Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Immature stages of Spodoptera albula (walker) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae): developmental parameters and host plants.

This study aimed to detail the temporal and morphological parameters of the immature stages of Spodoptera albula (Walker 1857) under controlled conditions (25 ± 1°C, 70 ± 10% RH and 14 hour photophase) and to gather information about their larval host plants. For this purpose, a new rearing method and artificial diet was employed and validated. The viability of the egg, larval, pupal and pre-pupal stages was 94.54, 97.33, 93.84 and 92.34%, respectively. The average duration of the egg, larval, pupal and pre-pupal stages was 4.14, 16.37, 1.69, and 9.34 days, respectively. During the larval stage, 80.85% of females and 93.99% of males passed through six and remaining through seven instars, with significant larval protandry. The larvae that developed through six and seven instars exhibited a mean growth rate of 1.58 and 1.48, respectively. Fifty five host plant species belonging to 29 families are listed. The female pupae were significantly larger, exhibiting protogyny. Both the rearing methods as well as the larval diet proved adequate, providing more detailled observations of the biological cycle, especially the larval stage, and resulting in an overall survival of almost 80%