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PubMed1999

Constraints on the transport and glycosylation of recombinant IFN-gamma in Chinese hamster ovary and insect cells.

In this study we compare intracellular transport and processing of a recombinant glycoprotein in mammalian and insect cells. Detailed analysis of the N-glycosylation of recombinant human IFN-gamma by matrix-assisted laser-desorption mass spectrometry showed that the protein secreted by Chinese hamster ovary and baculovirus-infected insect Sf9 cells was associated with complex sialylated or truncated tri-mannosyl core glycans, respectively. However, the intracellular proteins were predominantly associated with high-mannose type oligosaccharides (Man-6 to Man-9) in both cases, indicating that endoplasmic reticulum to cis-Golgi transport is a predominant rate-limiting step in both expression systems. In CHO cells, although there was a minor intracellular subpopulation of sialylated IFN-gamma glycoforms identical to the secreted product (therefore associated with late-Golgi compartments or secretory vesicles), no other intermediates were evident. Therefore, anterograde transport processes in the Golgi stack do not limit secretion. In Sf9 insect cells, there was no direct evidence of post-ER glycan-processing events other than core fucosylation and de-mannosylation, both of which were glycosylation site-specific. To investigate the influence of nucleotide-sugar availability on cell-specific glycosylation, the cellular content of nucleotide-sugar substrates in both mammalian and insect cells was quantitatively determined by anion-exchange HPLC. In both host cell types, UDP-hexose and UDP-N-acetylhexosamine were in greater abundance relative to other substrates. However, unlike CHO cells, sialyltransferase activity and CMP-NeuAc substrate were not present in uninfected or baculovirus-infected Sf9 cells. Similar data were obtained for other insect cell hosts, Sf21 and Ea4. We conclude that although the limitations on intracellular transport and secretion of recombinant proteins in mammalian and insect cells are similar, N-glycan processing in Sf insect cells is limited, and that genetic modification of N-glycan processing in these insect cell lines will be constrained by substrate availability to terminal galactosylation.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

The structure and function of auditory chordotonal organs in insects.

Insects are capable of detecting a broad range of acoustic signals transmitted through air, water, or solids. Auditory sensory organs are morphologically diverse with respect to their body location, accessory structures, and number of sensilla, but remarkably uniform in that most are innervated by chordotonal organs. Chordotonal organs are structurally complex Type I mechanoreceptors that are distributed throughout the insect body and function to detect a wide range of mechanical stimuli, from gross motor movements to air-borne sounds. At present, little is known about how chordotonal organs in general function to convert mechanical stimuli to nerve impulses, and our limited understanding of this process represents one of the major challenges to the study of insect auditory systems today. This report reviews the literature on chordotonal organs innervating insect ears, with the broad intention of uncovering some common structural specializations of peripheral auditory systems, and identifying new avenues for research. A general overview of chordotonal organ ultrastructure is presented, followed by a summary of the current theories on mechanical coupling and transduction in monodynal, mononematic, Type 1 scolopidia, which characteristically innervate insect ears. Auditory organs of different insect taxa are reviewed, focusing primarily on tympanal organs, and with some consideration to Johnston's and subgenual organs. It is widely accepted that insect hearing organs evolved from pre-existing proprioceptive chordotonal organs. In addition to certain non-neural adaptations for hearing, such as tracheal expansion and cuticular thinning, the chordotonal organs themselves may have intrinsic specializations for sound reception and transduction, and these are discussed. In the future, an integrated approach, using traditional anatomical and physiological techniques in combination with new methodologies in immunohistochemistry, genetics, and biophysics, will assist in refining hypotheses on how chordotonal organs function, and, ultimately, lead to new insights into the peripheral mechanisms underlying hearing in insects.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Propagule size and predispersal damage by insects affect establishment and early growth of mangrove seedlings.

