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Viruses and virus diseases associated with whiteflies.
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Tinkering with genes to fight insect-borne disease. Researchers create genetically modified bugs to fight malaria, Chagas, and other diseases.
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Interruption of Chagas' disease transmission through vector elimination.
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Extreme resistance to Potato leafroll virus in potato cv. Russet Burbank mediated by the viral replicase gene.
High levels of field resistance to Potato leafroll virus (PLRV; Genus: Polerovirus; Family: Luteoviridae) were achieved by expression of the unmodified, full-length PLRV replicase gene in potato plants cv. Russet Burbank. A high degree of resistance was also achieved, but less frequently, by expression of a truncated construct of the replicase gene. In limited testing, neither miss-frame nor antisense constructs of the replicase gene conferred resistance. The degree of resistance expressed among different transformant lines ranged from near immunity to full susceptibility. Resistance to the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say) was combined with resistance to PLRV by expression of the cry3A insect control protein gene from Bacillus thuringiensis var. tenebrionis in combination with the unmodified, full-length, viral replicase gene. Resistance was expressed as a reduced incidence of infection detectable by foliage symptoms or serological tests. Reduced incidence of infection was not associated with a decrease in virus antigen concentration in the few plants of resistant lines that became infected. Virus was not detected in the foliage of symptomless plants but was detected in progeny plants produced from the tubers of inoculated but symptomless test plants of some resistant lines. The resistance was effective under natural exposure and against plant-to-plant spread of PLRV by the aphid vector, Myzus persicae Sulzer. Three of the resistant lines selected in these studies were released and are now in commercial production.
Toxicology of selected pesticides, drugs, and chemicals. Pyrethrin and pyrethroid insecticides.
Pyrethroids have a wide spectrum of insecticidal potency, vertebrate toxicity, and environmental stability. The exceptionally high selectivity ratios of pyrethrins and pyrethroids have resulted in their use for insect control in numerous formulations. A primary effect of pyrethroids is to slow the closing of the sodium activation gate in nerve cells. All pyrethroids have essentially the same basic mechanism of action on voltage-dependent sodium channels but differ in the magnitude of effect. Based on clinical signs, electrophysiologic responses, and chemical structure, pyrethroids can be classified as Type I or Type II. Inhibition of the GABAA receptor appears to be an additional mechanism of Type II pyrethroids. Clinical signs in small animals during a pyrethroid toxicosis vary but are generally attributable to neural dysfunction. Treatment consists of decontamination procedures and application of appropriate symptomatic care, including control of seizures if necessary.
Infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis: an update.
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[Prophylaxis of malaria].
The prevention of malaria is based on chemoprophylaxis and protection against the vector. Nocturnal mosquito bites can be avoided by individual and collective measures, while chemoprophylaxis involves the use of various agents according to the place and duration of stay. Three endemic zones can be defined on the basis of chemoresistance. Chloroquine, proguanil and mefloquine are the three drugs used in this setting, the latter being contraindicated for pregnant women and children. Travellers making long stays in areas of low-level chemoresistance and short stays in areas of high-level resistance and for whom mefloquine is contraindicated are advised to take antimalarial drugs at the first signs of potentially malarial fever when medical care is unavailable. Quinine, halofantrine and mefloquine are used for the curative treatment of malaria in areas of chloroquine resistance.
AaIT: from neurotoxin to insecticide.
AaIT is a single chain neurotoxic polypeptide derived from the venom of the Buthid scorpion Androctonus australis Hector, composed of 70 amino acids cross-linked by four disulfide bridges. Its strict selectivity for insects has been documented by toxicity, electrophysiological and ligand receptor binding assays. These last have shown that various insect neuronal membranes possess a single class of non-interacting AaIT binding sites of high affinity (K(D) = 1-3(n)M) and low capacity (0.5-2.0 pmol/mg prot.). The fast excitatory paralysis induced by AaIT is a result of a presynaptic effect, namely the induction of a repetitive firing in the terminal branches of the insect's motor nerves resulting in a massive and uncoordinated stimulation of the respective skeletal muscles. The neuronal repetitive activity is attributed to an exclusive and specific perturbation of sodium conductance as a consequence of toxin binding to external loops of the insect voltage-dependent sodium channel and modification of its gating mechanism. From a strictly agrotechnical point of view AaIT involvement in plant protection has taken the following two complementary forms: firstly, as a factor for the genetic engineering of insect infective baculoviruses resulting in potent and selective bio-insecticides. The efficacy of the AaIT-expressing, recombinant baculovirus is attributed mainly to its ability to continuously provide and translocate the gene of the expressed toxin to the insect central nervous system; secondly, based on the pharmacological flexibility of the voltage-gated sodium channel, as a device for insecticide resistance management. Channel mutations conferring resistance to a given class of insecticidal agents (such as the KDR phenomenon) may greatly increase susceptibility to the AaIT expressing bioinsecticides. Thus the AaIT is a pharmacological tool for the study of insect neuronal excitability and chemical ecology and the development of new approaches to insect control.
