Novel morphological and genetic markers for the discrimination of three European Pityokteines (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) species

Background and Purpose: The three palearctic species Pityokteines spinidens, P. curvidens and P. vorontzowi are main pests on Abies species and their impact on Abies stands is increasing. As the three scolytid species, particularly females, are difficult to distinguish, this study aimed to find additional morphological characters for identification. Further, part of the mitochondrial COI gene was sequenced to develop a significant barcode marker for future use. Material and Methods: All three bark beetle species were collected from logs in Croatia (Litori} and Trako{}an), in order to quantify the number of strial and interstrial punctures. Insect DNA was extracted and PCR products were purified, directly sequenced, aligned and analyzed by MP analysis and Bayesian analysis. Results and Conclusion: The number of punctures in the first and second interstriae between the elytral base and the sutural tubercle proved to be a valuable tool for the differentiation of P. spinidens from P. curvidens and P. vorontzowi. This morphological feature was consistent with the number of punctures which varied for the first and the second interstriae in P. spinidens compared to P. curvidens and P. vorontzowi. The mitochondrial COI gene provided another means in the discrimination of Pityokteines species, revealing that P. curvidens and P. vorontzowi are sister species

Novel morphological and genetic markers for the discrimination of three European Pityokteines (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) species

Background and Purpose: The three palearctic species Pityokteines spinidens, P. curvidens and P. vorontzowi are main pests on Abies species and their impact on Abies stands is increasing. As the three scolytid species, particularly females, are difficult to distinguish, this study aimed to find additional morphological characters for identification. Further, part of the mitochondrial COI gene was sequenced to develop a significant barcode marker for future use. Material and Methods: All three bark beetle species were collected from logs in Croatia (Litori} and Trako{}an), in order to quantify the number of strial and interstrial punctures. Insect DNA was extracted and PCR products were purified, directly sequenced, aligned and analyzed by MP analysis and Bayesian analysis. Results and Conclusion: The number of punctures in the first and second interstriae between the elytral base and the sutural tubercle proved to be a valuable tool for the differentiation of P. spinidens from P. curvidens and P. vorontzowi. This morphological feature was consistent with the number of punctures which varied for the first and the second interstriae in P. spinidens compared to P. curvidens and P. vorontzowi. The mitochondrial COI gene provided another means in the discrimination of Pityokteines species, revealing that P. curvidens and P. vorontzowi are sister species

AGRA: Analysis of gene ranking algorithms

Often, the most informative genes have to be selected from different gene sets and several computer gene ranking algorithms have been developed to cope with the problem. To help researchers decide which algorithm to use, we developed the analysis of gene ranking algorithms (AGRA) system that offers a novel technique for comparing ranked lists of genes. The most important feature of AGRA is that no previous knowledge of gene ranking algorithms is needed for their comparison. Using the text mining system finding-associated concepts with text analysis. AGRA defines what we call biomedical concept space (BCS) for each gene list and offers a comparison of the gene lists in six different BCS categories. The uploaded gene lists can be compared using two different methods. In the first method, the overlap between each pair of two gene lists of BCSs is calculated. The second method offers a text field where a specific biomedical concept can be entered. AGRA searches for this concept in each gene lists' BCS, highlights the rank of the concept and offers a visual representation of concepts ranked above and below it