Variation in rates of seedling recruitment, growth, and survival can strongly influence the rate and course of forest regeneration following disturbance. Using a combination of field sampling and shadehouse experiments, we investigated the influence of propagule size and predispersal insect damage on the establishment and early growth of the three common mangrove species on the Caribbean coast of Panama: Avicennia germinans, Laguncularia racemosa, and Rhizophora mangle. In our field samples, all three species exhibited considerable intraspecific variation in mature propagule size, and suffered moderate to high levels of predispersal attack by larval insects. Rates of insect attack were largely independent of propagule size both within and among trees. Our experimental studies using undamaged mature propagules showed that, for all three species, seedlings established at high rates regardless of propagule size. However, propagule size did have a marked effect on early seedling growth: seedlings that developed from larger propagules grew more rapidly. Predispersal insect infestations that had destroyed or removed a substantial amount of tissue, particularly if that tissue was meristematic or conductive, reduced the establishment of propagules of all three species. The effect of sublethal tissue damage or loss on the subsequent growth of established seedlings varied among the three mangrove species. For Avicennia, the growth response was graded: for a propagule of a given size, the more tissue lost, the slower the growth of the seedling. For Laguncularia, the response to insect attack appeared to be all-or-none. If the boring insect penetrated the outer spongy seed coat and reached the developing embryo, it usually caused sufficient damage to prevent a seedling from developing. On the other hand, if the insect damaged but did not penetrate the seed coat, a completely healthy seedling developed and its growth rate was indistinguishable from a seedling developing from an undamaged propagule of the same size. Similar to Avicennia, if an infestation did not completely girdle a Rhizophora seedling, it survived, but grew at a reduced rate. In summary, our experiments demonstrated that natural levels of variation in propagule size and predispersal damage by insects translate into significant differences in seedling performance in terms of establishment and/or early growth. Such differences are sufficiently large that they could influence the intensity and outcome of competitive interactions during forest regeneration.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2003

Interactions between willows and insect herbivores under enhanced ultraviolet-B radiation.

We studied the effects of elevated ultraviolet-B radiation on interactions between insect herbivores and their host plants by exposing two species of phytochemically different willows, Salix myrsinifolia and S. phylicifolia, to a modulated increase in ultraviolet radiation in an outdoor experiment and monitoring the colonisation of insect herbivores on these willows. We examined the effect of increased ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation on (1) the quality of willow leaves, (2) the distribution and abundance of insect herbivores feeding on these willows, (3) the resulting amount of damage, and (4) the performance of insect larvae feeding on the exposed plant tissue. Six clones of each of the two willow species were grown in eight blocks for 12 weeks in the UV-B irradiation field. The clones were exposed to a constant 50% increase in UV-B radiation (simulating 20-25% ozone depletion), to a small increase in UV-A radiation or to ambient solar irradiation. We allowed colonisation on the willows by naturally occurring insects, but also introduced adults of a leaf beetle, Phratora vitellinae, a specialist herbivore on S. myrsinifolia. Increased UV-B radiation did not affect any of the measured indices of plant quality. However, numbers of P. vitellinae on S. myrsinifolia were higher in plants with UV-B treatment compared with UV-A and shade controls. In laboratory tests, growth of the second-instar larva of P. vitellinae was not affected by UV-B treatment of S. myrsinifolia, but was retarded on UV-B treated leaves of S. phylicifolia. In addition, naturally occurring insect herbivores were more abundant on willows exposed to elevated UV-B radiation compared to those grown under control treatments. In spite of the increased abundance of insect herbivores, willows treated with elevated UV-B did not suffer more herbivore damage than willows exposed to ambient solar radiation (shade control). The observed effects of UV-B on herbivore abundance, feeding and growth varied significantly due to spatial variation in environment quality, as indicated by the UV-treatment x block interaction. The results suggest that (1) environmental variation modifies the effects of UV-B radiation on plant-insect interactions and (2) specialist herbivores might be more sensitive to chemical changes in their secondary host plants (S. phylicifolia) than to changes in their primary hosts (S. myrsinifolia).

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1993

Metabolic fate of alanine in an insect Manduca sexta: effects of starvation and parasitism.

