Localization of corazonin in the nervous system of the cockroach Periplaneta americana

Antisera raised to the cardioactive peptide corazonin were used to localize immunoreactive cells in the nervous system of the American cockroach. Sera obtained after the seventh booster injection were sufficiently specific to be used for immunocytology. They recognized a subset of 10 lateral neurosecretory cells in the protocerebrum that project to, and arborize and terminate in the ipsilateral corpus cardiacum. They also reacted with bilateral neurons in each of the thoracic and abdominal neuromeres, a single dorsal unpaired median neuron in the suboesophageal ganglion, an interneuron in each optic lobe, and other neurons at the base of the optic lobe, in the tritocerebrum and deutocerebrum. The presence of corazonin in the abdominal neurons and the lateral neurosecretory cells was confirmed by HPLC fractionation of extracts of the abdominal ganglia, brains and retrocerebral complexes, followed by determination of corazonin by ELISA, which revealed in each tissue a single immunoreactive peak co-eluting with corazonin in two different HPLC systems. Antisera obtained after the first three booster injections recognized a large number of neuroendocrine cells and neurons in the brain and the abdominal nerve cord. However, the sera from the two rabbits reacted largely with different cells, indicating that the majority of this immunoreactivity was due to cross-reactivity. These results indicate that the production of highly specific antisera to some neuropeptides may require a considerable number of booster injections.     

蚜虫种群时空分布动态模型

种群空间格局是昆虫种群的重要属性,是为害虫防治提供动态信息的重要前提。关于种群空间格局的时空动态,前人曾建立了富立叶模型和有阻尼自由震荡模型,但忽略了生境资源和空间资源的限制,不能很好地描述昆虫种群在自然界摆布状况的动态行为。因此,在前人研究的基础上,根据蚜虫在自然界的聚集扩散行为逐步建立了描述蚜虫种群聚集扩散规律的变幅、变周期时空分布动态模型,即:y=Ae-nt[sin(w0emtt+φ)+b]+c,并应用该模型对麦长管蚜(Sitobion avenae Fabricius)、麦二叉蚜(Schizaphis graminum Rondani)、禾缢管蚜(Rhopalosiphum padi Linnaeus)和玉米蚜(Rhopalosiphum maidis Fitch)的实验数据进行了拟合。结果表明,麦蚜种群和玉米蚜种群呈现出不同的规律,3种麦蚜均为减幅减周期的变化趋势,玉米蚜则表现为减幅增周期的变化趋势。此外,该模型的拟合效果较好(R20.942,SSE2.6)、生物意义明确,不仅可用于描述蚜虫以及蚜虫以外的其他昆虫和螨类种群的时空动态,还可准确描述不同年龄阶段和不同空间位置上种群的动态,具有普遍适用性。应用该模型考察不同种蚜虫在同一作物上的竞争情况和蚜虫与其天敌的空间分布动态,可为害虫的综合防治奠定基础;对不同小麦抗性品种上同一种蚜虫的聚集扩散行为进行刻画、分析,还可为小麦的抗性育种提供参考依据。     

硅胶填充昆虫幼虫标本制作方法

介绍一种利用硅胶填充制作昆虫幼虫标本的方法。将活体昆虫幼虫经过去内脏、填充硅胶、整形和干燥制成昆虫幼虫标本。该方法制作的标本形态生动,保存性与保色性好,并且制作简便、成本低,有利于观赏和教学。     

近年广西银杏病虫害发生及防治对策

近年来 ,银杏病虫害在广西各栽培地区普遍发生。主要报导了在广西危害比较严重 ,造成较大经济损失的病虫害及其危害症状、形态特征、发生规律和防治措施。这些病虫害在广西多属首次发现报导。     

转基因植物的生态风险

转基因植物已在很多国家大规模商业化种植,并且取得了显著的经济效益。同时有关转基因植物潜在的生态风险已引起广泛的关注。本文从转基因植物人侵危害、对非靶标有益生物直接和间接的影响、害虫对抗虫转基因植物产生抗性、抗病毒转基因植物带来的潜在风险等方面论述了转基因植物可能潜在的生态安全性问题。     

