Search results for "FUNGI"
showing 10 items of 3688 documents
Sperm Quality Assessment in Honey Bee Drones
2020
The quality of honey bee drone semen is relevant in different contexts, ranging from colony productivity to pathology, toxicology and biodiversity preservation. Despite its importance, considerably less knowledge is available on this subject for the honey bee when compared to other domestic animal species. A proper assessment of sperm quality requires a multiple testing approach which discriminates between the different aspects of sperm integrity and functionality. Most studies on drone semen quality have only assessed a few parameters, such as sperm volume, sperm concentration and/or sperm plasma membrane integrity. Although more recent studies have focused on a broader variety of aspects …
Variation in the COI gene of the freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera from River Vuokkijoki
2017
The freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera L. is one of the most endangered freshwater mussels in the world. Effective conservation of threatened species requires not only ecological, but also genetic information from the target species and populations. Since low genetic diversity can reduce the ability of a species to adapt to environmental changes, maintaining genetic diversity has been identified as one of the key elements in successful conservation programs. We examined genetic variation of the freshwater pearl mussel from the River Vuokkijoki, Karelia, Russia. We sequenced a fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI) from 22 individuals and compared the data…
Characterization of 150 Wheat Cultivars by LC-MS-Based Label-Free Quantitative Proteomics Unravels Possibilities to Design Wheat Better for Baking Qu…
2021
Wheat (Triticum aestivum ssp. aestivum) contributes to 20% of the human protein supply, delivers essential amino acids and is of fundamental importance for bread and pasta quality. Wheat proteins are also involved in adverse human reactions like celiac disease (CD), wheat allergy (WA) and non-celiac wheat sensitivity (NCWS). Using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based label-free quantitative (LFQ) proteomics of aqueous flour extracts, we determined 756 proteins across 150 wheat cultivars grown in three environments. However, only 303 proteins were stably expressed across all environments in at least one cultivar and only 89 proteins thereof across all 150 cultivars. This und…
Electrochemical detection of nitric oxide in plant cell suspensions
2016
SPE IPM UB; Nitric oxide is a hydrophobic radical acting as a physiological mediator in plants. Because of its unique properties, the detection of NO in plant tissues and cell suspensions remains a challenge. For this purpose, several techniques are used, each having certain advantages and limitations such as interferences with other species, questionable sensitivity, and/or selectivity or ex situ measurement. Here we describe a very attractive approach for tracking NO in plant cell suspensions using a NO-sensitive homemade platinum/iridium-based electrochemical microsensor. This method constitutes the absolute real-time proof of the production of free NO in physiological conditions.
Random Genetic Drift and Selective Pressures Shaping the Blattabacterium Genome
2018
AbstractEstimates suggest that at least half of all extant insect genera harbor obligate bacterial mutualists. Whereas an endosymbiotic relationship imparts many benefits upon host and symbiont alike, the intracellular lifestyle has profound effects on the bacterial genome. The obligate endosymbiont genome is a product of opposing forces: genes important to host survival are maintained through physiological constraint, contrasted by the fixation of deleterious mutations and genome erosion through random genetic drift. The obligate cockroach endosymbiont, Blattabacterium – providing nutritional augmentation to its host in the form of amino acid synthesis – displays radical genome alterations…
New Approaches to Optimize Somatic Embryogenesis in Maritime Pine
2019
Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) is a coniferous native of the Mediterranean basin. Because of its adaptability to a wide range of environmental conditions, the species have become a model for studies in coniferous forest management and functional genomics. Somatic embryogenesis (SE) has been so far, the preferred biotechnological strategy for maritime pine breeding programs initiated at the middle-end of the 20th century. To overcome the limitations of the induction and maturation phases in maritime pine SE, we analyzed the possible maternal influence on the embryogenic capability of megagametophytes from controlled crosses, as well as the effect of the temperature and water availabili…
Gene expression is more strongly associated with behavioural specialization than with age or fertility in ant workers.
2018
The ecological success of social insects is based on division of labour, not only between queens and workers, but also among workers. Whether a worker tends the brood or forages is influenced by age, fertility and nutritional status, with brood carers being younger, more fecund and more corpulent. Here, we experimentally disentangle behavioural specialization from age and fertility in Temnothorax longispinosus ant workers and analyse how these parameters are linked to whole-body gene expression. A total of 3,644 genes were associated with behavioural specialization which is ten times more than associated with age and 50 times more than associated with fertility. Brood carers were characteri…
Foraging behaviour of an egg parasitoid exploiting plant volatiles induced by pentatomids : The role of adaxial and abaxial leaf surfaces
2017
Several phases of herbivorous insect attack including feeding and oviposition are known to induce plant defenses. Plants emit volatiles induced by herbivores to recruit insect parasitoids as an indirect defense strategy. So far, volatiles induced by herbivore walking and their putative role in the foraging behavior of egg parasitoids have not been investigated. In this paper we studied the response of the egg parasitoid Trissolcus basalis toward volatiles emitted by Vicia faba plants as consequence of the walking activity of the host Nezara viridula. Olfactometer bioassays were carried out to evaluate wasp responses to plants in which the abaxial or the adaxial surfaces were subjected to wa…
Ancient symbiosis confers desiccation resistance to stored grain pest beetles
2017
AbstractMicrobial symbionts of insects provide a range of ecological traits to their hosts that are beneficial in the context of biotic interactions. However, little is known about insect symbiont-mediated adaptation to the abiotic environment, e.g. temperature and humidity. Here we report on an ancient (~400 Mya) clade of intracellular, bacteriome-located Bacteroidetes symbionts that are associated withgrain and wood pest beetles of the phylogenetically distant families Silvanidae and Bostrichidae. In the saw-toothed grain beetle Oryzaephilus surinamensis, we demonstrate that the symbionts affect cuticle thickness, melanization and hydrocarbon profile, enhancing desiccation resistance and …
Angiosperm to Gymnosperm host-plant switch entails shifts in microbiota of the Welwitschia bug, Probergrothius angolensis (Distant, 1902).
2019
The adaptation of herbivorous insects to new host plants is key to their evolutionary success in diverse environments. Many insects are associated with mutualistic gut bacteria that contribute to the host's nutrition and can thereby facilitate dietary switching in polyphagous insects. However, how gut microbial communities differ between populations of the same species that feed on different host plants remains poorly understood. Most species of Pyrrhocoridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) are specialist seed-feeders on plants in the family Malvaceae, although populations of one species, Probergrothius angolensis, have switched to the very distantly related Welwitschia mirabilis plant in the Nami…