The fate of [3-13C]alanine administered to last instar larvae of an insect Manduca sexta was investigated in vivo by 13C-NMR spectroscopy. Following injection of the isotopically substituted substrate and conversion to [3-13C]pyruvate 13C was principally incorporated into C2, C3 and C4 of glutamate and glutamine in unparasitized ad libitum-fed larvae, insects starved 48 hr prior to injection and larvae parasitized by the insect parasite Cotesia congregata. Selective labeling at C2 and C3 of glutamate/glutamine resulted from carboxylation of [3-13C]pyruvate to [2,3-13C]oxaloacetate catalyzed by pyruvate carboxylase, randomization of the label in fumarate, and synthesis of glutamate and glutamine after condensation with acetyl CoA to [2 proR,3-13C]citrate. In contrast, enrichment at C4 of glutamate and glutamine resulted from oxidation [3-13C]pyruvate to [2-13C]acetyl CoA catalyzed by pyruvate dehydrogenase followed by condensation with oxaloacetate. The ratio of enrichment (C2 + C3): C4 provided a measure of the relative contributions of the pyruvate dehydrogenase and pyruvate carboxylase catalyzed pathways of substrate utilization by the tricarboxylic acid cycle. The mean ratio was 0.6 and 0.7 in control and parasitized larvae, respectively, and 2.4 in starved insects. The latter result demonstrated that substrate utilization by the TCA cycle was markedly altered by starvation. In addition, the rate of labeled alanine metabolism was significantly reduced by starvation. The concentrations of glutamate and glutamine in the blood (hemolymph) were similar in all three groups of insects. No evidence for gluconeogenesis was observed in any group. Starved larvae incorporated label into C6 of glucose and trehalose but no complementary enrichment at C1 was observed. This result was consistent with the activity of the non-oxidative phase of the pentose phosphate pathway during which labeled glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate arising from [3-13C]alanine reacts with sedoheptulose-7-phosphate yielding erythrose-4-phosphate and [6-13C]fructose-6-phosphate catalyzed by transaldolase. Specifically labeled fructose-6-phosphate then gives rise to glucose and trehalose labeled at C6. Preliminary analysis of the hemolymph of starved insects indicated the presence of several hexose phosphates labeled at C6. The hemolymph level of trehalose was significantly reduced in both starved and parasitized insects. Lipogenesis from [3-13C]alanine was evident in unparasitized control larvae but was absent in parasitized and starved insects. The pattern of labeling in fatty acid was consistent with de novo pathway utilizing [2-13C]acetyl CoA derived by oxidation of [3-13C]alanine.

Alanine↗
PubMed2006

Chemoattraction in Pristionchus nematodes and implications for insect recognition.

Nematodes and insects are the two dominant animal taxa in species numbers, and nematode-insect interactions constitute a significant portion of interspecies associations in a diversity of ecosystems. It has been speculated that most insects represent mobile microhabitats in which nematodes can obtain food, mobility, and shelter. Nematode-insect associations can be classified as phoretic (insects used for transportation, not as food), necromenic (insect used for transportation, then carcass as food), and entomopathogenic (insect is killed and used as food). To determine how nematodes target their hosts, we analyzed the chemosensory response and behavioral parameters of closely related Pristionchus nematodes that form species-specific necromenic associations with scarab beetles and the Colorado potato beetle. We found that all four studied Pristionchus species displayed unique chemoattractive profiles toward insect pheromones and plant volatiles with links to Pristionchus habitats. Moreover, chemoattraction in P. pacificus differs from that of C. elegans not only in the types of attractants, but also in its tempo, mode, and concentration response range. We conclude that Pristionchus olfaction is highly diverse among closely related species and is likely to be involved in shaping nematode-host interactions.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

BjalphaIT: a novel scorpion alpha-toxin selective for insects--unique pharmacological tool.

