| longevity, growth rate and related traits among strains of tribolium castaneum. | longevity of eight laboratory strains of the flour beetle tribolium castaneum, with various geographic backgrounds, was studied under constant laboratory conditions of 33 degrees c and 70% relative humidity in standard medium (95% whole wheat flour and 5% dried yeast) during a period of 227 days starting from the egg stage. the eggs were collected from the same parents, first a few days after emergence and afterwards at intervals of 13, 9, 10 and 11 days. mean survival time (mst) was found to be ... | 1975 | 1158105 |
| rice cystatin: bacterial expression, purification, cysteine proteinase inhibitory activity, and insect growth suppressing activity of a truncated form of the protein. | a cdna clone that encodes oryzacystatin, a cysteine protease inhibitor from rice, was isolated and expressed in escherichia coli bl-21 (de3) using an expression plasmid under the control of a t7 rna polymerase promoter. the construct pt7oc 9b encoded a fusion protein containing 11 amino acid residues of the nh2 terminus of the bacterial protein phi 10 and 79 residues of oryzacystatin lacking 23 nh2-terminal residues of the wild-type protein. recombinant oryzacystatin (roc) constituted approximat ... | 1992 | 1422207 |
| a study on the life-cycle and epidemiology of pseudanoplocephala crawfordi baylis, 1927. | a study of the life-cycle and epidemiology of pseudanoplocephala crawfordi baylis, 1927 is reported. intermediate hosts are tenebrio obscurus, t. molitor, carpophilus dimidiatus and tribolium castaneum. the first three species are new host records. development in the intermediate host takes 1-1.5 months. the completion of the life-cycle takes 2-2.5 months. surveys of intermediate hosts, pigs, humans and rats were carried out. in rattus norvegicus, the prevalence was as high as 22%. epidemiologic ... | 1990 | 2338485 |
| enzyme-coding genes as molecular clocks: the molecular evolution of animal alpha-amylases. | we constructed a cdna library for the beetle, tribolium castaneum. this library was screened using a cloned amylase gene from drosophila melanogaster as a molecular probe. beetle amylase cdna clones were isolated from this bank, and the nucleotide sequence was obtained for a cdna clone with a coding capacity for 228 amino acids. both the nucleotide sequence and predicted amino acid sequence were compared to our recent results for d. melanogaster alpha-amylases, along with published sequences for ... | 1987 | 3129570 |
| "a" esterases and their role in regulating the toxicity of organophosphates. | esterases which can hydrolyse organophosphates without being inhibited by them are termed "a" esterases. using paraoxon and pirimiphos-methyl oxon as substrates, high "a" esterase activity is found in the liver and plasma or serum of a range of mammalian species. in a study of serum "a" esterases of sheep and humans, over 80% of the activity separated into the high density lipoprotein (hdl) fraction following ultracentrifugation. when hdl fractions from sheep serum were run on sepharose gel colu ... | 1987 | 3304214 |
| transmission of salmonella montevideo in wheat by stored-product insects. | sitophilus oryzae (l.), s. granarius (l.), tribolium castaneum (hbst.), oryzaephilus surinamensis (l.), rhyzopertha dominica (f.), tenebroides mauritanicus (l.), and cryptolestes pusillus (schon.) transmitted salmonella montevideo from wheat contaminated with 10(6) organisms/g to clean wheat. the insects were fed on the contaminated grain for 21 days and were then transferred to clean grain and allowed to feed for 21 days. they were subsequently transferred to two more samples of clean wheat. al ... | 1971 | 4943271 |
| host-parasite interactions of tribolium confusum and tribolium castaneum with hymenolepis diminuta. | | 1971 | 5546105 |
| effect of acrylonitrile on trehalase, phosphorylase and acetylcholinesterase activities in tribolium castaneum herbst and trogoderma granarium everts. | acrylonitrile inhibited trehalase and phosphorylases in larvae and adults of tribolium castaneum. in trogoderma granarium larvae phosphorylases alone were inhibited. acetylcholinesterase was not affected. | 1981 | 7286145 |
| dna sequence and site of mutation of the gaba receptor of cyclodiene-resistant red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum. | using polymerase chain reactions (pcr) on cdna, the dna sequence of a membrane spanning region of a gaba receptor of the red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum was identified. the deduced amino acid sequence indicates that its basic structure is similar to the gaba receptor of rdl type subunits of drosophila melanogaster and of blattella germanica. particularly conserved are m1, m2 and m3 segments. within this 146 amino acid stretch, the gaba receptor from the red flour beetle differed from corre ... | 1995 | 7613764 |
| evolution in heterogeneous environments: genetic variability within and across different grains in tribolium castaneum. | the course of adaptation to heterogeneous environments is influenced by the magnitude of genetic variation for ecologically important characters within each environment and the extent of genotype x environment interaction. using the genetic correlation between the expression of characters in different environments as a measure of genotype x environment interaction is particularly useful for evolutionary interpretation. in this study, we estimated patterns of genetic variability and cross-environ ... | 1995 | 7852100 |
| infection of tribolium beetles with a tapeworm: variation in susceptibility within and between beetle species and among genetic strains. | host susceptibility and resistance to parasites are often hypothesized to be genetically variable traits. we tested 2 species of tribolium flour beetles for among-strain variation in susceptibility to the rat tapeworm hymenolepis diminuta. twelve genetic strains of tribolium confusum and 11 strains of tribolium castaneum were examined. we found t. castaneum was more susceptible to the tapeworm than t. confusum. there was significant among-strain and between-sex variation for both beetle species ... | 1995 | 7876975 |
| purification and characterization of a digestive cathepsin d proteinase isolated from tribolium castaneum larvae (herbst). | a digestive proteinase was isolated from larval extracts of tribolium castaneum. the enzyme was partially purified using gel-filtration and ion-exchange chromatography. it is an acidic proteinase with a maximal activity at ph 3. considering its inhibition by pepstatin a, plus its selectivity to hydrolyze hemoglobin but not bovine serum albumin, it was classified as cathepsin d proteinase. its relative molecular weight is 22 kda and it shows a high sensitivity to temperature. unlike other catheps ... | 1996 | 8673082 |
| satellite dna of the red flour beetle tribolium castaneum--comparative study of satellites from the genus tribolium. | a highly abundant satellite dna comprising 17% of the tribolium castaneum (insecta, coleoptera) genome was cloned and sequenced. the satellite monomer is 360 bp long, has a high a+t content of 73%, and lacks significant internal substructures. the sequence variability is 3.6%, essentially due to random distribution of single-point mutations. the satellite is evenly distributed in the regions of centromeric heterochromatin of all 20 chromosomes, as shown by fluorescent in situ hybridization. comp ... | 1996 | 8865660 |
| influence of tapeworm infection on the production of aggregation pheromone and defensive compounds in tribolium castaneum. | recent studies suggest that parasites affect host development, reproduction, and behavior through alterations of host hormones and pheromones, or other hormone-triggered biochemical events. we previously reported that hymenolepis diminuta infection affects surface-seeking and cannibalism behaviors, and reduces male sperm precedence of tribolium castaneum beetles. this study examined the quantitative effects of h. diminuta on the production of aggregation pheromone and 3 defensive compounds in ma ... | 1996 | 8973421 |
| the effect of some solanum steroidal alkaloids and glycoalkaloids on larvae of the red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum, and the tobacco hornworm, manduca sexta. | evaluation of the inhibitory effect of a series of secondary plant compounds including steroidal alkaloids and glycoalkaloids on larvae of the red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum, was investigated. larval growth was inhibited on artificial diets containing 1 mumol g-1 diet of the glycoalkaloids solamargine, solasonine and tomatine, whereas the corresponding aglycones solasodine and tomatidine, and also tomatidenol, were inactive. the inhibitory effect of solamargine and tomatine, but not of so ... | 1998 | 9431673 |
| insecticidal and synergistic activity of atriplex halimus l. extracts. | the acetone/ethanol, petroleum-ether, ether and chloroform extracts of atriplex halimus l. proved to be with considerable toxicity to culex larvae with lc50 values of 115, 36, 54 and 48 ppm, respectively. out of the different extracts of a. halimus, the ether and pet-ether extracts showed strong aphicidal activity against a. gossypii with lc50 values of 0.059 and 0.085%, respectively. only the ethanol extracts were found to be toxic to the cotton leafworm with ld50 value of 5.6 mg/larva. all of ... | 1998 | 9617055 |
| insecticidal, acaricidal and synergistic effects of soosan, pancratium maritimum extracts and constituents. | in assessing the pesticidal activity of soosan, p. maritimum, the bulbs and leaves were extracted using acetone/ethanol & ethanol as solvents and mosquito larvae c. pipiens, as a test organism. the actone/ethanol extract of bulbs was more toxic (lc50: 25 ppm) than that of the leaves (lc50: 75 ppm). crude alkaloids, lycorine, terpenes & sterols and fixed oil were isolated from soosan bulb. their percentages were: 0.193, 0.02, 0.13 and 3.3%, respectively. the acetone/ethanol extract showed a stron ... | 1998 | 9617056 |
| a chestnut seed cystatin differentially effective against cysteine proteinases from closely related pests. | cystatin csc, a cysteine proteinase inhibitor from chestnut (castanea sativa) seeds, has been purified and characterized. its full-length cdna clone was isolated from an immature chestnut cotyledon library. the inhibitor was expressed in escherichia coli and purified from bacterial extracts. identity of both seed and recombinant cystatin was confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry analysis, two-dimensional electrophoresis and n-terminal sequencing. csc has a mo ... | 1998 | 9869428 |
| cannibalism facilitates the use of a novel environment in the flour beetle, tribolium castaneum. | cannibalism is well known to affect both the population dynamics and the competitive relationships of organisms. cannibalistic behaviour commonly increases in stressful conditions, such as when density is high or food is scarce, and cannibals often obtain a nutritional benefit. might cannibalism also increase in a novel environment to which a population is poorly adapted physiologically? moreover, might cannibalistic behaviour provide enough of a nutritional advantage in a nutritionally stressfu ... | 1999 | 10341438 |
| bioactivities of methyl allyl disulfide and diallyl trisulfide from essential oil of garlic to two species of stored-product pests, sitophilus zeamais (coleoptera: curculionidae) and tribolium castaneum (coleoptera: tenebrionidae). | two of the major constituents of the essential oil of garlic, allium sativum l., methyl allyl disulfide and diallyl trisulfide, were tested against sitophilus zeamais motschulsky and tribolium castaneum (herbst) for contact toxicity, fumigant toxicity, and antifeedant activity. the contact and fumigant toxicities of diallyl trisulfide were greater than that of methyl allyl disulfide to the adults of these two species of insects. these two compounds were also more toxic to t. castaneum adults tha ... | 2000 | 10826211 |
| grain surface-layer treatment of diatomaceous earth for insect control. | this paper describes an alternative method to synthetic insecticides used for protection of stored agricultural products the purpose of which is to minimise the everyday human exposure to those chemicals. the method uses diatomaceous earth which is practically non-toxic to humans and fully acceptable for the environment. fifty and 100-cm-deep layers of hard red spring wheat triticum aestivum (l.) in metal containers (cylinders), 30 cm in diameter and 150 cm in height were treated with 0.5 and 0. ... | 2000 | 11059067 |
| effect of some ghanaian plant components on control of two stored-product insect pests of cereals. | in an attempt to find natural and cheaper methods for the control of stored-product pests of cereals, some traditionally useful ghanaian plant materials were evaluated. hexane+isopropyl alcohol extract of leaves of ocimum viride proved most effective in the control of tribolium castaneum (coleoptera: tenebrionidae) and sitophilus oryzae (coleoptera: curculionidae), followed by that of chromolaena odorata. o. viride showed strong repellent activity and thus deterred the insects from feeding. it r ... | 2000 | 11124372 |
| characterization of the hox cluster from the mosquito anopheles gambiae (diptera: culicidae). | the hox genes have been found to encode transcription factors, which specify the morphological identity of structures along the anteroposterior axis of animals ranging from worms to mice. the canonical set of nine genes is organized in a cluster in the genome of several protostomes and deuterostomes. however, within insects, whereas the hox genes are organized in a single cluster in the beetle tribolium castaneum, they are split into two separate groups in the flies drosophila melanogaster and d ... | 2000 | 11256376 |
| efficacy and fumigation characteristics of ozone in stored maize. | this study evaluated the efficacy of ozone as a fumigant to disinfest stored maize. treatment of 8.9tonnes (350bu) of maize with 50ppm ozone for 3d resulted in 92-100% mortality of adult red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum (herbst), adult maize weevil, sitophilus zeamais (motsch.), and larval indian meal moth, plodia interpunctella (hübner) and reduced by 63% the contamination level of the fungus aspergillus parasiticus speare on the kernel surface. ozone fumigation of maize had two distinct p ... | 2001 | 11463399 |
| efficacy of essential oils of caesulia axillaris and mentha arvensis against some storage pests causing biodeterioration of food commodities. | the essential oils of caesulia axillaris and mentha arvensis have been tested for their fumigant activity in the management of biodeterioration of stored wheat samples by aspergillus flavus and the insect pests, sitophilus oryzae and tribolium castaneum, at 1300 and 600 ppm, respectively. the findings indicate the efficacy of the oils as potent fumigants for management of the biodeterioration of stored wheat samples. the oils also controlled the blue mould rot of oranges caused by penicillium it ... | 2001 | 11529443 |
