Search results for " life science"
showing 10 items of 12151 documents
Defense strategies used by two sympatric vineyard moth pests.
2014
8 pages; International audience; Natural enemies including parasitoids are the major biological cause of mortality among phytophagous insects. In response to parasitism, these insects have evolved a set of defenses to protect themselves, including behavioral, morphological, physiological and immunological barriers. According to life history theory, resources are partitioned to various functions including defense, implying trade-offs among defense mechanisms. In this study we characterized the relative investment in behavioral, physical and immunological defense systems in two sympatric species of Tortricidae (Eupoecilia ambiguella, Lobesia botrana) which are important grapevine moth pests. …
Species diversity of larval parasitoids of the European grapevine moth (Lobesia botrana, Lepidoptera: Tortricidae): the influence of region and culti…
2010
7 pages; International audience; The European grapevine moth, Lobesia botrana (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is a major pest of grapevines responsible for great economic losses and frequent insecticide applications. Nevertheless, the use of parasitoids as potential biological control agents has received very little attention. In this study, we present results from a survey on parasitoid species collected from French and Swiss vineyards over a period of 2 years. Over 2000 larvae of L. botrana were collected from six grape cultivars out of which a total of 118 parasitoids emerged. Ten species were identified. Exochus notatus (Holmgren, 1858) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumoni…
Differences in nutritional quality of parts of Vitis vinifera berries affect fitness of the European grapevine moth
2006
International audience; The European grapevine moth, Lobesia botrana (Denis & Schiffermuller) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is a major grapevine pest in Europe. The larva is polyphagous and able to develop on more than 25 plant species, several of them being more suitable than Vitaceae for the fitness of L. botrana. Larvae normally eat the pulp of the berry, but may also consume the seeds according to the development stage of the berry and the larval density per bunch. Understanding the effect on individual fitness of such feeding behaviour is important to assess how suitable the different berry tissues are for this insect. We offered to the larvae either entire berries, seeds, or pulp with s…
Consequences of gene flow between transgenic, insect-resistant crops and their wild relatives
2015
Concerns have been raised about the possibility of the negative impact of transgenic crops on the environment. If wild plants accidentally pick up transgenes through pollen exchange with genetically modified crops, they could gain new environmental advantages or conversely suffer genetic homogenization and loss of biodiversity. This could cause weeds that might create new problems in farmers' fields and wild habitats and change biological equilibriums. Examples of gene flow are given for several cases of crop/ancestor pairs and two cases of more distantly related species. The main concern is that introgression between transgenic, insect-resistant crops and their wild relatives could lead to…
Active vanadate-sensitive H+ translocation in corn roots membrane vesicles and proteoliposomes
1988
Abstract A member fraction from corn roots which contains a vanadate-sensitive ATPase activity has been prepared. The specific activity at 38°C is between 3 and mol 12 μmol · min −1 · mg −1 , depending on the age of roots. Addition of ATP promotes a very rapid quenching of the fluorescence of 9-amino-6-chloro-3-methoxy-acridin (ACMA). Proton pumping exhibits a delayed sensitivity to vanadate but is strongly and instantaneously inhibited by the new inhibitor SW 26. Both proton pumping, measured by the initial quenching rate, and ATP hydrolysis show maximum activities at ATP concentrations in the millimolar range, but the apparent K m -value for hydrolysis is higher than that observed for pro…
Influence of ATPase activity on PPi dependent H+-transport in tonoplast vesicles of Acer pseudoplatanus
1994
Abstract Tonoplast H + -ATPase and H + -pyrophosphatase (H + -PPase) were previously characterized in Acer pseudoplatanus cells (A. Pugin et al., Plant Sci., 73 (1991) 23–34; A. Fraichard et al., Plant Physiol. Biochem., 31 (1993) 349–359). The present study concerns the relationships between these two enzymes in vitro. ATP and PPi hydrolysis were additive and the inhibition of one did not affect the activity of the second one. ATP and PPi H + -transports were also additive. The H + -PPase inhibition did not change ATP-dependent H + -transport but H + -ATPase inhibition inhibited the PPi dependent H + -transport. Because H + -PPase was reported to transport H + and K + into the vacuole (Dav…
The flourishing diversity of models in theoretical morphology: from current practices to future macroevolutionary and bioenvironmental challenges.
2008
17 pages; International audience; For decades, theoretical morphological studies of different groups of organisms have been successfully pursued in biological, paleontological, and computational contexts, often with distinct modeling approaches and research questions. A regular influx of new perspectives and varied expertise has contributed to the emergence of a veritable multidisciplinary outlook for theoretical morphology. The broadening of this discipline is reflected in a substantial increase in the number of models, leading to a bewildering diversity that has yet to be scrutinized. In this work, we tackle this issue in a synthetic fashion, with a quantitativemeta-analysis that allows a…
The conservation status of the world's freshwater molluscs
2021
With the biodiversity crisis continuing unchecked, we need to establish levels and drivers of extinction risk, and reassessments over time, to effectively allocate conservation resources and track progress towards global conservation targets. Given that threat appears particularly high in freshwaters, we assessed the extinction risk of 1428 randomly selected freshwater molluscs using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, as part of the Sampled Red List Index project. We show that close to one-third of species in our sample are estimated to be threatened with extinction, with highest levels of threat in the Nearctic, Palearctic and Australasia and among gastropods. Threat levels were hi…
Guidance for the risk assessment of the presence at low level of genetically modified plant material in imported food and feed under Regulation (EC) …
2017
Abstract This document provides guidance for the risk assessment under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the unintended, adventitious or technically unavoidable presence in food and feed of low level of genetically modified plant material intended for markets other than in the European Union. In this context, the presence at low level is defined to be maximum 0.9% of genetically modified plant material per ingredient. This guidance is intended to assist applicants by indicating which scientific requirements of Annex II of Regulation (EU) No 503/2013 are considered necessary for the risk assessment of the presence at low levels of genetically modified plant material in food and feed.
Variation and covariation in infectivity, virulence and immunodepression in the host-parasite association Gammarus pulex-Pomphorhynchus laevis.
2009
Parasites often manipulate host immunity for their own benefit, either by exacerbating or suppressing the immune response and this may directly affect the expression of parasite virulence. However, genetic variation in immunodepression, which is a prerequisite to its evolution, and the relationship between immunodepression and virulence, have rarely been studied. Here, we investigated the variation among sibships of the acanthocephalan parasite, Pomphorhynchus laevis , in infecting and in immunodepressing its amphipod host, Gammarus pulex . We also assessed the covariation between infectivity, parasite-induced immune depression and host mortality (parasite virulence). We found that infecti…