昆虫抗菌肽及其基因工程研究进展

昆虫抗菌肽是昆虫免疫后存在于血淋巴中的一类活性肽,具有广谱的抗菌、抗病毒、抑制肿瘤的生物活性,具有很高的应用潜力。本文主要介绍昆虫抗菌肽的类型、生理活性、基因的克隆与表达及转基因工程研究进展。 Insect Antibacterial Peptides and Its Progress in Advance on Genetic Engineering GONG Xia,YUE Guo-wei,SHI Yong-hui Laboratory for Animal Nutrition Research,College of Food Science,Southern Yangtze University,Wuxi 214036,China Abstract:Insect antibacterial peptides produced are kinds of bioactive peptides in hameolymph hen insect has been immunized.These peptides have the wide range of antibacterial,antiviral spectrum and inhibiting growth of tumor cell.The types of antibacterial peptides and its physiological activities,cloning and expression of the genes and transgenetic research are summarized.Its application on medicine and gene engineering are prospected. Key words：insect antibacterial peptides; physiological activity; gene     

Different effects of two exotic herbivores on the pollinator-mediated effect of an exotic plant on a native plant

Exotic plants can affect native plants indirectly through various biotic interactions. However, combinations of the multiple indirect effects of exotic plants on native plants have been rarely evaluated. Herbivory can either positively or negatively influence plant–pollinator interactions. Here, we addressed whether the pollinator-mediated plant interaction between exotic and native plants is altered through the introduction of exotic herbivores by conducting a 2-year common garden experiment. We compared the effects of pollinator-mediated indirect effects of an exotic plant, Solidago altissima, on the co-flowering native plant Aster microcephalus in geographically different populations reflecting differences in insect herbivore communities. We found a positive effect of co-flowering S. altissima on pollinator visitation of A. microcephalus, which varied between gardens and years. The co-flowering S. altissima did not significantly affect the seed set of A. microcephalus in the first year but had a negative effect in the second year. The facilitative effect of S. altissima on A. microcephalus pollination was suggested to be negatively affected by an exotic aphid, while it was not significantly affected by an exotic lace bug. Our study suggests that the phenology and feeding guilds of the herbivores may be critical for predicting the effect of exotic plants on native plants through herbivore–pollinator interactions. Integrated effects between plant interactions via multiple species interactions under different abiotic and biotic environments are necessary to understand the impact of exotic plants under complex interactions in nature.     

Tripartite parasitic and symbiotic interactions as a possible mechanism of horizontal gene transfer

Herbivory is a highly sophisticated feeding behavior that requires abilities of plant defense suppression, phytochemical detoxification, and plant macromolecule digestion. For plant‐sucking insects, salivary glands (SGs) play important roles in herbivory by secreting and injecting proteins into plant tissues to facilitate feeding. Little is known on how insects evolved secretory SG proteins for such specialized functions. Here, we investigated the composition and evolution of secretory SG proteins in the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) and identified a group of secretory SG phospholipase C (PLC) genes with highest sequence similarity to the bacterial homologs. Further analyses demonstrated that they were most closely related to PLCs of Xenorhabdus, a genus of Gammaproteobacteria living in symbiosis with insect‐parasitizing nematodes. These suggested that H. halys might acquire these PLCs from Xenorhabdus through the mechanism of horizontal gene transfer (HGT), likely mediated by a nematode during its parasitizing an insect host. We also showed that the original HGT event was followed by gene duplication and expansion, leading to functional diversification of the bacterial‐origin PLC genes in H. halys. Thus, this study suggested that an herbivore might enhance adaptation through gaining genes from an endosymbiont of its parasite in the tripartite parasitic and symbiotic interactions.     

Pharmacology of insect GABA receptors

A GABA-operated Cl^– channel that is bicuculline-insensitive is abundant in the nervous tissue of cockroach, in housefly head preparations and thorax/abdomen preparations, and in similar preparations from several insect species. Bicuculline-insensitive GABA-operated Cl^– channels, which are rare in vertebrates, possess sites of action of benzodiazepines, steroids and insecticides that are pharmacologically-distinct from corresponding sites on vertebrate GABA_A receptors. The pharmacological profile of the benzodiazepine-binding site linked to an insect CNS GABA-operated Cl^– channel resembles more closely that of vertebrate peripheral benzodiazepine-binding sites. Six pregnane steroids and certain polychlorocycloalkane insecticides, which are active att-butylbicy-clophosphorothionate (TBPS)-binding sites, also differ in their effectiveness on vertebrate and insect GABA receptors. Radioligand binding and physiological studies indicate that in insects there may be subtypes of the GABA receptor. Molecular biology offers experimental approaches to understanding the basis of this diversity.Special issue dedicated to Dr. Eugene Roberts