| cd4+ lymphocyte responses to pulmonary infection with mycobacterium tuberculosis in naïve and vaccinated balb/c mice. | the biostack experiments i and ii were flown on board the apollo 16 and 17 command modules in order to obtain information on the biological damage produced by the bombardment of heavy high-energy (hze) particles of cosmic radiation during spaceflight. such data are required for estimating radiation hazards in manned spaceflight. seven biological systems in resting state (bacillus subtilis spores, colpoda cucullus cysts, arabidopsis thaliana seeds, and eggs of artemia salina, tribolium castaneum ... | 2001 | 11800583 |
| the biological effectiveness of hze-particles of cosmic radiation studied in the apollo 16 and 17 biostack experiments. | the biostack experiments i and ii were flown on board the apollo 16 and 17 command modules in order to obtain information on the biological damage produced by the bombardment of heavy high-energy (hze) particles of cosmic radiation during spaceflight. such data are required for estimating radiation hazards in manned spaceflight. seven biological systems in resting state (bacillus subtilis spores, colpoda cucullus cysts, arabidopsis thaliana seeds, and eggs of artemia salina, tribolium castaneum ... | 1975 | 11887916 |
| efficacy of ethiprole applied alone and in combination with conventional insecticides for protection of stored wheat and stored corn. | the insecticidal pyrazole ethiprole, applied at rates of 7.5 and 10.0 ppm either alone or in combination treatments with deltamethrin, piperonyl butoxide, and chlorpyrifos-methyl, was evaluated as a protectant of stored wheat and stored corn. the commodities were treated with six treatment combinations, including an untreated control, and held for 6 mo at 22, 27, or 32 degrees c and 57% rh. bioassays were conducted monthly by exposing the rice weevil, sitophilus oryzae (l.), and the red flour be ... | 2002 | 12539848 |
| hole density and capture of stored-product insect pests in grain probe traps. | the relationship between number of holes in a grain probe trap body and capture of stored-grain pests was determined in laboratory tests using adults of the rice weevil, sitophilus oryzae (l.), the sawtoothed grain beetle, oryzaephilus surinamensis (l.), and the red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum (herbst). polyvinylchloride (pvc) probe bodies were attached to electronic sensor heads, and insect captures were recorded electronically using an electronic grain probe insect counter (egpic) system ... | 2002 | 12539850 |
| toxicity of cyanogen to insects of stored grain. | range-finding studies on the toxicity of cyanogen to all stages of five species of stored product coleoptera are reported. the species were rhyzopertha dominica (f), sitophilus granarius (l), sitophilus oryzae (l), tribolium castaneum (herbst), tribolium confusum jacquelin du val and ephestia cautella (walker). exposures for 24 h to cyanogen at 1.3 mg litre(-1) controlled all external stages. control of internal stages of sitophilus species was achieved by a 5-day exposure to initial concentrati ... | 2003 | 12639054 |
| post-harvest entomology research in the united states department of agriculture-agricultural research service. | this is a review of current post-harvest entomology research conducted by the agricultural research service, the research branch of the us department of agriculture. the review covers both durable and perishable commodities. research on biochemistry, genetics, physiology, monitoring and control of insects infesting stored grain, dried fruits and nuts, and processed commodities is reviewed. research on development of quarantine treatments, particularly for fruit flies, is also reviewed, including ... | 2003 | 12846312 |
| effects of tapeworm infection on male reproductive success and mating vigor in the red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum. | parasites may exert negative effects on host survivorship and reproductive success. the effects of parasites on female host fitness have been well documented; however, the effects of parasites on the reproductive success of male hosts and particularly the underlying mechanisms that alter male fitness are not well understood. previous studies demonstrated that infection by rat tapeworm (hymenolepis diminuta) reduced the fitness of male red flour beetles (tribolium castaneum) in an environment of ... | 2003 | 12880251 |
| quantitative trait loci for susceptibility to tapeworm infection in the red flour beetle. | parasites have profound effects on host ecology and evolution, and the effects of parasites on host ecology are often influenced by the magnitude of host susceptibility to parasites. many parasites have complex life cycles that require intermediate hosts for their transmission, but little is known about the genetic basis of the intermediate host's susceptibility to these parasites. this study examined the genetic basis of susceptibility to a tapeworm (hymenolepis diminuta) in the red flour beetl ... | 2003 | 14668384 |
| stored-product insects associated with a retail pet store chain in kansas. | the types and numbers of insect species associated with eight kansas retail stores belonging to a pet store chain were surveyed during february to august 2001. insects were monitored at 1-3-wk intervals using food- and pheromone-baited pitfall traps for beetles and pheromone-baited sticky traps for moths. thirty traps of each type were placed within a store. thirty insect species belonging to 20 families in four orders were recorded from the eight stores. the weevils, sitophilus spp.; indianmeal ... | 2003 | 14977139 |
| diatomaceous earth increases the efficacy of beauveria bassiana against tribolium castaneum larvae and increases conidia attachment. | this research tested the suppressive ability of beauveria bassiana (balsamo) vuillemin alone and in combination with diatomaceous earth against the red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum (herbst). adults did not show a dose response to b. bassiana, and the addition of diatomaceous earth (de) did not result in a significant increase in mortality. against larvae, however, de at 190 mg/kg grain enhanced the efficacy of b. bassiana at all concentrations ranging from 33 to 2,700 mg of conidia per kilo ... | 2004 | 15154445 |
| characterization of a homologue of the rel/nf-kappab transcription factor from a beetle, allomyrina dichotoma. | a cdna encoding a rel/nf-kappab homologue was cloned from a beetle, allomyrina dichotoma, by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reactions (rt-pcr) taking advantage of the conserved rel homology domain (rhd) to synthesize primers. the rel/nf-kappab homologue was designated a. dichotoma (a.d.) rel a. the amino acid sequence of the a.d. rel a rhd was compared with those of insect rhds. the result showed that it has 70% identity with tribolium castaneum dorsal, 66% with drosophila melanogaster d ... | 2004 | 15157734 |
| dirs retroelements in arthropods: identification of the recently active tcdirs1 element in the red flour beetle tribolium castaneum. | members of the dirs family of retrotransposons differ from most other known retrotransposons in that they encode a tyrosine recombinase (yr), a type of enzyme frequently involved in site-specific recombination. this enzyme is believed to insert the extrachromosomal dna intermediate of dirs element retrotransposition into the host genome. dirs elements have been found in plants, a slime mold, fungi, and a variety of animals including vertebrates, echinoderms and nematodes. they have a somewhat pa ... | 2004 | 15221458 |
