9 research outputs found
Deep sequencing-based transcriptome analysis of Plutella xylostella larvae parasitized by Diadegma semiclausum
Background: Parasitoid insects manipulate their hosts' physiology by injecting various factors into their host upon parasitization. Transcriptomic approaches provide a powerful approach to study insect host-parasitoid interactions at the molecular level. In order to investigate the effects of parasitization by an ichneumonid wasp (Diadegma semiclausum) on the host (Plutella xylostella), the larval transcriptome profile was analyzed using a short-read deep sequencing method (Illumina). Symbiotic polydnaviruses (PDVs) associated with ichneumonid parasitoids, known as ichnoviruses, play significant roles in host immune suppression and developmental regulation. In the current study, D. semiclausum ichnovirus (DsIV) genes expressed in P. xylostella were identified and their sequences compared with other reported PDVs. Five of these genes encode proteins of unknown identity, that have not previously been reported
Tectonic control of mineralization in the TaourirtâOujda CorridorâHorst belt (north-eastern Morocco): geophysical evidence
Transpressional tectonics and nappe stacking along the Southern Variscan Front of Morocco
Age and depositional environment of the Draa Sfar massive sulfide deposit, Morocco
The Draa Sfar mineralization consists of two main stratabound orebodies, Sidi MâBarek and Tazacourt, located north and south of the Tensift River (âOued Tessiftâ), respectively. Each orebody is comprised by at least two massive sulfide lenses. The hosting rocks are predominantly black shales, although minor rhyolitic rocks are also present in the footwall to the southern orebody. Shales, rhyolitic volcanic rocks, and massive sulfides are all included into the Sarhlef Series, which is recognized as one of the main stratigraphic units of the Moroccan Variscan Meseta. Hydrothermal activity related with an anomalous thermal gradient, together with a high sedimentation rate in a tectonically driven pull-apart marine basin, favored the accumulation of organic-rich mud in the deepest parts of the basin and the sedimentary environment suitable for massive sulfide deposition and preservation. This took place by replacement of the hosting unlithified wet mud below the sedimentâwater interface. Geochemical data suggest a sedimentary environment characterized by oxic water column and anoxic sediment pile with the redox boundary below the sedimentâwater interface. The low oxygen availability within the sediment pile inhibited oxidation and pyritization of pyrrhotite. Biostratigraphic analysis, based on the palynological content of the hosting black shales, restricts the age of the sulfides to the Asbian substage (mid-Mississippian). This age is consistent with earlier geochronological constraints