Influence of soil on the efficacy of entomopathogenic nematodes in reducing Diabrotica virgifera virgifera in maize

The use of entomopathogenic nematodes is one potential non-chemical approach to control the larvae of the invasive western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in Europe. This study investigated the efficacy of Heterorhabditis bacteriophora Poinar (Rhabditida: Heterorhabditidae), Heterorhabditis megidis Poinar, Jackson and Klein (Rh., Heterorhabditidae) and Steinernema feltiae Filipjev (Rh., Steinernematidae) in reducing D. v. virgifera as a function of soil characteristics. A field experiment was repeated four times in southern Hungary using artificially infested maize plants potted into three different soils. Sleeve gauze cages were used to assess the number of emerging adult D. v. virgifera from the treatments and untreated controls. Results indicate that nematodes have the potential to reduce D. v. virgifera larvae in most soils; however, their efficacy can be higher in maize fields with heavy clay or silty clay soils than in sandy soils, which is in contrast to the common assumption that nematodes perform better in sandy soils than in heavy soils

PPP1R1B-STARD3 chimeric fusion transcript in human gastric cancer promotes tumorigenesis through activation of PI3K/AKT signaling

Fusion genes act as potent oncogenes, resulting from chromosomal rearrangements or abnormal transcription in many human cancers. Although multiple gastric cancer genomes have been sequenced, the driving recurrent gene fusions have not been well characterized. Here, we used paired-end transcriptome sequencing to identify novel gene fusions in 18 human gastric cancer cell lines and 18 pairs of primary human gastric cancer tissues and their adjacent normal tissues. Multiple samples revealed expression of PPP1R1B-STARD3 fusion transcript. The presence of PPP1R1B-STARD3 correlated with elevated levels of PPP1R1B mRNA. PPP1R1B-STARD3 fusion transcript was detected in 21.3% of primary human gastric cancers but not in adjacent matched normal gastric tissues. Based on reverse transcription PCR analysis of DNA, unlike other fusions described in gastric cancer, the PPP1R1B-STARD3 appears to be generated by RNA processing without chromosomal rearrangement. Overexpression of PPP1R1B-STARD3 in MKN-28 significantly increased cell proliferation and colony formation. This increased proliferation was mediated by activation of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT signaling. Furthermore, expression of PPP1R1B-STARD3 fusion transcript enhanced the tumor growth of MKN-28 cells in athymic nude mice. These findings show that PPP1R1B-STARD3 fusion transcript has a key role in subsets of gastric cancers through the activation of PI3K/AKT signalingclose2

Spatio-temporal population dynamics and area-wide delineation of Bactrocera oleae monitoring zones using multi-variate geostatistics

Area-wide integrated pest management requires an understanding of insect population dynamics and definition of suitable techniques to quantify spatio-temporal variability to make better pest management decisions. However, the viability of area-wide integrated pest management has often been questioned because of the high monitoring costs. The present study aimed to: (i) analyse the spatial and temporal dynamics of the olive fruit fly over a large olive growing area (Ormylia, Greece), and (ii) define a methodology to determine monitoring zones to optimize the monitoring effort over space and time in area-wide integrated pest management programmes. Data from an olive fruit fly monitoring network based on McPhail traps were utilized. The multi-variate spatial (elevation) and temporal (6 periods) data of olive fruit fly population density were analysed by principal component analysis, co-kriging and factor kriging to produce thematic maps and to delineate monitoring zones. Olive fruit fly density was spatially correlated from 200 to 4 000 m. The spatial pattern changed over the monitoring season. Areas with high density of olive fruit flies shifted from high altitudes in summer to lower altitudes towards autumn. Three recommended levels of monitoring intensity were defined, thus delineating homogeneous monitoring zones for summer (July to September) and October. It was concluded that delineating monitoring zones through multi-variate geostatistics is a suitable approach for optimising the monitoring effort, because population density distribution is spatially structured over large areas and changes over time