| chronological age-grading of three species of stored-product beetles by using near-infrared spectroscopy. | the accuracy of near-infrared spectroscopy (nirs) for predicting the chronological age of adults of the rice weevil, sitophilus oryzae (l.); the lesser grain borer, rhyzopertha dominica (f.); and the red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum (herbst), three pests of stored grain, was examined. nirs-predicted age correlated well with actual age of these three species. age predictions in s. oryzae by using the nirs method are not dependent upon adult sex or temperatures to which adult weevils are expo ... | 2004 | 15279305 |
| costly resistance to parasitism: evidence from simultaneous quantitative trait loci mapping for resistance and fitness in tribolium castaneum. | information on the molecular basis of resistance and the evolution of resistance is crucial to an understanding of the appearance, spread, and distribution of resistance genes and of the mechanisms of host adaptation in natural populations. one potential important genetic constraint for the evolution of resistance is fitness cost associated with resistance. to determine whether host resistance to parasite infection is associated with fitness costs, we conducted simultaneous quantitative trait lo ... | 2005 | 15687267 |
| carbonic anhydrase metabolism is a key factor in the toxicity of co2 and cos but not cs2 toward the flour beetle tribolium castaneum [coleoptera: tenebrionidae]. | the analogues carbon dioxide (co(2)), carbonyl sulfide (cos) and carbon disulfide (cs(2)) have been useful as substrate probes for enzyme activities. here we explored the affinity of the enzyme carbonic anhydrase for its natural substrate co(2), as well as cos and cs(2) (1) by in vitro kinetic metabolism studies using pure enzyme and (2) through mortality bioassay of insects exposed to toxic levels of each of the gases during carbonic anhydrase inhibition. hydrolysis of cos to form hydrogen sulf ... | 2005 | 15792633 |
| patch exploitation by female red flour beetles, tribolium castaneum. | the red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum (herbst) (coleoptera: tenebrionidae) has had a long association with human stored food and can be a major pest in anthropogenic structures used for the processing and storage of grain-based products. anthropogenic structures are fragmented landscapes characterized by spatially and temporally patchy resources. here we investigate the ability of female t. castaneum to evaluate the quality of small patches of food and to adjust the number of eggs they lay p ... | 2003 | 15841236 |
| expression of a synthetic gene encoding a tribolium castaneum carboxylesterase in pichia pastoris. | this is the first report of an insect esterase efficiently expressed in the methylotrophic yeast pichia pastoris (so far insect esterases have been produced only in the baculovirus system). having isolated a tribolium castaneum carboxylesterase cdna (tce), we were initially unable to express it in escherichia coli or p. pastoris despite significant transcription levels. as codon usage bias is different in t. castaneum and p. pastoris, we assumed this was a possible explanation for the translatio ... | 2005 | 15946860 |
| efficacy of bauveria bassiana for red flour beetle when applied with plant essential oils or in mineral oil and organosilicone carriers. | the carriers mineral oil and silwet l-77 and the botanical insecticides neemix 4.5 and hexacide were evaluated for their impacts on the efficacy of beauveria bassiana (balsamo) vuillemin conidia against red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum (herbst), larvae. the dosages of liquid treatments were quantified by both conidia concentration in the spray volume and conidia deposition on the target surface. the latter approach allowed comparison with dry, unformulated conidia. the median lethal concent ... | 2005 | 16022293 |
| molecular identification of the first sifamide receptor. | sifamide is the short name and also the c terminus of the drosophila neuropeptide ayrkppfngsifamide. sifamide has been isolated or predicted from various insects and crustaceans, and appears to be extremely well conserved among these arthropods. however, the function of this neuropeptide is still enigmatic. here, we have identified the drosophila gene (cg10823) coding for the sifamide receptor. when expressed in chinese hamster ovary cells, the receptor is only activated by drosophila sifamide ( ... | 2006 | 16378592 |
| genome-wide acceleration of protein evolution in flies (diptera). | the rate of molecular evolution varies widely between proteins, both within and among lineages. to what extent is this variation influenced by genome-wide, lineage-specific effects? to answer this question, we assess the rate variation between insect lineages for a large number of orthologous genes. | 2006 | 16436210 |
| phylogeny of the sex-determining gene sex-lethal in insects. | the sex-lethal (sxl) protein belongs to the family of rna-binding proteins and is involved in the regulation of pre-mrna splicing. sxl has undergone an obvious change of function during the evolution of the insect clade. the gene has acquired a pivotal role in the sex-determining pathway of drosophila, although it does not act as a sex determiner in non-drosophilids. we collected sxl sequences of insect species ranging from the pea aphid (acyrtho siphom pisum) to drosophila melanogaster by searc ... | 2006 | 16604108 |
| purification, crystallization and preliminary x-ray crystallographic analysis of rice bifunctional alpha-amylase/subtilisin inhibitor from oryza sativa. | rice bifunctional alpha-amylase/subtilisin inhibitor (rasi) can inhibit both alpha-amylase from larvae of the red flour beetle (tribolium castaneum) and subtilisin from bacillus subtilis. the synthesis of rasi is up-regulated during the late milky stage in developing seeds. the 8.9 kda molecular-weight rasi from rice has been crystallized using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. according to 1.81 angstroms resolution x-ray diffraction data from rice rasi crystals, the crystal belongs to s ... | 2006 | 16880545 |
| smtrc1, a novel schistosoma mansoni dna transposon, discloses new families of animal and fungi transposons belonging to the cacta superfamily. | the cacta (also called en/spm) superfamily of dna-only transposons contain the core sequence cacta in their terminal inverted repeats (tirs) and so far have only been described in plants. large transcriptome and genome sequence data have recently become publicly available for schistosoma mansoni, a digenetic blood fluke that is a major causative agent of schistosomiasis in humans, and have provided a comprehensive repository for the discovery of novel genes and repetitive elements. despite the e ... | 2006 | 17090310 |
| spliceosomal small nuclear rna genes in 11 insect genomes. | the removal of introns from the primary transcripts of protein-coding genes is accomplished by the spliceosome, a large macromolecular complex of which small nuclear rnas (snrnas) are crucial components. following the recent sequencing of the honeybee (apis mellifera) genome, we used various computational methods, ranging from sequence similarity search to rna secondary structure prediction, to search for putative snrna genes (including their promoters) and to examine their pattern of conservati ... | 2007 | 17095541 |
| concerted evolution within the drosophila dumpy gene. | we have determined by reverse southern analysis and direct sequence comparisons that most of the dumpy gene has evolved in the dipteran and other insect orders by purifying selection acting on amino acid replacements. one region, however, is evolving rapidly due to unequal crossing over and/or gene conversion. this region, called "pigsfeast," or pf, encodes in d. melanogaster 30-47 repeats of 102 amino acids rich in serines, threonines, and prolines. we show that the processes of concerted evolu ... | 2007 | 17237523 |