Long-chain neurotoxins derived from the venom of the Buthidae scorpions, which affect voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) can be subdivided according to their toxicity to insects into insect-selective excitatory and depressant toxins (beta-toxins) and the alpha-like toxins which affect both mammals and insects. In the present study by the aid of reverse-phase HPLC column chromatography, RT-PCR, cloning and various toxicity assays, a new insect selective toxin designated as BjalphaIT was isolated from the venom of the Judean Black Scorpion (Buthotus judaicus), and its full primary sequence was determined: MNYLVVICFALLLMTVVESGRDAYIADNLNCAYTCGSNSYCNTECTKNGAVSGYCQWLGKYGNACWCINLPDKVPIRIPGACR (leader sequence is underlined). Despite its lack of toxicity to mammals and potent toxicity to insects, BjalphaIT reveals an amino acid sequence and an inferred spatial arrangement that is characteristic of the well-known scorpion alpha-toxins highly toxic to mammals. BjalphaITs sharp distinction between insects and mammals was also revealed by its effect on sodium conductance of two cloned neuronal VGSCs heterloguously expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes and assayed with the two-electrode voltage-clamp technique. BjalphaIT completely inhibits the inactivation process of the insect para/tipE VGSC at a concentration of 100 nM, in contrast to the rat brain Na(v)1.2/beta1 which is resistant to the toxin. The above categorical distinction between mammal and insect VGSCs exhibited by BjalphaIT enables its employment in the clarification of the molecular basis of the animal group specificity of scorpion venom derived neurotoxic polypeptides and voltage-gated sodium channels.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2005

Tight transcriptional regulation of foreign genes in insect cells using an ecdysone receptor-based inducible system.

The use of insect cells has been highly successful for the expression of foreign proteins from baculoviruses or plasmid vectors. Here, we describe a tight transcriptional regulation of foreign genes in insect cells using an ecdysone receptor-based inducible system. The system includes the DEF domains of the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana) EcR (CfEcR) fused to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae GAL4 DNA-binding domain and the EF domains of mammalian Mus musculus retinoid X receptor (MmRXR) fused to the acidic activation domains (AADs) of the baculovirus transactivators IE1 and IE0. Using a GAL4 response element in reporter constructs, both transient and stable expression in insect lepidopteran cells showed that the chimeric MmRXR and CfEcR only activated the reporter genes in the presence of inducer; no gene expression was detectable in the absence of inducer. Characterization of heterogenous activation domains in insect cells showed that the AADs from Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (MNPV) IE1 and Orgyia pseudotsugata MNPV IE0 consistently exhibited higher inducible levels than the archetype AAD from herpesvirus VP16 in insect cells. To confirm the tight regulation of this system the highly toxic protein, diphtheria toxin (DT), was used. In the absence of an inducer no cytotoxic effect was observed in insect cells that had been transiently transformed with DT expressing plasmids. This system will therefore be a very useful tool for biotechnology applications expressing highly toxic proteins in insect cells and for studying the functional genomics of insects and microorganisms that infect them.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

BotIT6: a potent depressant insect toxin from Buthus occitanus tunetanus venom.

A new depressant insect toxin Buthus occitanus tunetanus insect-toxin 6 (BotIT6) was purified by high-performance liquid chromatography from Buthus occitanus tunetanus (Bot) venom. BotIT6 is very active against Blatella germanica (LD50=10ng/100mg body mass) thus being one of the most potent anti-insect toxin so far characterised. When compared to other insect toxin sequences, BotIT6 present high similarities with depressant insect toxins with an additional arginine residue at the C-terminus and a methionine at position 27. The calculated net charge of BotIT6 is positive (+3) whereas it is negative for classical depressant toxins: this might be associated with its high toxicity. Voltage current clump studies show that BotIT6 is not a very potent depressant insect toxin despite its high toxicity in vivo. BotIT6 is able to fully inhibit the specific binding of 125I AaHIT and 125I-BotIT2 on Periplaneta americana synaptosomal membrane vesicles with high affinities. Despite its higher toxicity BotIT6 is a weaker competitor with 125I AaHIT and 125I BotIT2 as compared to the other beta toxins.Altogether, these results may suggest that BotIT6 probably defines a novel sub-group of depressant anti-insect toxins for which the receptor site can be overlapping, but not identical to that for classical depressant insect toxins.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed2005

Terrestrial insects along elevation gradients: species and community responses to altitude.

The literature on the response of insect species to the changing environments experienced along altitudinal gradients is diverse and widely dispersed. There is a growing awareness that such responses may serve as analogues for climate warming effects occurring at a particular fixed altitude or latitude over time. This review seeks, therefore, to synthesise information on the responses of insects and allied groups to increasing altitude and provide a platform for future research. It focuses on those functional aspects of insect biology that show positive or negative reaction to altitudinal changes but avoids emphasising adaptation to high altitude per se. Reactions can be direct, with insect characteristics or performance responding to changing environmental parameters, or they can be indirect and mediated through the insect's interaction with other organisms. These organisms include the host plant in the case of herbivorous insects, and also competitor species, specific parasitoids, predators and pathogens. The manner in which these various factors individually and collectively influence the morphology, behaviour, ecophysiology, growth and development, survival, reproduction, and spatial distribution of insect species is considered in detail. Resultant patterns in the abundance of individual species populations and of community species richness are examined. Attempts are made throughout to provide mechanistic explanations of trends and to place each topic, where appropriate, into the broader theoretical context by appropriate reference to key literature. The paper concludes by considering how montane insect species will respond to climate warming.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed2006

The first fossil leaf insect: 47 million years of specialized cryptic morphology and behavior.

Stick and leaf insects (insect order Phasmatodea) are represented primarily by twig-imitating slender forms. Only a small percentage ( approximately 1%) of extant phasmids belong to the leaf insects (Phylliinae), which exhibit an extreme form of morphological and behavioral leaf mimicry. Fossils of phasmid insects are extremely rare worldwide. Here we report the first fossil leaf insect, Eophyllium messelensis gen. et sp. nov., from 47-million-year-old deposits at Messel in Germany. The new specimen, a male, is exquisitely preserved and displays the same foliaceous appearance as extant male leaf insects. Clearly, an advanced form of extant angiosperm leaf mimicry had already evolved early in the Eocene. We infer that this trait was combined with a special behavior, catalepsy or "adaptive stillness," enabling Eophyllium to deceive visually oriented predators. Potential predators reported from the Eocene are birds, early primates, and bats. The combination of primitive and derived characters revealed by Eophyllium allows the determination of its exact phylogenetic position and illuminates the evolution of leaf mimicry for this insect group. It provides direct evidence that Phylliinae originated at least 47 Mya. Eophyllium enlarges the known geographical range of Phylliinae, currently restricted to southeast Asia, which is apparently a relict distribution. This fossil leaf insect bears considerable resemblance to extant individuals in size and cryptic morphology, indicating minimal change in 47 million years. This absence of evolutionary change is an outstanding example of morphological and, probably, behavioral stasis.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

16S rRNA phylogenetic analysis of the bacterial endosymbionts associated with cytoplasmic incompatibility in insects.

Bacterial endosymbionts of insects have long been implicated in the phenomenon of cytoplasmic incompatibility, in which certain crosses between symbiont-infected individuals lead to embryonic death or sex ratio distortion. The taxonomic position of these bacteria has, however, not been known with any certainty. Similarly, the relatedness of the bacteria infecting various insect hosts has been unclear. The inability to grow these bacteria on defined cell-free medium has been the major factor underlying these uncertainties. We circumvented this problem by selective PCR amplification and subsequent sequencing of the symbiont 16S rRNA genes directly from infected insect tissue. Maximum parsimony analysis of these sequences indicates that the symbionts belong in the alpha-subdivision of the Proteobacteria, where they are most closely related to the Rickettsia and their relatives. They are all closely related to each other and are assigned to the type species Wolbachia pipientis. Lack of congruence between the phylogeny of the symbionts and their insect hosts suggest that horizontal transfer of symbionts between insect species may occur. Comparison of the sequences for W. pipientis and for Wolbachia persica, an endosymbiont of ticks, shows that the genus Wolbachia is polyphyletic. A PCR assay based on 16S primers was designed for the detection of W. pipientis in insect tissue, and initial screening of insects indicates that cytoplasmic incompatibility may be a more general phenomenon in insects than is currently recognized.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Scorpion toxins affecting sodium current inactivation bind to distinct homologous receptor sites on rat brain and insect sodium channels.

Sodium channels posses receptor sites for many neurotoxins, of which several groups were shown to inhibit sodium current inactivation. Receptor sites that bind alpha- and alpha-like scorpion toxins are of particular interest since neurotoxin binding at these extracellular regions can affect the inactivation process at intramembranal segments of the channel. We examined, for the first time, the interaction of different scorpion neurotoxins, all affecting sodium current inactivation and toxic to mammals, with alpha-scorpion toxin receptor sites on both mammalian and insect sodium channels. As specific probes for rat and insect sodium channels, we used the radiolabeled alpha-scorpion toxins AaH II and LqhalphaIT, the most active alpha-toxins on mammals and insect, respectively. We demonstrate that the different scorpion toxins may be classified to several groups, according to their in vivo and in vitro activity on mammalian and insect sodium channels. Analysis of competitive binding interaction reveal that each group may occupy a distinct receptor site on sodium channels. The alpha-mammal scorpion toxins and the anti-insect Lqh alphaIT bind to homologous but not identical receptor sites on both rat brain and insect sodium channels. Sea anemone toxin ATX II, previously considered to share receptor site 3 with alpha-scorpion toxins, is suggested to bind to a partially overlapping receptor site with both AaH II and Lqh alphaIT. Competitive binding interactions with other scorpion toxins suggest the presence of a putative additional receptor site on sodium channels, which may bind a unique group of these scorpion toxins (Bom III and IV), active on both mammals and insects. We suggest the presence of a cluster of receptor sites for scorpion toxins that inhibit sodium current inactivation, which is very similar on insect and rat brain sodium channels, in spite of the structural and pharmacological differences between them. The sea anemone toxin ATX II is also suggested to bind within this cluster.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2003

Rates of gene rearrangement and nucleotide substitution are correlated in the mitochondrial genomes of insects.

A number of studies indicated that lineages of animals with high rates of mitochondrial (mt) gene rearrangement might have high rates of mt nucleotide substitution. We chose the hemipteroid assemblage and the Insecta to test the idea that rates of mt gene rearrangement and mt nucleotide substitution are correlated. For this purpose, we sequenced the mt genome of a lepidopsocid from the Psocoptera, the only order of hemipteroid insects for which an entire mtDNA sequence is not available. The mt genome of this lepidopsocid is circular, 16,924 bp long, and contains 37 genes and a putative control region; seven tRNA genes and a protein-coding gene in this genome have changed positions relative to the ancestral arrangement of mt genes of insects. We then compared the relative rates of nucleotide substitution among species from each of the four orders of hemipteroid insects and among the 20 insects whose mt genomes have been sequenced entirely. All comparisons among the hemipteroid insects showed that species with higher rates of gene rearrangement also had significantly higher rates of nucleotide substitution statistically than did species with lower rates of gene rearrangement. In comparisons among the 20 insects, where the mt genomes of the two species differed by more than five breakpoints, the more rearranged species always had a significantly higher rate of nucleotide substitution than the less rearranged species. However, in comparisons where the mt genomes of two species differed by five or less breakpoints, the more rearranged species did not always have a significantly higher rate of nucleotide substitution than the less rearranged species. We tested the statistical significance of the correlation between the rates of mt gene rearrangement and mt nucleotide substitution with nine pairs of insects that were phylogenetically independent from one another. We found that the correlation was positive and statistically significant (R2 = 0.73, P = 0.01; Rs = 0.67, P < 0.05). We propose that increased rates of nucleotide substitution may lead to increased rates of gene rearrangement in the mt genomes of insects.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Insecticidal activity of common reagents for insect foreign bodies of the ear.

OBJECTIVE: Insects commonly present as painful and distressing foreign bodies of the external ear canal. Removing live insects can be challenging, especially for primary care physicians who have limited equipment. The purpose of this study is to compare the insecticidal activity of commonly available preparations for insects that are most frequently recovered from ear canals: cockroaches (German and American), ticks, beetles, and honeybees. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, blinded. METHODS: One hundred seventy insects of each species were placed in test tubes and submerged in 17 test preparations (10 tubes per preparation, 1 insect per test tube). Insect activity was stimulated by agitation of the test tube. Responses were monitored, and the time until death was measured. RESULTS: Most test preparations exhibited some insecticidal activity against most insect species. Ticks were completely resistant to all of the test reagents. Ethanol killed the American cockroaches (mean time, 32.6 s), German cockroaches (mean time, 29.6 s), and honeybees (mean time, 19.6 s) the most rapidly. CONCLUSION: Many commonly available reagents may be used to kill or immobilize insect foreign bodies of the ear.

