Lepidoptera, butterflies and moths, is the second largest animal order and includes numerous agricultural pests. To facilitate comparative genomics in Lepidoptera, we isolated BAC clones containing...Full Text Available
The role of pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PBAN) in the regulation of pheromone biosynthesis of several female moth species is well elucidated, but its role in the males has been a...Full Text Available
Transmissions of sperm by unirradiated and irradiated cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, were studied by live dissection of females immediately after the initiation of mating. In cotton bollworm the sperm transfer was rather a complex process. In fact unirradiated males failed to transfer sperm in about 19% of their matings. When irradiated with 250 Gy and 400 Gy, aberrations of sperm transmission were about 21% and 50% respectively. The failure of spermatophore 'cap' location was an important reason of sperm transmission aberrations. When females mated to high-dose-irradiated males, their oviposition response appeared abnormal
the environment, with the 2006 release of a GM pink bollworm moth (a pest of cotton), ...Use of Genetically Engineered Fruit Fly and Pink Bollworm in APHIS Plant Pest Control Programs 6 Gould,
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The use of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) endotoxins to control insect vectors of human diseases and agricultural pests is threatened by the possible evolution of resistance in major pest...Full Text Available
The results of experimental studies on the contribution of zoogenic debris to transformation of soil properties in the southern taiga subzone of Central Siberia are analyzed. They show that water-soluble carbon outflow from the forest litter increases by 21-26% upon a Siberian moth invasion, with this value decreasing to 14% one year later. The burning of forest in an area completely defoliated by the pest leads to changes in the stock, fractional composition, actual acidity, and ash element contents of the litter. The litter-dwelling invertebrate assemblage is almost completely destroyed by fire and begins to recover only after two years. PMID:18491565
Data on the postfire dynamics of soil properties in the foci of Siberian moth population outbreaks are considered. It has been shown that controlled fires set in pest-defoliated forests result in the loss of approximately 75% of carbon and 50% of nitrogen from the forest litter through their emission into the atmosphere and in the enrichment of the upper soil horizons with potassium and phosphorus (this concerns both total and movable forms). Microbiological processes in the organogenic horizon undergo significant transformation, the density of microarthropods decreases, and the abundance of mites becomes hundreds of times lower. PMID:15354965
adult males and females, less than 24 hours old, of the spiny bollworm, Earias Insulana boisd. were irradiated with sub sterilizing doses of 50,80,100 and 150 gray (Gy). treated moths were out crossed with normal adults and observed for their ability to reproduce. inherited deleterious effects resulting from irradiation of p_1 moths were recorded for several generations. the reduction in both fecundity and egg viability increased by increasing the dose applied to p_1 adult moths .at all tested doses, the females were more radiosensitive than males, as for reduction in fecundity and egg viability. the progeny from irradiated parental females are not as sterile as the progeny from irradiated parental males. the reduction of egg hatching continued in the progeny of irradiated males through F_1 and to lesser extent through F_2 .on the other hand , irradiation of P_1 females reduced the rate of egg hatching among parental ...
Six commercial insecticides viz., decis 25EC (deltamethrin), thiodan 35EC (endosulfan), curacron 500EC (profenophos), somialfa 110EC (esfenvalerate), denitol 30EC (fenpropathrin) and advantage 20EC (carbosulfan) were tested with recommended doses against first instar larvae of cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hub.) to determine their degree of toxicity under controlled laboratory conditions. Leaf dip method was applied for these tests. Insect mortality was assessed after 24, 48 and 72 hours of insecticide application. Results showed that curacron 500EC gave significantly high mortality of 100 % after 24 hours of application followed by thiodan 35EC, somialfa 110EC and advantage 20EC causing 93, 80 and 72 % mortality, respectively. Whereas, denitol 30EC and decis 25EC showed the minimum, non-significant differences by giving mortality of 45 and 43 %, respectively. Effectiveness of all insecticides increased after 48 hours but their degree of variation among ...