| insect cryptochromes: gene duplication and loss define diverse ways to construct insect circadian clocks. | cryptochrome (cry) proteins are components of the central circadian clockwork of metazoans. phylogenetic analyses show at least 2 rounds of gene duplication at the base of the metazoan radiation, as well as several losses, gave rise to 2 cryptochrome (cry) gene families in insects, a drosophila-like cry1 gene family and a vertebrate-like cry2 family. previous studies have shown that insect cry1 is photosensitive, whereas photo-insensitive cry2 functions to potently inhibit clock-relevant clock:c ... | 2007 | 17244599 |
| evaluation of cymbopogon martinii oil extract for control of postharvest insect deterioration in cereals and legumes. | the essential oil of cymbopogon martinii was tested for its potency as a botanical pesticide to protect stored wheat (triticum aestivum) and gram (garbanzo bean, cicer arietinum) from insect infestation. the c. martinii oil was potent as a fumigant in stored gram. the oil was an effective repellent against the beetles callosobruchus chinensis and tribolium castaneum. geraniol, the major component of the oil, was not as effective as the oil itself. c. martinii oil significantly affected ovipositi ... | 2007 | 17265877 |
| [biological efficacy and persistence of biphenthrin sprayed on maize at different grain temperatures]. | the objective of this work was to evaluate the immediate and latent effects of the grain temperature, during the spraying process, on the persistence and biological efficacy of the biphenthrin insecticide against sitophilus zeamais motschulsky (coleoptera: curculionidae) and tribolium castaneum (herbst) (coleoptera: tenebrionidae). for such, biphenthrin was sprayed on the grain at the temperatures: 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 degrees c. to access the persistence of biphenthrin, insecticide residue ana ... | 2006 | 17348140 |
| identification and characterization of insect-specific proteins by genome data analysis. | insects constitute the vast majority of known species with their importance including biodiversity, agricultural, and human health concerns. it is likely that the successful adaptation of the insecta clade depends on specific components in its proteome that give rise to specialized features. however, proteome determination is an intensive undertaking. here we present results from a computational method that uses genome analysis to characterize insect and eukaryote proteomes as an approximation c ... | 2007 | 17407609 |
| effect of different ratios of wheat to corn flour in the diet on the development and isotopic composition (delta13c, delta15n) of the red flour beetle tribolium castaneum. | the back-calculation of the diet is a common application of stable isotopes in animal ecology. the method is based on a predictable relation between the isotopic signature of the diet and the animal's tissues. frequently, the assumption of a constant difference in isotopic signatures (trophic shift) is made. carbon isotopic ratios of c(3) and c(4) plants differ by approximately 10 per thousand, making wheat (c(3)-plant) and corn (c(4)-plant) ideal materials for isotopic studies in nutritional ec ... | 2007 | 17558751 |
| rna editing and alternative splicing of the insect nachr subunit alpha6 transcript: evolutionary conservation, divergence and regulation. | rna editing and alternative splicing play an important role in expanding protein diversity and this is well illustrated in studies of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nachrs). | 2007 | 17597521 |
| comparative genomic analysis of the tribolium immune system. | tribolium castaneum is a species of coleoptera, the largest and most diverse order of all eukaryotes. components of the innate immune system are hardly known in this insect, which is in a key phylogenetic position to inform us about genetic innovations accompanying the evolution of holometabolous insects. we have annotated immunity-related genes and compared them with homologous molecules from other species. | 2007 | 17727709 |
| enhanced efficacy of beauveria bassiana for red flour beetle with reduced moisture. | red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum (herbst), is a major pest of stored and processed grains that is tolerant of beauveria bassiana (balsamo) vuillemin under most conditions. laboratory assays demonstrated that desiccating conditions improved the efficacy of the fungus. for t. castaneum larvae exposed to b. bassiana at different vapor pressure deficits (vpds), the lc50 potency ratios were 2.3 for 2.42 kpa and 3.9 for 3.31 kpa compared with 1.06 kpa. there were significant effects of moisture o ... | 2007 | 17849853 |
| molecular characters and expression analysis of the gene encoding eclosion hormone from the asian corn borer, ostrinia furnacalis. | using rapid amplification of cdna ends (race), the cdna encoding eclosion hormone (eh) was cloned from the brain of ostrinia furnacalis. the full osf-eh cdna is 986 bp and contains a 267 bp open reading frame encoding an 88 amino acid preprohormone, which including a hydrophobic 26 amino acid signal peptide and a 62 amino acid mature peptide. the mature osf-eh shows high identity with manduca sexta (95.2%), helicoverpa armigera (91.9%) and bombyx mori (85.5%), but low identify with tribolium cas ... | 2008 | 17852339 |
| the cys-loop ligand-gated ion channel gene superfamily of the red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum. | members of the cys-loop ligand-gated ion channel (cys-loop lgic) superfamily mediate chemical neurotransmission and are studied extensively as potential targets of drugs used to treat neurological disorders such as alzheimer's disease. insect cys-loop lgics are also of interest as they are targets of highly successful insecticides. the red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum, is a major pest of stored agricultural products and is also an important model organism for studying development. | 2007 | 17880682 |
| molecular cloning, phylogeny and localization of agnha1: the first na+/h+ antiporter (nha) from a metazoan, anopheles gambiae. | we have cloned a cdna encoding a new ion transporter from the alimentary canal of larval african malaria mosquito, anopheles gambiae giles sensu stricto. phylogenetic analysis revealed that the corresponding gene is in a group that has been designated nha, and which includes (na+ or k+)/h+ antiporters; so the novel transporter is called agnha1. the annotation of current insect genomes shows that both agnha1 and a close relative, agnha2, belong to the cation proton antiporter 2 (cpa2) subfamily a ... | 2007 | 17951426 |
| a genome-wide inventory of neurohormone gpcrs in the red flour beetle tribolium castaneum. | insect neurohormones (biogenic amines, neuropeptides, and protein hormones) and their g protein-coupled receptors (gpcrs) play a central role in the control of behavior, reproduction, development, feeding and many other physiological processes. the recent completion of several insect genome projects has enabled us to obtain a complete inventory of neurohormone gpcrs in these insects and, by a comparative genomics approach, to analyze the evolution of these proteins. the red flour beetle triboliu ... | 2008 | 18054377 |
| transcription factor broad suppresses precocious development of adult structures during larval-pupal metamorphosis in the red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum. | broad (br), a transcription factor containing the broad-tramtrack-bric-a-brac (btb) and zinc finger domains was shown to mediate 20-hydroxyecdysone (20e) action and pupal development in drosophila melanogaster and manduca sexta. we determined the key roles of br during larval-pupal metamorphosis using rna interference (rnai) in a coleopteran insect, tribolium castaneum. two major peaks of t. castaneum broad (tcbr) mrna, one peak at the end of feeding stage prior to the larvae entering the quiesc ... | 2008 | 18083350 |
| a family of chemoreceptors in tribolium castaneum (tenebrionidae: coleoptera). | chemoperception in invertebrates is mediated by a family of g-protein-coupled receptors (gpcr). to date nothing is known about the molecular mechanisms of chemoperception in coleopteran species. recently the genome of tribolium castaneum was sequenced for use as a model species for the coleoptera. using blast searches analyses of the t. castaneum genome with previously predicted amino acid sequences of insect chemoreceptor genes, a putative chemoreceptor family consisting of 62 gustatory recepto ... | 2007 | 18091992 |
| new and emended descriptions of gregarines from flour beetles (tribolium spp. and palorus subdepressus: coleoptera, tenebrionidae). | the following new gregarine taxa are described from larvae of flour beetles (coleoptera: tenebrionidae): awrygregarina billmani, n. gen., n. sp., from tribolium brevicornis; gregarina cloptoni, n. sp., from tribolium freemani; gregarina confusa, n. sp., from tribolilum confusum; and gregarina palori, n. sp., from palorus subdepressus. in addition, the description of gregarina minuta ishii, 1914, from tribolium castaneum, is emended. scanning electron micrograph studies of these species' oocysts ... | 2007 | 18163353 |
| cloning and identification of an oxytocin/vasopressin-like receptor and its ligand from insects. | more than 20 years ago, an oxytocin/vasopressin-like peptide, clitncprgamide, was isolated from the locust, locusta migratoria [proux jp, et al. (1987) identification of an arginine vasopressin-like diuretic hormone from locusta migratoria. biochem biophys res commun 149:180-186]. however, no similar peptide could be identified in other insects, nor could its prohormone be cloned, or its physiological actions be established. here, we report that the recently sequenced genome from the red flour b ... | 2008 | 18316733 |
| the snmp/cd36 gene family in diptera, hymenoptera and coleoptera: drosophila melanogaster, d. pseudoobscura, anopheles gambiae, aedes aegypti, apis mellifera, and tribolium castaneum. | sensory neuron membrane proteins (snmps) are membrane bound proteins initially identified in olfactory receptor neurons of lepidoptera and are thought to play a role in odor detection; snmps belong to a larger gene family characterized by the human protein cd36. we have identified 12-14 candidate snmp/cd36 homologs from each of the genomes of drosophila melanogaster, d. pseudoobscura, anopheles gambiae and aedes aegypti (diptera), eight candidate homologs from apis mellifera (hymenoptera), and 1 ... | 2008 | 18342246 |
| domain organization and phylogenetic analysis of proteins from the chitin deacetylase gene family of tribolium castaneum and three other species of insects. | a bioinformatics investigation of four insect species with annotated genome sequences identified a family of genes encoding chitin deacetylase (cda)-like proteins, with five to nine members depending on the species. cdas (ec 3.5.1.41) are chitin-modifying enzymes that deacetylate the beta-1,4-linked n-acetylglucosamine homopolymer. partial deacetylation forms a heteropolysaccharide that also contains some glucosamine residues, while complete deacetylation produces the homopolymer chitosan, consi ... | 2008 | 18342249 |
| domain organization and phylogenetic analysis of the chitinase-like family of proteins in three species of insects. | a bioinformatics-based investigation of three insect species with completed genome sequences has revealed that insect chitinase-like proteins (glycosylhydrolase family 18) are encoded by a rather large and diverse group of genes. we identified 16, 16 and 13 putative chitinase-like genes in the genomic databases of the red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum, the fruit fly, drosophila melanogaster, and the malaria mosquito, anopheles gambiae, respectively. chitinase-like proteins encoded by this ge ... | 2008 | 18342250 |
| characterization of recombinant chitinase-like proteins of drosophila melanogaster and tribolium castaneum. | insect chitinase (cht) family proteins are encoded by as many as 16 genes depending upon the species of interest. we have classified these proteins in three species into five different groups based on amino acid sequence similarities (zhu et al., companion paper). the functions of most of the individual proteins of this family during growth and development are largely unknown. to help determine their enzymatic properties and physiological roles, we expressed representative members belonging to t ... | 2008 | 18342251 |
| evolution of the insect sox genes. | the sox gene family of transcriptional regulators have essential roles during development and have been extensively studied in vertebrates. the mouse, human and fugu genomes contain at least 20 sox genes, which are subdivided into groups based on sequence similarity of the highly conserved hmg domain. in the well-studied insect drosophila melanogaster, eight sox genes have been identified and are involved in processes such as neurogenesis, dorsal-ventral patterning and segmentation. | 2008 | 18439299 |
| predicted versus expressed adipokinetic hormones, and other small peptides from the corpus cardiacum-corpus allatum: a case study with beetles and moths. | this mass spectrometric study confines itself to peptide masses in the range of 500-1500da. adipokinetic hormones (akhs) that are predicted from the genome of the red flour beetle, tribolium castaneum, and the silk moth, bombyx mori, are shown to exist as expressed peptides in the corpora cardiaca (cc) of the respective species as evidenced by various mass spectrometric methods. additionally, some related species were included in this study, such as the tenebrionid beetles tribolium brevicornis ... | 2008 | 18448200 |
| cloning and rnai-mediated functional characterization of malac2 of the pine sawyer, monochamus alternatus. | laccase, a member of a group of proteins collectively known as multicopper oxidases, is hypothesized to play an important role in insect cuticle sclerotization by oxidizing catechols in the cuticle to their corresponding quinones, which then catalyze protein cross-linking reactions. laccase 2 has been proved as the gene required for beetle cuticle tanning through rna interference (rnai) experiments on red flour beetle tribolium castaneum. the pine sawyer beetle, monochamus alternatus (coleoptero ... | 2008 | 18477244 |
| pyrosequence analysis of expressed sequence tags for manduca sexta hemolymph proteins involved in immune responses. | the tobacco hornworm manduca sexta is widely used as a model organism to investigate the biochemical basis of insect physiological processes but little transcriptome information is available. to get a broad view of the larval hemolymph proteins, particularly those related to immunity, we synthesized and sequenced cdna fragments from a mixture of eight total rna samples: fat body and hemocytes from larvae injected with killed bacteria, fat body, hemocytes, integument and trachea from naïve larvae ... | 2008 | 18510979 |
| a-to-i rna editing alters less-conserved residues of highly conserved coding regions: implications for dual functions in evolution. | the molecular mechanism and physiological function of recoding by a-to-i rna editing is well known, but its evolutionary significance remains a mystery. we analyzed the rna editing of the kv2 k(+) channel from different insects spanning more than 300 million years of evolution: drosophila melanogaster, culex pipiens (diptera), pulex irritans (siphonaptera), bombyx mori (lepidoptera), tribolium castaneum (coleoptera), apis mellifera (hymenoptera), pediculus humanus (phthiraptera), and myzus persi ... | 2008 | 18567816 |
