Effect of sex and bright coloration on survival and predator‐induced wing damage in an aposematic lantern fly with startle display

1. Aposematic coloration in prey promotes its survival by conspicuously advertising unpalatability to predators. Although classical examples of aposematic signals involve constant presentation of a signal at a distance, some animals suddenly display warning colours only when they are attacked. 2. Characteristics of body parts suddenly displayed, such as conspicuous coloration or eyespot pattern, may increase the survival of the prey by startling the predator, and/or by signalling unpalatability to the predators at the moment of attack. 3. The adaptive value of such colour patterns suddenly displayed by unpalatable prey has not been studied. We experimentally blackened the red patch in the conspicuous red–white–black hindwing pattern displayed by an unpalatable insect Lycorma delicatula White (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) in response to predator's attack. 4. There was no evidence that the presence of the red patch increased prey survival over several weeks. We hypothesise that predators generalised from the red–white–black patches on the hindwings of unpalatable L. delicatula to any similar wing display as a signal of unpalatability. Because a higher proportion of males than females stay put at their resting sites, displaying their wings in response to repeated attacks by predators, wing damage was more frequent in males than in females. 5. To our knowledge, this is the first experimental test of an adaptive role of aposematic signals presented by unpalatable prey during sudden displays triggered by direct predatory attack.     

阿里食虱跳小蜂生物学特性及其应用研究进展

柑橘木虱Diaphorina citri Kuwayama是传播柑橘黄龙病病菌的重要媒介昆虫,对我国柑橘产业的健康发展造成了严重的威胁.阿里食虱跳小蜂Diaphorencyrtus aligarhensis(Shaffe,Alam and Agarwal)是柑橘木虱的一种优良内寄生蜂,在我国乃至世界多个国家均有分布,发挥着重要的生防作用.本文综述了阿里食虱跳小蜂分类地位、形态特征、地理分布、生长发育、生殖能力、寿命、寄生行为等生物学特性,以及人工繁育技术的研究与应用的最新研究进展,同时分析了目前其应用方面存在的问题,旨在为我国今后利用阿里食虱跳小蜂科学、高效和可持续防控柑橘木虱提供参考,不断推动我国柑橘产业健康、稳定和可持续发展.     

Non‐specific phospholipase C5 and diacylglycerol promote lateral root development under mild salt stress in Arabidopsis

Developing a robust root system is crucial to plant survival and competition for soil resources. Here we report that the non‐specific phospholipase C5 (NPC5) and its derived lipid mediator diacylglycerol (DAG) mediate lateral root (LR) development during salt stress in Arabidopsis thaliana. T‐DNA knockout mutant npc5‐1 produced few to no LR under mild NaCl stress, whereas overexpression of NPC5 increased LR number. Roots of npc5‐1 contained a lower level of DAG than wild type, whereas NPC5 overexpressor exhibited an increase in DAG level. Application of DAG, but not phosphatidic acid, fully restored LR growth of npc5‐1 to that of wild type under NaCl stress. NPC5 expression was significantly induced in Arabidopsis seedlings treated with NaCl. Npc5‐1 was less responsive to auxin‐mediated root growth than the wild type. These results indicate that NPC5 mediates LR development in response to salt stress and suggest that DAG functions as a lipid mediator in the stress signalling.     

CRISPR/Cas9系统介导的棉花GhNAC3基因编辑

为创制棉花耐旱种质资源，解决棉花耐旱资源贫乏以及提高水资源利用率，研究依据CRISPR/Cas9编辑原理，对课题组前期利用RT-PCR技术筛选耐旱相关基因GhNAC3(Gh＿D02G0790)的第一外显子区域设计2个20 bp的编辑靶点，并在陆地棉基因组数据库中比对分析靶点序列，排除非特异性编辑，将2个靶点核苷酸片段分别与gRNA-AtU6载体连接，通过2次PCR扩增，得到含特异性连接接头的AtU6-GhNAC3表达盒，再将表达盒连接到CRISPR/Cas9(pRGEB32-7)载体上，获得CRISPR-GhNAC3重组表达载体，利用农杆菌介导法转化陆地棉受体YZ-1,再生培养得到T₀代转基因幼苗，通过PCR检测Cas9蛋白基因获得阳性株系。对T₀代植株的靶点区域序列进行PCR扩增和测序分析，鉴定GhNAC3编辑类型。结果发现，CRISPR9-GhNAC3表达载体成功转化YZ-1,并获得40株转基因再生植株，经Cas9蛋白基因鉴定得到30株阳性株系，从阳性植株选择10株进行编辑类型测序分析，发现7株在靶点区域发生编辑，编辑类型主要为碱基片段缺...