The simultaneous effects of irradiating full grown pupae of Spodoptera Littoralis with doses 30 and 40 krad followed by topical treatment of adults with methomyl were studied. Gamma rays decreased the toxicity of methomyl against adult moths. The obtained LD_5_0 values for male moths emerging from unirradiated or irradiated pupae with 30 or 40 krad were 7, 9.93 and 10.33 u g/g. b.wt., respectively. F1 larvae (produced from unirradiated females mated to irradiated males) became more tolerant to methomyl by increasing radiation doses from 5 to 30 krad. The toxicity of methomyl to F1, F2 and F3 larvae (whose male parents had been irradiated in the pupal stage with 10 krad) was less than its toxicity to the larvae produced from unirradiated parents. F2 and F3 larvae were more tolerant to methomyl effect than the F1 larvae.
We encountered a case of Ewing's sarcoma. The patient was a 19 year-old girl, who visited a local physician because of pain in the left scapular region, and was referred to us. Roentgenograms of her left scapula revealed an irregular moth-eaten shadow which was suspected to be a malignant bone tumor. The histological diagnosis of Ewing's sarcoma was comfirmed by needle biopsy. The initial stage of treatment consisted of radiation therapy (6000 rads) and chemotherapy (VAC and ADR). At the end of the initial stage, the symptoms were improved, the size of the local lesion was reduced on the roentgenogram and there was no evidence of distant metastases. (author).
RNA interference (RNAi) plays an important role in regulating gene expression in eukaryotes. Previously, we generated Arabidopsis and tobacco plants expressing double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) targeting a cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) P450 gene, CYP6AE14. Bollworms fed on transgenic dsCYP6AE14 plants showed suppressed CYP6AE14 expression and reduced growth on gossypol-containing diet (Mao et?al., in Nat Biotechnol 25: 1307?1313, 2007). Here we report generation and analysis of dsRNA-expressing cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) plants. Bollworm larvae reared on T2 plants of the ds6-3 line exhibited drastically retarded growth, and the transgenic plants were less damaged by bollworms than the control. Quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) showed that the CYP6AE1...
Field cage studies were carried out to evaluate the F_1 sterility technique for population suppression of the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), in cotton. For this purpose, six field cages (1.8 m x 1.8 m x 1.8 m) were placed over cotton seedlings in the field. Five pairs of laboratory reared, untreated adult moths were released in all six cages during the first week of August. In addition, on the same data 100 pairs of adults, following irradiation of the mature pupae at 100 Gy, were released in two cages and 250 such pairs of irradiated adults in two other cages in ratios of 20:1 and 50:1 (irradiated:normal), respectively. The results of per cent larval infestation in the rosette blooms in different field cages indicated that larval infestation in the flowers was significantly lower (4.93%) in cages where the moths were released at the 50:1 ratio than in cages where moths were released at the 20:1 ratio ...
Full text: Pink bollworm (PBW), Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), an introduced pest from Mexico, first occurred in United States cotton production in Texas in 1917. Unacceptable economic losses have occurred. The development of PBW sterile moth release technology, gossyplure sex pheromone behavioral control, cotton plant cultural control to reduce overwintered PBW populations, and the transfer of the insect toxin protein gene into cotton from Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki (Berliner) have provided an effective integrated pest management (IPM) system with PBW eradication potential. Sterile insect release was considered a potential option for PBW population suppression in the early 1960s. Research on the isolated island of St. Croix, (US Virgin Islands) demonstrated its validity. Reductions of larval infestations in bolls following sterile moth releases began when ratios of released PBW sterile male to native male moths ...
Theory predicts trade-offs between investment in various life history traits, and it is also now generally accepted that reproduction is costly for males. Males must therefore optimize resource allocation across several episodes of reproduction, and this includes investment in both pre- and postcopulatory fitness components. We investigated this in the sperm-polymorphic Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella. Resource-limited males were smaller, and had decreased precopulatory mating success, measured as lifetime number of matings. However, they transferred similar numbers of fertile sperm as males reared under high-quality larval conditions, and more nonfertile sperm. By mating less frequently, resource-limited males may allocate sufficient resources to the matings they achieve to ensure...
This paper presents direct measurements of the aerodynamic forces on the wing of a free-flying, insect-like ornithopter that was modeled on a hawk moth (Manduca sexta). A micro differential pressure sensor was fabricated with micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) technology and attached to the wing of the ornithopter. The sensor chip was less than 0.1% of the wing area. The mass of the sensor chip was 2.0 mg, which was less than 1% of the wing mass. Thus, the sensor was both small and light in comparison with the wing, resulting in a measurement system that had a minimal impact on the aerodynamics of the wing. With this sensor, the 'pressure coefficient' of the ornithopter wing was measured during both steady airflow and actual free flight. The maximum pressure coefficient observed for steady airflow conditions was 1.4 at an angle of attack of 30"0. In flapping flight, the coefficient was around 2.0 for angles of attack that ranged from 25"0 to 40"0. Therefore, a ...
A new area-wide pest control strategy using the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), genetically transformed with a conditionally lethal gene, is under development. Conditional lethality of several transgenic pink bollworm strains was demonstrated in a series of laboratory rearing experiments. Pink bollworms were transformed with genetic constructs using the RIDL technology (Release of Insects with a Dominant Lethal gene) for development of an autocidal biological control system for possible supplement or replacement of radiation based sterile insect release. LA1124 is a lethal construct controlled by a tetracycline repressible transactivator protein (tTA), in which binding of tTA to its specific target sequence tetO drives production of more tTA. In the absence of tetracycline, this leads to lethality by high expression of tTA. When tetracycline is present, tTA does not bind tetO, and so the positive feedback cycle is not established and tTA ...
The present work studies the fecundity, egg batching and mating of normal females of Earias Insulana Boisd. crossed with males irradiated as 24 h adult moths with two doses (80 and 100 Gy.) of gamma radiation. The male progeny were out bred or inbred with untreated individuals for two successive generations F_1and F_2 and their progeny was observed for any inherited deleterious effects on reproduction. The female fecundity and egg hatch were significantly reduced among P1,F1 and F2 generations by increasing the dosages applied to P_1 males as compared with the untreated control. The percentage of mating of P_1 females was significantly reduced at the two doses as compared to the untreated control. The average number of spermatophores per mated female was reduced among P_1,F_1 and F_2 generations when parental males were irradiated with 100 Gy. The larval and pupal mortality a,o mg F_1, F_2 and F_3 generations was high and dose dependent. The average developmental ...
The inherited sterility of the spiny bollworm Earias Insulana Boisd. Irradiated as parental male adults, with sub sterilizing doses of 100-200 Gy has been studied throughout three successive generations. In general, the female fecundity decreased at the three doses of irradiations (100, 150 and 200 Gy) throughout P_1. F_1, F_2 and F_3 generations as compared to control. The reduction was insignificant in all treatments with some exceptions at 200 Gy, in the parental generation and 150 and 200 Gy bin F_2 generation. Egg hatch of the parental generation was obviously reduced at 100, 150 and 200 Gy treatments as compared to the control. The progeny of F_1 males were evidently more sterile than their irradiated male parents. The effect continued in the F_2, population, however F_3 males almost regained their fertility. Irradiation of P_1 males did not greatly affect mating ability among P_1, F_1, F_2 and F_3 generations. The reduction in mating ability was significant only at 200 Gy for ...
H{sub 2}Gen, with the support of the Department of Energy, successfully designed, built and field-tested two steam methane reformers with 578 kg/day capacity, which has now become a standard commercial product serving customers in the specialty metals and PV manufacturing businesses. We demonstrated that this reformer/PSA system, when combined with compression, storage and dispensing (CSD) equipment could produce hydrogen that is already cost-competitive with gasoline per mile driven in a conventional (non-hybrid) vehicle. We further showed that mass producing this 578 kg/day system in quantities of just 100 units would reduce hydrogen cost per mile approximately 13% below the cost of untaxed gasoline per mile used in a hybrid electric vehicle. If mass produced in quantities of 500 units, hydrogen cost per mile in a FCEV would be 20% below the cost of untaxed gasoline in an HEV in the 2015-2020 time period using EIA fuel cost projections for natural gas and untaxed gasoline, and 45% ...