1,438 research outputs found
SpxA1 and SpxA2 act coordinately to fine-tune stress responses and virulence in Streptococcus pyogenes
SpxA is a unique transcriptional regulator highly conserved among members of the phylum Firmicutes that binds RNA polymerase and can act as an antiactivator. Why some Firmicutes members have two highly similar SpxA paralogs is not understood. Here, we show that the SpxA paralogs of the pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes, SpxA1 and SpxA2, act coordinately to regulate virulence by fine-tuning toxin expression and stress resistance. Construction and analysis of mutants revealed that SpxA1− mutants were defective for growth under aerobic conditions, while SpxA2− mutants had severely attenuated responses to multiple stresses, including thermal and oxidative stresses. SpxA1− mutants had enhanced resistance to the cationic antimicrobial molecule polymyxin B, while SpxA2− mutants were more sensitive. In a murine model of soft tissue infection, a SpxA1− mutant was highly attenuated. In contrast, the highly stress-sensitive SpxA2− mutant was hypervirulent, exhibiting more extensive tissue damage and a greater bacterial burden than the wild-type strain. SpxA1− attenuation was associated with reduced expression of several toxins, including the SpeB cysteine protease. In contrast, SpxA2− hypervirulence correlated with toxin overexpression and could be suppressed to wild-type levels by deletion of speB. These data show that SpxA1 and SpxA2 have opposing roles in virulence and stress resistance, suggesting that they act coordinately to fine-tune toxin expression in response to stress. SpxA2− hypervirulence also shows that stress resistance is not always essential for S. pyogenes pathogenesis in soft tissue
Chemical Ecology of Floral Resources in Conservation Biological Control
Conservation biological control aims to enhance populations of natural enemies of insect pests in crop habitats, typically by intentional provision of flowering plants as food resources. Ideally, these flowering plants should be inherently attractive to natural enemies to ensure that they are frequently visited. We review the chemical ecology of floral resources in a conservation biological control context, with a focus on insect parasitoids. We highlight the role of floral volatiles as semiochemicals that attract parasitoids to the food resources. The discovery that nectar-inhabiting microbes can be hidden players in mediating parasitoid responses to flowering plants has highlighted the complexity of the interactions between plants and parasitoids. Furthermore, because food webs in agroecosystems do not generally stop at the third trophic level, we also consider responses of hyperparasitoids to floral resources. We thus provide an overview of floral compounds as semiochemicals from a multitrophic perspective, and we focus on the remaining questions that need to be addressed to move the field forward
The Swift-BAT survey reveals the orbital period of three high-mass X-ray binaries
A growing number of previously hidden Galactic X-ray sources are now detected
with recent surveys performed by the Integral and Swift satellites. Most of
these new sources eluded past surveys due to their large local X-ray extinction
and consequent low soft X-ray flux. The Swift-BAT performs daily monitoring of
the sky in an energy band (15-150 keV) which is only marginally affected by
X-ray extinction, thus allowing for the search of long periodicities in the
light curve and identification of the nature of the X-ray sources. We performed
a period search using the folding technique in the Swift-BAT light curves of
three Integral sources: IGR J05007-7047, IGR J13186-6257 and IGR J17354-3255.