New use of broomcorn millets for production of granular cultures of aphid-pathogenic fungus Pandora neoaphidis for high sporulation potential and infectivity to Myzus persicae.
Glutinous broomcorn millets from the crop Panicum miliaceum were first used as substrate to produce granular cultures of Pandora neoaphidis, an obligate fungal pathogen specific to aphids. Carrying a water content of 36.5% after being steamed in a regular autoclaving procedure, millet grains of each 15 g (dry weight) in a 100-ml flask were mixed with 3 ml modified Sabouraud dextrose broth containing half a mashed colony of P. neoaphidis grown on egg yolk milk agar and then incubated at 20 degrees C and a light/dark cycle of 12 h/12 h for 21 days. Based on individually monitoring conidial production potential of 20 millet grains sampled from an arbitrarily taken flask at 3-day intervals, the millet cultures incubated for 6-15 days were capable of producing 16.8-23.4 x 10(4) conidia per millet grain with conidial ejection lasting for up to 6 days. The cultured millet grains individually produced significantly more conidia than apterous adults of Myzus persicae killed by P. neoaphidis (8.4 x 10(4) conidia per cadaver) and sporulated twice longer. The modeling of time-dose-mortality data from bioassays on M. persicae apterae exposed to conidial showers from the cultured millet grains and the mycelial mats produced in liquid culture resulted in similar estimates of LC(50) (millets: 21.4, 7.3, and 4.9 conidia mm(-2) on days 5-7 after exposure; mycelial mats: 22.1, 10.6, and 7.7 conidia mm(-2)) although the LT(50) estimated at a given conidial concentration was slightly smaller for the millet cultures than for the mycelial mats. This indicates that the millet grains cultured with P. neoaphidis produced conidia as infective as or slightly more infective to M. persicae than those from the mycelial mats. Based on the sporulation potential, infectivity, and ease and cost of the millet cultures, the method developed in this study highly improved in vitro cultures of P. neoaphidis and may adapt to culturing other entomophthoralean fungi for microbial control of insect pests.
A biochemical, histochemical, and ultrastructural evaluation of the effect of dimethoate intoxication on rat pancreas.
Organophosphorus compounds are widely used in industry, agriculture and for public health purposes. They are among the toxic compounds employed for insect control. The purpose of this work was to study biochemical, histochemical, and histological as well as ultrastructural changes that might occur in the pancreas of adult male Wistar rats as a result of chronic dimethoate intoxication. The treated group received dimethoate orally via gavage (21 mg/kg) daily for 2 months while, the control group was given saline orally (0.1 ml/100 g/day) for the same period. Plasma glucose level was significantly increased while, plasma insulin level was decreased in the intoxicated animals compared with the control group. A patchy reduction of histochemically-detected succinic dehydrogenase enzymatic activity was observed in the pancreas of the intoxicated rats. By contrast, acid phosphatase enzymatic activity was markedly increased in the pancreas of the intoxicated group. No changes were observed in alkaline phosphatase or alpha esterase activities of the intoxicated animals. Light microscopic examination revealed that dimethoate caused patchy degenerative changes of variable severity in many areas of the pancreas affecting both the pancreatic acini and islets of Langerhans. Ultrastructurally, some beta cells revealed dense nuclei with wide perinuclear cisternae. Diminution of the number of beta granules was evident. One month after discontinuation of the dimethoate, all the above mentioned changes induced by dimethoate intoxication persisted. These findings show that chronic exposure to dimethoate insecticide has clear toxic effect on the rat pancreas, which was not reversible within 1 month. Public health education is necessary to raise people awareness about the hazards accompanying the use of such compounds.
