Poleward increase in feeding efficiency of leafminer Stigmella lapponica (Lepidoptera: Nepticulidae) in a latitudinal gradient crossing a boreal forest zone

Damage to plant communities imposed by insect herbivores generally decreases from low to high latitudes. This decrease is routinely attributed to declines in herbivore abundance and/or diversity, whereas latitudinal changes in per capita food consumption remain virtually unknown. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the lifetime food consumption by a herbivore individual decreases from low to high latitudes due to a temperature-driven decrease in metabolic expenses. From 2016 to 2019, we explored latitudinal changes in multiple characteristics of linear (gallery) mines made by larvae of the pygmy moth, Stigmella lapponica, in leaves of downy birch, Betula pubescens. The mined leaves were larger than intact leaves at the southern end of our latitudinal gradient (at 60°N) but smaller than intact leaves at its northern end (at 69°N), suggesting that female oviposition preference changes with latitude. No latitudinal changes were observed in larval size, mine length or area, and in per capita food consumption, but the larval feeding efficiency (quantified as the ratio between larval size and mine size) increased with latitude. Consequently, S. lapponica larvae consumed less foliar biomass at higher latitudes than at lower latitudes to reach the same size. Based on space-for-time substitution, we suggest that climate warming will increase metabolic expenses of insect herbivores with uncertain consequences for plant–herbivore interactions.     

A strategy for construction of industrial strains of distiller's yeast

A procedure was developed for construction of industrial strains of distiller's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). It includes several steps: construction of congenic genetically marked haploid strains of opposite mating types starting from an industrial strain of hybrid nature, integrative transformation of the above haploid strains with a DNA fragment containing an expression cassette responsible for new technological facilities, and hybridization of transformants and isolation of final industrial homozygous strains under experimental conditions simulating commercial fermentation processes. This strategy permits the generation of strains that have desirable characteristics of traditional races of distiller's yeast along with new technological facilities determined by the particular expression cassette. Using this procedure, we have constructed an industrial strain with improved amylolytic activity. (c) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Primary structure of the elongation factor G from Escherichia coli. VI. Structure of peptides of cyanogen bromide cleavage of the G-factor molecule

Peptides obtained as a result of cyanogen bromide cleavage of the G-factor have been studied. All 12 peptides embracing the whole structure of fragment T4 have been isolated. For their amino acid sequence determination, cyanogen bromide peptides have been further cleaved with trypsin, chymotrypsin, thermolysin, staphylococcal glutamic protease and BNPS-skatole. The complete primary structure of 9 from 12 cyanogen bromide peptides has been determined.     

Lysosomes-like thrombocyte alpha-granules: the activation and inhibition of the release of the contents in blood coagulation]

The mechanism of the release of alpha-granules constituents of thrombocytes was studied in the course of blood coagulation utilizing the fluorometric technique. The release reaction can be induced by proteolytic enzymes. The process is stimulated by the presence of extracellular Ca2+. This pattern of release reaction belongs to "release II" type. Aminazin can also induced release of alpha-granules constituents. Heparin inhibited release II induced by Ca2+ in citrated plasma, whereas streptase had no effect.     

SOI-nanowire biosensor for detection of D-NFATc1 protein

The nanowire (NW) detection is one of the fast-acting and high-sensitive methods, which can recognize potentially relevant protein molecules. A NW-biosensor based on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI)-structures has been used for biospecific label-free real time detection of the NFATc1 (D-NFATc1) oncomarker. For this purpose, SOI-nanowires (NWs) were modified with aptamers against NFATc1 used as molecular probes. It was shown that using this biosensor it is possible to reach sensitivity of 10^?15 M. This sensitivity was comparable to that of the NW-biosensor with immobilized antibodies used as macromolecular probes. The results demonstrate that approaches used in this study are promising for development of sensor elements for high-sensitive diagnostics of diseases.     

Decline of Eulia ministrana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in polluted habitats is not accompanied by phenotypic stress responses

Environmental pollution is currently identified as one of the major drivers of rapid decline of insect populations, and this finding has revitalized interest in insect responses to pollution. We tested the hypothesis that the pollution-induced decline of insect populations can be predicted from phenotypic stress responses expressed as morphological differences between populations inhabiting polluted and unpolluted sites. We explored populations of the brassy tortrix Eulia ministrana in subarctic forests along an environmental disturbance gradient created by long-lasting severe impacts of aerial emissions of the copper–nickel smelter in Monchegorsk, northwestern Russia. We used pheromone traps to measure the population densities of this leafrolling moth and to collect specimens for assessment of three morphological stress indices: size, forewing melanization, and fluctuating asymmetry in wing venation. Wing length of E. ministrana increased by 10%, and neither forewing melanization nor fluctuating asymmetry changed from the unpolluted forest to the heavily polluted industrial barren. However, the population density of E. ministrana decreased 5 to 10 fold in the same pollution gradient. Thus, none of the studied potential morphological stress indicators signaled vulnerability of E. ministrana to environmental pollution and/or to pollution-induced environmental disturbance. We conclude that insect populations can decline without any visible signs of stress. The use of morphological proxies of insect fitness to predict the consequences of human impact on insect populations is therefore risky until causal relationships between these proxies and insect abundance are deciphered.