| development of polyclonal antibodies for the detection of tribolium castaneum contamination in wheat grain. | two polyclonal antibodies (pab) were developed for the detection of tribolium castaneum, which is a stored product pest of medical and economical importance. selected pab anti- t. castaneumk51 showed low cross-reactivity to other stored product arthropods but revealed high reactivity to t. destructor, t. confusum, and partly to tenebrio molitor. pta-elisa was used to detect adults, larva, and feces of t. castaneum in artificially contaminated grain samples. calibration methods were applied to de ... | 2008 | 18698788 |
| the stimulation of immune defence accelerates development in the red flour beetle (tribolium castaneum). | the timing of the transition between life stages is of key importance for an organism. depending on the environmental conditions, maturing earlier at a smaller size or maturing later at a larger size can be advantageous for fitness. exposure to parasites and subsequent immune activation may lead to alterations in development. immune defence often comes at a cost, such as energy drain towards immune function, which is likely to delay development. on the other hand, animals may react to an anticip ... | 2008 | 18713243 |
| structure of the tribolium castaneum telomerase catalytic subunit tert. | a common hallmark of human cancers is the overexpression of telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein complex that is responsible for maintaining the length and integrity of chromosome ends. telomere length deregulation and telomerase activation is an early, and perhaps necessary, step in cancer cell evolution. here we present the high-resolution structure of the tribolium castaneum catalytic subunit of telomerase, tert. the protein consists of three highly conserved domains, organized into a ring-like st ... | 2008 | 18758444 |
| studies on the toxicity of acetone, acrolein and carbon dioxide on stored-product insects and wheat seed. | in laboratory experiments toxicity of acetone, acrolein and carbon dioxide were investigated against 4 species of stored-product insects. in all experiments, acrolein was the most toxic compound to the tested insects. in empty-space trials, estimated ld50 values of acrolein for adults of tribolium castaneum (herbst) (tenebrionidae), rhizopertha dominica (f.) (bostrychidae), sitophilus oryzae l. (curculionidae) and oryzaephilus surinamensis l. (silvanidae) were 7.26, 6.09, 6.37 and 5.65 microl l( ... | 2008 | 18810963 |
| antibacterial, antifungal, insecticidal, cytotoxicity and phytotoxicity studies on indigofera gerardiana. | the antibacterial, antifungal, acute cytotoxicity, phytotoxicity and insecticidal profile of the crude extract and various fractions of indigofera gerardiana have been studied. six bacterial and fungal strains were used, of which samonella typhi and microsporum canis were the most susceptible strains with mics 0.37 mg/ml and 0.09 mg/ml, respectively. the crude extract and the fractions showed low insecticidal activity against sitophilus oryzae, rhyzopertha dominica and callosbruchus analis but n ... | 2009 | 18825532 |
| a genome-wide analysis of genes and gene families involved in innate immunity of bombyx mori. | a genome-wide analysis of innate immunity-related genes and gene families was conducted using the silkworm, bombyx mori. we identified orthologs for a large number of genes involved in insect immunity that have been reported from drosophila melanogaster (diptera), anopheles gambiae (diptera), apis mellifera (hymenoptera) and tribolium castaneum (coleoptera). b. mori has a unique recognition gene and antimicrobial peptide genes that are not present in the drosophila, anopheles, apis and tribolium ... | 2008 | 18835443 |
| nuclear receptors in bombyx mori: insights into genomic structure and developmental expression. | nuclear receptors (nrs) function as ligand-dependent transcription factors and are involved in diverse biological processes in different animals. the updated assembly of complete genome sequence of the bombyx mori enabled a systematic analysis of the nrs in the five holometabolous insects including b. mori, drosophila melanogaster, anopheles gambiae, apis mellifera, and tribolium castaneum. as a result, nineteen nrs were identified in the b. mori genome, each of eighteen nrs has 1:1:1:1 ortholog ... | 2008 | 18992339 |
| plasticity in mrna expression and localization of orthodenticle within higher diptera. | orthodenticle (otd) genes are found throughout the animal kingdom and encode well-studied homeodomain transcription factors that share conserved functions in cephalization, head segmentation, brain patterning, and the differentiation of photoreceptors. otd proteins have been proposed as ancestral key players in anterior determination despite a high level of variation in gene expression at early developmental stages: otd is expressed strictly zygotically in the dipteran drosophila melanogaster, w ... | 2008 | 19021740 |
| larval leg integrity is maintained by distal-less and is required for proper timing of metamorphosis in the flour beetle, tribolium castaneum. | the dramatic transformation from a larva to an adult must be accompanied by a coordinated activity of genes and hormones that enable an orchestrated transformation from larval to pupal/adult tissues. the maintenance of larval appendages and their subsequent transformation to appendages in holometabolous insects remains elusive at the developmental genetic level. here the role of a key appendage patterning gene distal-less (dll) was examined in mid- to late-larval stages of the flour beetle, trib ... | 2009 | 19022238 |
| the aedes aegypti larval transcriptome: a comparative perspective with emphasis on trypsins and the domain structure of peritrophins. | the genome sequence of aedes aegypti was recently reported. a significant amount of expressed sequence tags (ests) were sequenced to aid in the gene prediction process. in the present work we describe an integrated analysis of the genomic and est data, focusing on genes with preferential expression in larvae (lg), adults (ag) and in both stages (sg). a total of 913 genes (5.4% of the transcript complement) are lg, including ion transporters and cuticle proteins that are important for ion homeost ... | 2009 | 19054160 |
| [occurrence of weevils (insecta: coleoptera) in pet food traded in the metropolitan region of recife, pernambuco state, brazil]. | with the purpose of verifying the occurrence of insect pests in dog food commercialized in the metropolitan region of recife, samples from 15 different pet stores were submitted to the extraction of insects in a berlese-tullgren apparatus. tribolium castaneum (herbst) (tenebrionidae) (55.2%) was the most frequent specie followed by oryzaephilus surinamensis (l.) (cucujidae) (31.3%), rhyzopertha dominica (fabricius) (bostrichidae) (8.9%) and lasioderma serricorne (fabricius) (anobiidae) (4.7%), a ... | 2008 | 19061049 |
| effect of spinosad on adults of tribolium castaneum (col: tenebrionidae) and sitophilus oryzae (col: curculionidae). | toxicity of spinosad on adults of tribolium castaneum herbst (col: tenebrionidae) and sitophilus oryzae l. (col: curculionidae) at different temperatures and exposure intervals was evaluated. a commercial formulation of spinosad, tracer was used, against 7-14-day-old adults of rice weevil and red flour beetle. bioassays were conducted at 24, 28 and 32 degrees c and 65+/-5% rh. mortality was recorded at 24, 48 and 72 h post-treatment. spinosad was diluted with water for making appropriate dosages ... | 2007 | 19070123 |
| isolation and functional characterization of two independently-evolved fatty acid delta12-desaturase genes from insects. | we report the first isolation and characterization of insect fatty acid delta12-desaturase genes, add12des from house cricket (acheta domesticus) and tcd12des from the red flour beetle (tribolium castaneum), responsible for the production of linoleic acid from oleic acid. sequence analysis shows the cricket and flour beetle delta12-desaturase genes have evolved independently from all previously known delta12-desaturases and are much more closely related to the archetypal stearoyl-coenzyme a-acti ... | 2008 | 19133076 |
| infestation and population dynamics of insects on stored cassava and yams chips in benin, west africa. | natural insect infestation in cassava (manihot esculenta crantz subspecies esculenta) and yam (dioscorea spp.) chips was evaluated during two consecutive storage seasons (2003-2004 and 2004-2005) in two agroecological zones of benin (northern guinea savanna [ngs] and sudan savanna [ss]). the insects infesting chips were collected, identified, and counted, they included prostephanus truncatus (horn) (coleoptera: bostrychidae), cathartus quadricollis (guerin) (coleoptera: silvanidae), carpophilus ... | 2008 | 19133481 |
| the insect caspases. | developmental and tissue homeostasis is a delicate balance between cell proliferation and cell death. the activation of caspases, a conserved family of cysteine proteases, is a main event in the initiation and execution of programmed cell death. while caspases have been characterized from many organisms, comparatively little is known about insect caspases. in drosophila melanogaster, seven caspases have been characterized; three initiators and four effectors. in mosquitoes, several putative casp ... | 2009 | 19212814 |
| mmps regulate both development and immunity in the tribolium model insect. | matrix metalloproteinases (mmps) are evolutionarily conserved and multifunctional effector molecules in development and homeostasis. in spite of previous, intensive investigation in vitro and in cell culture, their pleiotrophic functions in vivo are still not well understood. | 2009 | 19270735 |
| the insect snmp gene family. | snmps are membrane proteins observed to associate with chemosensory neurons in insects; in drosophila melanogaster, snmp1 has been shown to be essential for the detection of the pheromone cis-vaccenyl acetate (cva). snmps are one of three insect gene clades related to the human fatty acid transporter cd36. we previously characterized the cd36 gene family in 4 insect orders that effectively cover the holometabola, or some 80% of known insect species and the 300 million years of evolution since th ... | 2009 | 19364529 |
| reconstructing the phylogeny of 21 completely sequenced arthropod species based on their motor proteins. | motor proteins have extensively been studied in the past and consist of large superfamilies. they are involved in diverse processes like cell division, cellular transport, neuronal transport processes, or muscle contraction, to name a few. vertebrates contain up to 60 myosins and about the same number of kinesins that are spread over more than a dozen distinct classes. | 2009 | 19383156 |
| conservation of arthropod midline netrin accumulation revealed with a cross-reactive antibody provides evidence for midline cell homology. | although many similarities in arthropod cns development exist, differences in axonogenesis and the formation of midline cells, which regulate axon growth, have been observed. for example, axon growth patterns in the ventral nerve cord of artemia franciscana differ from that of drosophila melanogaster. despite such differences, conserved molecular marker expression at the midline of several arthropod species indicates that midline cells may be homologous in distantly related arthropods. however, ... | 2009 | 19469853 |
| comparative and functional genomics of lipases in holometabolous insects. | lipases have key roles in insect lipid acquisition, storage and mobilisation and are also fundamental to many physiological processes underpinning insect reproduction, development, defence from pathogens and oxidative stress, and pheromone signalling. we have screened the recently sequenced genomes of five species from four orders of holometabolous insects, the dipterans drosophila melanogaster and anopheles gambiae, the hymenopteran apis mellifera, the moth bombyx mori and the beetle tribolium ... | 2009 | 19540341 |
| evolution of the gene lineage encoding the carbon dioxide receptor in insects. | a heterodimer of the insect chemoreceptors gr21a and gr63a has been shown to be the carbon dioxide receptor in drosophila melanogaster (meigen) (diptera: drosophilidae). comparison of the genes encoding these two proteins across the 12 available drosophilid fly genomes allows refined definition of their n-termini. these genes are highly conserved, along with a paralog of gr21a, in the anopheles gambiae, aedes aegypti, and culex pipiens mosquitoes, as well as in the silk moth bombyx mori and the ... | 2009 | 19613462 |
| conservation of enhancer location in divergent insects. | dorsoventral (dv) patterning of the drosophila embryo is controlled by a concentration gradient of dorsal, a sequence-specific transcription factor related to mammalian nf-kappab. the dorsal gradient generates at least 3 distinct thresholds of gene activity and tissue specification by the differential regulation of target enhancers containing distinctive combinations of binding sites for dorsal, twist, snail, and other dv determinants. to understand the evolution of dv patterning mechanisms, we ... | 2009 | 19666595 |
| loss of tc-arrow and canonical wnt signaling alters posterior morphology and pair-rule gene expression in the short-germ insect, tribolium castaneum. | wnt signaling has been implicated in posterior patterning in short-germ insects, including the red flour beetle tribolium castaneum (bolognesi et al. curr biol 18:1624-1629, 2008b; angelini and kaufman dev biol 283:409-423, 2005; miyawaki et al. mech dev 121:119-130, 2004). specifically, depletion of wnt ligands tc-wnt1 and tc-wntd/8 produces tribolium embryos lacking abdominal segments. similar phenotypes are produced by depletion of tc-porcupine (tc-porc) or tc-pangolin (tc-pan), indicating th ... | 2009 | 19705150 |
| the small heat shock protein (shsp) genes in the silkworm, bombyx mori, and comparative analysis with other insect shsp genes. | small heat shock proteins (shsps) are products of heat shock response and of other stress responses, and ubiquitous in all three domains of life, archaea, bacteria, and eukarya. they mainly function as molecular chaperones to protect proteins from being denatured in extreme conditions. study on insect shsps could provide some insights into evolution of insects that have adapted to diverse niches in the world. | 2009 | 19715580 |
| predicting stored grain insect population densities using an electronic probe trap. | manual sampling of insects in stored grain is a laborious and time-consuming process. automation of grain sampling should help to increase the adoption of stored grain integrated pest management. a new commercial electronic grain probe trap (opi insector) has recently been marketed. we field tested opi insector electronic grain probes in two bins, each containing 32.6 tonnes of wheat, triticum aestivum l., over a 2-yr period. we developed new statistical models to convert insector catch into ins ... | 2009 | 19736786 |