Acetic Acid↗
PubMed2005

Do insect metabolic rates at rest and during flight scale with body mass?

Energetically costly behaviours, such as flight, push physiological systems to their limits requiring metabolic rates (MR) that are highly elevated above the resting MR (RMR). Both RMR and MR during exercise (e.g. flight or running) in birds and mammals scale allometrically, although there is little consensus about the underlying mechanisms or the scaling relationships themselves. Even less is known about the allometric scaling of RMR and MR during exercise in insects. We analysed data on the resting and flight MR (FMR) of over 50 insect species that fly to determine whether RMR and FMR scale allometrically. RMR scaled with body mass to the power of 0.66 (M0.66), whereas FMR scaled with M1.10. Further analysis suggested that FMR scaled with two separate relationships; insects weighing less than 10mg had fourfold lower FMR than predicted from the scaling of FMR in insects weighing more than 10mg, although both groups scaled with M0.86. The scaling exponents of RMR and FMR in insects were not significantly different from those of birds and mammals, suggesting that they might be determined by similar factors. We argue that low FMR in small insects suggests these insects may be making considerable energy savings during flight, which could be extremely important for the physiology and evolution of insect flight.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Nuclear rDNA phylogeny in the fungal genus Verticillium and its relationship to insect and plant virulence, extracellular proteases and carbohydrases.

Phylogenetic relationships among 18 isolates in the genus Verticillium, representing 13 species of diverse econutritional groups (pathogens of insects, plants, mushrooms, nematodes and spiders, and saprobes), were examined by using sequences from the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and small nuclear (NS) rRNA regions. The isolates were also assessed for their abilities to infect insect larvae (Galleria mellonella) and to cause necrosis in alfalfa (Medicago sativa), and for their proteolytic, chitinolytic and pectinolytic activities. The phylogenetic data suggested that Verticillium is polyphyletic in origin and is therefore a form genus. However, the phylogenetic tree supported the plant pathogens (V. dahliae, V. albo-atrum and V. nigrescens) as a clade. The alfalfa isolate of V. albo-atrum (isolate 595) was an interesting outlier to the main body of plant pathogens as it clustered with the insect pathogen V. indicum. Strains of V. lecanii and V. indicum were able to infect insects and are present in divergent groups in the consensus tree, suggesting that the ability to infect insects may have evolved independently many times. Similarly, the nematophagous Verticillium species appear to have evolved independently along several different routes and one isolate, V. chlamydosporium, was able to infect insects. V. albo-atrum, V. nigrescens and V. dahliae all produced high levels of enzymes capable of degrading pectin, a major component of plant cell walls. The ability to excrete pectinase was a broad indicator of the ability to produce lesions on alfalfa. In the plant pathogens, the functions of a broad-spectrum protease were assumed by trypsins which degrade Bz-AA-AA-Arg-NA substrates (Bz, benzoyl; AA, various amino acids; NA, p-nitroanilide). The insect pathogens and mushroom pathogen (V. fungicola) were characterized by production of high levels of subtilisin-like proteases active against a chymotrypsin substrate (succinyl-Ala2-Pro-Phe-NA) and the inability to clear pectin. The insect and mushroom pathogens, and several nematode pathogens, were distinguishable from the plant pathogens in their ability to produce chitinases.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Patterns in abundance and seasonality of insects in the siruvani forest of Western ghats, nilgiri biosphere reserve, southern India.

The seasonal abundance patterns of insects inhabiting the understory vegetation of a mixed deciduous forest were examined with the help of the sweep-net sampling method. During the study period of 2 years, insects were sampled regularly from the understory vegetation of the three selected habitats (moist-deciduous, riverine, and teak plantation) of the mixed deciduous forest. Insect abundance was maximum in the moist-deciduous habitat and minimum in the teak plantation. Generally, insect abundance was the highest during the southwest monsoon in all habitats. The temporal pattern of fluctuations in the insect abundance followed more or less the same pattern in all the three habitats studied. The insect abundance of the understory vegetation varied among the habitats studied, while the pattern of seasonal fluctuations in insect abundance was comparable among habitats. Composition of the insect community also indicated prominent seasonal changes within habitats than interhabitat changes within a season.

Animals↗