mechanically damaged berries. Trans-ocimene, 4,8-dimethyl-3,7-nonadien-2-ol, α-copaene and kaurene increased amount levels in infested berries, while amount of methyl salicylate and linalool increased in mechanically damaged coffee berries. The olfactometric bioassays showed that CBB females and its two parasitoids were attracted to methyl salicylate. In addition, H. hampei and P. nasuta were attracted to linalool, and P. nasuta and P. coffea were attracted to trans-ocimene.     

Potential for oilseed rape resistance in pollen beetle control

Breeding for plant resistance to insect pests is a classic strategy in integrated management, but it has never been developed for use against European pests of oilseed rape (Brassica napus) (OSR), especially one of the most damaging ones, the pollen beetle (Meligethes aeneus). In this paper we look at the three strategies that could be employed to improve OSR resistance (based on transgenes, relatives of B. napus or OSR natural variation) and review our current knowledge as to how these strategies could be put into practice. We identify the drawbacks which are specific to the pollen beetle that could impede breeding programs for resistance, and propose an approach to circumvent them. Finally, we detail the steps of the interaction between OSR and the pollen beetle that could be targeted in order to improve plant resistance (host plant location, adult survival, adult feeding, egg production and oviposition, larval development) and discuss their efficiency and durability potential.     

Interspecific differences in milkweeds alter predator density and the strength of trophic cascades

Trophic cascades occur when predators benefit plants by consuming herbivores, but the overall strength of a trophic cascade depends upon the way species interactions propagate through a system. For example, plant resistance to, or tolerance of, herbivores reduces the potential magnitude of a trophic cascade. At the same time, plants can also affect predator foraging or consumption in ways that either increase or decrease the strength of trophic cascades. In this study, we investigated the effects of plant variation on cascade strength by manipulating predator access to aphid populations on two species of milkweed: the slower-growing, putatively more-defended Asclepias syriaca and the faster-growing, putatively less-defended Asclepias incarnata. Predatory insects increased plant growth and survival for both species, but the strength of these trophic cascades was greater on A. incarnata, which supported more aphid growth early in the season than did A. syriaca. More predators were observed per aphid on A. incarnata, and cage treatments generated significant patterns consistent with predator aggregation on A. incarnata, but not A. syriaca. Although predators strongly affected aphids, this effect did not differ consistently between milkweed species. Plant tolerance to herbivory may therefore be the primary driver of the difference in trophic cascade strength observed. Importantly, we observed that the timing of predator exclusion affected plant growth and survival differently, indicating that measures of “cascade strength” may change with phenology and plant physiological responses. Together, our results suggest a mechanism by which differences in resource allocation patterns could explain differences in growth, phenology, and cascade strength between species.     

Cul3-KLHL20 ubiquitin ligase: physiological functions,stress responses,and disease implications

Cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases are the largest Ubiquitin ligase family in eukaryotes and are multi-protein complexes. In these complexes, the Cullin protein serves as a scaffold to connect two functional modules of the ligases, the catalytic subunit and substrate-binding subunit. KLHL20 is a substrate-binding subunit of Cullin3 (Cul3) ubiquitin ligase. Recent studies have identified a number of substrates of KLHL20-based ubiquitin ligase. Through ubiquitination of these substrates, KLHL20 elicits diverse cellular functions, some of which are associated with human diseases. Furthermore, the functions, subcellular localizations, and expression of KLHL20 are regulated by several physiological and stressed signals, which allow KLHL20 to preferentially act on certain substrates to response to these signals. Here, we provide a summary of the functions and regulations of KLHL20 in several physiological processes and stress responses and its disease implications.     

C1D family proteins in coordinating RNA processing,chromosome condensation and DNA damage response

Research on the involvement of C1D and its yeast homologues Rrp47 (S. cerevisiae) and Cti1 (S. pombe) in DNA damage repair and RNA processing has remained mutually exclusive, with most studies predominantly concentrating on Rrp47. This review will look to reconcile the functions of these proteins in their involvement with the RNA exosome, in the regulation of chromatin architecture, and in the repair of DNA double-strand breaks, focusing on non-homologous end joining and homologous recombination. We propose that C1D is situated in a central position to maintain genomic stability at highly transcribed gene loci by coordinating these processes through the timely recruitment of relevant regulatory factors. In the event that the damage is beyond repair, C1D induces apoptosis in a p53-dependent manner.     

Identification of donor splice sites using support vector machine: a computational approach based on positional,compositional and dependency features

Background

Identification of splice sites is essential for annotation of genes. Though existing approaches have achieved an acceptable level of accuracy, still there is a need for further improvement. Besides, most of the approaches are species-specific and hence it is required to develop approaches compatible across species.

Results

Each splice site sequence was transformed into a numeric vector of length 49, out of which four were positional, four were dependency and 41 were compositional features. Using the transformed vectors as input, prediction was made through support vector machine. Using balanced training set, the proposed approach achieved area under ROC curve (AUC-ROC) of 96.05, 96.96, 96.95, 96.24 % and area under PR curve (AUC-PR) of 97.64, 97.89, 97.91, 97.90 %, while tested on human, cattle, fish and worm datasets respectively. On the other hand, AUC-ROC of 97.21, 97.45, 97.41, 98.06 % and AUC-PR of 93.24, 93.34, 93.38, 92.29 % were obtained, while imbalanced training datasets were used. The proposed approach was found comparable with state-of-art splice site prediction approaches, while compared using the bench mark NN269 dataset and other datasets.

Conclusions

The proposed approach achieved consistent accuracy across different species as well as found comparable with the existing approaches. Thus, we believe that the proposed approach can be used as a complementary method to the existing methods for the prediction of splice sites. A web server named as ‘HSplice’ has also been developed based on the proposed approach for easy prediction of 5′ splice sites by the users and is freely available at http://cabgrid.res.in:8080/HSplice.

     

Utilization trends of pedicle subtraction osteotomies compared to posterior spinal fusion for deformity: a national database analysis between 2008–2011

Background

Increased awareness regarding the importance of the sagittal spinal profile has led to more aggressive correction of sagittal malalignment. The utilization trends of pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO) for sagittal plane correction in spinal deformity surgery have not been well characterized.

Methods

A commercially available database (PearlDiver, Inc) was queried for both Private Payor and 5 % Medicare claims from 2008 to 2011. Revision and clarification of the coding guidelines for PSO were introduced in 2008. Patients who had a thoracic and/or lumbar PSO were identified using CPT codes (22206-22208). In order to appropriately interpret trends in PSO use, three comparison groups were identified. Patients who had a diagnosis of adult spine deformity were identified using ICD-9 codes. Patients who had fusion for spine deformity or posterior spine fusion were identified using CPT codes. Differences in annual utilization and demographics between these four groups were then compared.

Results

From the Private Payor database, 199 PSOs were identified with the number of PSOs increasing from 33 in 2008, to 61 in 2011, representing a 185 % increase. From the Medicare data, 102 PSOs were identified, increasing from 13 in 2008 to 32 in 2011, a 246 % increase. In contrast, from both databases, there was minimal to no increase in the incidence of adult spine deformity, fusion for spine deformity or posterior spine fusion over the study time interval.

Conclusion

Over the study time interval, there was up to a 3.2-fold increase in the utilization of PSOs while the diagnosis of adult spine deformity, fusion for spine deformity and posterior spine fusions had minimal to no increase.