Plant geographic phenotypic variation drives diversification in its associated community of a phytophagous insect and its parasitoids

International audienceBackground: While the communities constituted by phytophageous insects and their parasites may represent half of all terrestrial animal species, understanding their diversification remains a major challenge. A neglected idea is that geographic phenotypic variation in a host plant may lead to heterogeneous evolutionary responses of the different members of the associated communities. This could result in diversification on a host plant by ecological speciation in some species, leading to geographic variation in community composition. In this study we investigated geographic variation of inflorescence receptacle size in a plant, Ficus hirta, and how the hymenopteran community feeding in the inflorescences has responded. Our predictions were:1) Inflorescence size variation affects wasp species differently depending on how they access oviposition sites.2) In some affected lineages of wasps, we may observe vicariant, parapatric species adapted to different inflorescence sizes.Results: We show that fig (the enclosed inflorescence of Ficus) wall thickness varies geographically. The fig-entering pollinating wasp was not affected, while the parasites ovipositing through the fig wall were. Two parapatric species of Philotrypesis, exhibiting strikingly different ovipositor lengths, were recorded. One species of Sycoscapter was also present, and it was restricted, like the shorter-ovipositor Philotrypesis, to the geographic zone where fig walls were thinner.Conclusions: Previous work on fig wasps suggested that parapatric geographic ranges among congenerics were due to adaptation to variation in abiotic factors, complemented by interspecific competition. Our results show that parapatric ranges may also result from adaptation to variation in biotic factors. Within an insect community, differences among species in their response to geographic phenotypic variation of their host plant may result in geographically heterogeneous community structure. Such heterogeneity leads to heterogeneous interaction networks among sites. Our results support the hypothesis that plant geographic phenotypic variation can be a driver of diversification in associated insect communities, and can complement other diversification processes

Development and Characterization of Microsatellite Loci for Ficus hirta (Moraceae)

Microsatellite primers were developed to investigate population genetic structure in Ficus hirta (Moraceae). Sixteen microsatellite primers were developed and optimized for F. hirta using Illumina paired-end sequencing of pre-receptive and receptive developmental-phase female flowers. Out of 16 primers, nine were found to be polymorphic in four populations of F. hirta. Alleles per locus ranged from two to 15 across the 94 F. hirta individuals, while within-population observed and expected heterozygosity per locus ranged from 0.000 to 0.955 and from 0.000 to 0.882, respectively. In addition, the 16 primers were tested in 29 additional Ficus species, with all found to amplify in at least 11 of these species and with most amplifying in a majority of the species. This set of microsatellite primers is the first specifically developed for F. hirta and will facilitate studies of genetic diversity within and genetic differentiation among populations of Ficus species

Using multi-tissue transcriptome-wide association study to identify candidate susceptibility genes for respiratory infectious diseases

Objective: We explore the candidate susceptibility genes for influenza A virus (IAV), measles, rubella, and mumps and their underlying biological mechanisms.Methods: We downloaded the genome-wide association study summary data of four virus-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) level data sets (anti-IAV IgG, anti-measles IgG, anti-rubella IgG, and anti-mumps virus IgG levels) and integrated them with reference models of three potential tissues from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project, namely, whole blood, lung, and transformed fibroblast cells, to identify genes whose expression is predicted to be associated with IAV, measles, mumps, and rubella.Results: We identified 19 significant genes (ULK4, AC010132.11, SURF1, NIPAL2, TRAP1, TAF1C, AC000078.5, RP4-639F20.1, RMDN2, ATP1B3, SRSF12, RP11-477D19.2, TFB1M, XXyac-YX65C7_A.2, TAF1C, PCGF2, and BNIP1) associated with IAV at a Bonferroni-corrected threshold of p < 0.05; 14 significant genes (SOAT1, COLGALT2, AC021860.1, HCG11, METTL21B, MRPL10, GSTM4, PAQR6, RP11-617D20.1, SNX8, METTL21B, ANKRD27, CBWD2, and TSFM) associated with measles at a Bonferroni-corrected threshold of p < 0.05; 15 significant genes (MTOR, LAMC1, TRIM38, U91328.21, POLR2J, SCRN2, Smpd4, UBN1, CNTROB, SCRN2, HOXB-AS1, SLC14A1, AC007566.10, AC093668.2, and CPD) associated with mumps at a Bonferroni-corrected threshold of p < 0.05; and 13 significant genes (JAGN1, RRP12, RP11-452K12.7, CASP7, AP3S2, IL17RC, FAM86HP, AMACR, RRP12, PPP2R1B, C11orf1, DLAT, and TMEM117) associated with rubella at a Bonferroni-corrected threshold of p < 0.05.Conclusions: We have identified several candidate genes for IAV, measles, mumps, and rubella in multiple tissues. Our research may further our understanding of the pathogenesis of infectious respiratory diseases