Their periodograms show significant peaks at 30.770.01 d, 19.9940.01
d and 8.4480.002 d, respectively. We estimate the significance of these
features from the chi squared distribution of all the trials, finding a
probability less than 1.5 that the detections occurred due to
chance. We complement our analysis with the study of their broadband X-ray
emission. We identify the periodicities with the orbital periods of the
sources. The periods are typical for the wind accretors X-ray binaries and we
support this identification showing that also their energy spectra are
compatible with an X-ray spectral emission characteristic of high-mass X-ray
binaries. The spectrum of IGR J05007-704 that resides in the Large Magellanic
Cloud, does not show any intrinsic local absorption, whereas the spectra of the
Galactic sources IGR J17354-3255 and IGR J13186-6257 may be affected by a local
absorber. The folded light curve for IGR J13186-6257 suggests a possible Be
companion star.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
BeppoSAX observation of the X-ray binary pulsar Vela X-1
We report on the spectral (pulse averaged) and timing analysis of the ~ 20
ksec observation of the X-ray binary pulsar Vela X-1 performed during the
BeppoSAX Science Verification Phase. The source was observed in two different
intensity states: the low state is probably due to an erratic intensity dip and
shows a decrease of a factor ~ 2 in intensity, and a factor 10 in Nh. We have
not been able to fit the 2-100 keV continuum spectrum with the standard (for an
X--ray pulsar) power law modified by a high energy cutoff because of the
flattening of the spectrum in ~ 10-30 keV. The timing analysis confirms
previous results: the pulse profile changes from a five-peak structure for
energies less than 15 keV, to a simpler two-peak shape at higher energies. The
Fourier analysis shows a very complex harmonic component: up to 23 harmonics
are clearly visible in the power spectrum, with a dominant first harmonic for
low energy data, and a second one as the more prominent for energies greater
than 15 keV. The aperiodic component in the Vela X-1 power spectrum presents a
knee at about 1 Hz. The pulse period, corrected for binary motion, is 283.206
+/- 0.001 sec.Comment: 5 pages, 4 PostScript figure, uses aipproc.sty, to appear in
Proceedings of Fourth Compton Symposiu
The Swift-BAT hard X-ray sky monitoring unveils the orbital period of the HMXB IGR J16493-4348
IGR J16493-4348 is a supergiant high mass X-ray binary discovered by INTEGRAL
in 2004. The source is detected at a significance level of standard
deviations in the Swift-BAT survey data collected during the first 54 months of
the Swift mission. The timing analysis reveals an orbital period of 6.78
days and the presence of a full eclipse of the compact ob\ ject. The dynamical
range (variability up to a factor 20) observed during the BAT monitoring
suggests that IGR J16493-4348 is a wind-fed system. The derived semi-major axis
of the binary system is \sim55 R_{\sun} with an orbit eccentr\ icity lower
than 0.15.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Contrasting reproductive traits of competing parasitoids facilitate coexistence on a shared host pest in a biological control perspective
BACKGROUND: Interspecific competition in insect parasitoids is an important ecological phenomenon that has relevant implications for biological pest control. To date, interspecific intrinsic (=larval) competition has been intensively studied, while investigations on extrinsic (=adult) competition have often lagged behind. In this study we examined the role played by parasitoid reproductive traits and host clutch size on the outcome of extrinsic competition between Trissolcus basalis (Wollaston) and Ooencyrtus telenomicida (Vassiliev), two egg parasitoids of the pest Nezara viridula (L). Laboratory experiments were conducted by allowing both parasitoid species to exploit an egg mass made of 10, 20, 30, or 40 hosts through single or simultaneous releases. Furthermore, under field conditions, egg masses consisting of 10 or 40 hosts were exposed in a tomato crop in order to validate laboratory investigation. RESULTS: The results show that the egg mass size is an important predictor of extrinsic competition in our study system as a higher proportion of T. basalis emerged from large egg masses, while O. telenomicida dominated in small egg masses. Analysis of reproductive traits of parasitoid species indicates that T. basalis has superior abilities in host exploitation compared with O. telenomicida. CONCLUSIONS: We found that contrasting reproductive traits of two competing egg parasitoid species facilitate coexistence on a shared stink bug host. This work also highlights the importance to consider extrinsic competitive interactions between parasitoid species in a biological control perspective. © 2022 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry
A semi-automatic system for labelling seafood products and obtaining fishery management data: A case study of the bottom trawl fishery in the central Mediterranean Sea
This study is on the implementation of a semi-automatic labelling system (LS) of the Mediterranean Sea seafood harvest to address the increased need for seafood authentication and inherent difficulties of commonly used indirect techniques for estimating fisheries yield and fishing effort. Sensitive datarequired for anti-counterfeit policies, such as date and catch area, can be acquired and recorded on the label by user-friendly automated software that excludes any possible manipulation by the crew. Based on results obtained from the installation of the LS on bottom commercial trawlers, the system certified the origin of the seafood products and simultaneously provided, indirectly, geospatial fisheries yield and fishing effort data of the main exploited species
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