The tc genes of Photorhabdus: a growing family.
The toxin complex (tc) genes of Photorhabdus encode insecticidal, high molecular weight Tc toxins. These toxins have been suggested as useful alternatives to those derived from Bacillus thuringiensis for expression in insect-resistant transgenic plants. Although Photorhabdus luminescens is symbiotic with nematodes that kill insects, tc genes have recently been described from other insect-associated bacteria such as Serratia entomophila, an insect pathogen, and Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of bubonic plague, which has a flea vector. Here, recent advances in our understanding of the tc gene family are reviewed in view of their potential development as insect-control agents.
Cloning and analysis of the spinosad biosynthetic gene cluster of Saccharopolyspora spinosa.
BACKGROUND: Spinosad is a mixture of novel macrolide secondary metabolites produced by Saccharopolyspora spinosa. It is used in agriculture as a potent insect control agent with exceptional safety to non-target organisms. The cloning of the spinosyn biosynthetic gene cluster provides the starting materials for the molecular genetic manipulation of spinosad yields, and for the production of novel derivatives containing alterations in the polyketide core or in the attached sugars. RESULTS: We cloned the spinosad biosynthetic genes by molecular probing, complementation of blocked mutants, and cosmid walking, and sequenced an 80 kb region. We carried out gene disruptions of some of the genes and analyzed the mutants for product formation and for the bioconversion of intermediates in the spinosyn pathway. The spinosyn gene cluster contains five large open reading frames that encode a multifunctional, multi-subunit type I polyketide synthase (PKS). The PKS cluster is flanked on one side by genes involved in the biosynthesis of the amino sugar forosamine, in O-methylations of rhamnose, in sugar attachment to the polyketide, and in polyketide cross-bridging. Genes involved in the early common steps in the biosynthesis of forosamine and rhamnose, and genes dedicated to rhamnose biosynthesis, were not located in the 80 kb cluster. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the S. spinosa genes involved in spinosyn biosynthesis are found in one 74 kb cluster, though it does not contain all of the genes required for the essential deoxysugars. Characterization of the clustered genes suggests that the spinosyns are synthesized largely by mechanisms similar to those used to assemble complex macrolides in other actinomycetes. However, there are several unusual genes in the spinosyn cluster that could encode enzymes that generate the most striking structural feature of these compounds, a tetracyclic polyketide aglycone nucleus.
Aiming to eliminate tsetse from Africa.
The problem of tsetse-transmitted trypanosomiasis occurs only in sub-Saharan Africa, where it represents a major constraint to socio-economic development. The East African form of sleeping sickness, caused by Trypanosoma brucei rhodensiense, is an acute and fatal disease, whereas the West African form, caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, is generally more chronic and debilitating. The African governments have developed a new initiative, known as the Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign, which seeks to employ an area-wide approach and appropriate fly suppression methods to eradicate tsetse from areas of tsetse infestation, at a time, to ultimately create tsetse-free zones.
Artificial cows effectively combat tsetse flies.
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Susceptibility of Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) developmental stages to high temperatures used during structural heat treatments.
Heating the ambient air of a whole, or a portion of a food-processing facility to 50 to 60 degrees C and maintaining these elevated temperatures for 24 to 36 h, is an old technology, referred to as heat treatment. There is renewed interest in adopting heat treatments around the world as a viable insect control alternative to fumigation with methyl bromide. There is limited published information on responses of the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hübner), exposed to elevated temperatures typically used during heat treatments. Time-mortality relationships were determined for eggs, fifth-instars (wandering-phase larvae), pupae, and adults of P. interpunctella exposed to five constant temperatures between 44 and 52 degrees C. Mortality of each stage increased with increasing temperature and exposure time. In general, fifth-instars were the most heat-tolerant stage at all temperatures tested. Exposure for a minimum of 34 min at 50 degrees C was required to kill 99% of the fifth-instars. It is proposed that heat treatments aimed at controlling fifth-instars should be able to control all other stages of P. interpunctella.
Reactions of larvae of Plodia interpunctella (HB) (LEP., pyralidae) to insecticidal droplets.
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A trap for Phlebotomine sandflies attracted to rats.
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