Cooperation between China and Romania under Belt and Road Initiative

China’s greatest international economic aspiration is the “Belt and Road” Initiative (BRI), to stimulate economic corporation in a wide region including sub regions in Asia, Africa and Europe. This paper does researches for the cooperation between China and Romania at the background of BRI. It shows a short introduction of BRI and analyses import and export trade data included China with Europe, Europe Union and Romania to make a prediction about future development. It makes a comparison to different countries in BRI by Belt and Road Index (BARI). We will analyze Romanian basic economic situation, main factors about BARI and potential risks

Exploring the Influence of Smart Product Service Systems on Enterprise Competitive Advantage from the Perspective of Value Creation

With the continuous development of information and communication technology, the development of smart product service systems (smart PSS) has become a crucial approach for enterprises to establish a competitive advantage. However, there is still a lack of clarity regarding the impact process of smart PSS on competitive advantage. This paper aims to explore the impact mechanism of smart PSS on competitive advantage from the perspective of value creation, using an intelligent connected vehicle supplier as a case study. The findings reveal that the composition of smart PSS, including smart technology, smart products, and smart services, influences competitive advantage through the value creation process, which involves relationship construction, relationship operation, and value release. Under the smart PSS environment, changes occur in subject relationships, resources, and key elements. In the context of smart PSS, deep cooperation between enterprises and partners focuses on ecological advantages, while general cooperation emphasizes benefit advantages. This research provides valuable insights into the impact of smart PSS composition on competitive advantage and offers reference values for organizations to establish competitive advantage objectives

Research on Wireless Signal Coverage in Metro Station

In this paper, Firstly, we analyzed metro platform types and the basic principle of radio frequency (RF) technology. Secondly, we proposed an application method of radio frequency technology in metro. Then, by studying the wireless signal coverage in metro station, we got results of relationships of reflection coefficient G with angle q, and with phase shift z. Finally, we studied an example of signal coverage for wireless network in metro station, three kinds of path difference DLi (i=2, 3, 4) between the reflected wave and incident wave are calculated. This work could provide certain theoretical and practical research value for studying the security transmission of wireless signal in metro station

Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of Poa poophagorum (Gramineae), a native grass from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

This study provides a chloroplast genome of Poa poophagorum. The complete cp genome was135,664 bp in length with typical quadripartite structure, containing a pair of inverted repeats (IR) of 21,552 bp each, a large single-copy (LSC) region of 79,790 bp, and a small single-copy (SSC) region of 12,770 bp. The overall G + C content of the cp genome was 38.30%, which encompassed 119 genes including 79 protein-coding genes,8 rRNA genes, and 32 tRNA genes. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that P. poophagorum was closely related to Festuca arundinacea cultivar KY-31in Gramineae. This study would contribute to enrich the Poa L. cp genome resource and promote biological research

Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of Poa pratensis L. cv. Qinghai (Gramineae)

This study provides a chloroplast genome of Poa pratensis L. cv. Qinghai. The complete genome is 135,606 bp in length with a G + C content of 38.28%, which contains 32 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that P. pratensis L. cv. Qinghai is closely related to Festuca arundinacea cultivar KY-31. These results contribute to explore the genetic evidence for adaptation to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau