Morphology and molecular study of an entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema bicornutum (Nematoda, Rhabditida, Steinernematidae) from Iran

An entomopathogenic nematode was isolated by Galleria baiting technique from soil samples collected near Marand, East Azarbaijan province, North-west of Iran during 2003. Based on morphological and morphometric characters, as well as molecular data it was identified as Steinernema bicornutum Tallosi, Peters & Ehlers, 1995. Morphometrics comparison of the isolate with the type species showed no obvious differences between them. Differences in ITS-rDNA PCR-RFLP were found between the Iranian isolate, i.e. IRA7, with the type (Yugoslavian) isolate. The RFLP analysis was able to distinguish Iranian isolate from the type population of S. bicornutum in the HinfI (four restriction sites in the type vs three restriction sites in the IRA7), Hin6I (550, 250 and 250 bp in the studied isolate vs 541 and 474 in the type isolate) and AluI profiles (715, 177 and 123 in the type and 710 and 220 in the IRA7). These molecular differences are considered as intraspecific variations, and the described population from Iran is another isolate of S. bicornutum

A survey on the response of the last instar larvae of acorn weevil, Curculio glandium (Col.: Curculionidae), to entomopathogenic nematodes Steinernema bicornutum and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora in the laboratory

The acorn weevil, Curculio glandium Marsham, is an important forest pest of oak trees in most of countries as well as Iran. The pest disturbs regeneration of host trees by feeding on their acorn. The necessitate to control the pest as well as limitations of chemical pesticide application in natural resources, different indigenous entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs): Heterorhabditis bacteriophora and Steinernema bicornutum were tested under laboratory conditions upon the fifth instar larvae of acorn weevil collected from Arasbaran forest. In the first experiment, penetration assay was conducted using a suspension of 4000 IJs of the EPNs per 1 ml distilled water in multi-well plates. The plates were incubated for 40 h at 25ºC and dead larvae were dissected. Penetration percentage was %1.6 for H. bacteriophora and %0.55 for S. bicornutum. In the second experiment, H. bacteriophora and S. bicornutum were applied at different concentrations (0, 150, 250, 500, 1000 and 2000 IJs per 1ml of distilled water) in the 9 cm Petri plates lined with filter papers in order to test their capability of parasitization of the fifth instar larvae of C. glandium. The experiments were conducted at two temperature ranges (21-24ºC and 25-28ºC). Maximum mortality caused by H. bacteriophora and S. bicornutum were %58.3, %25 (at 21-24ºC) and %63.5, %30.5 (at 25-28ºC), respectively. Therefore, H. bacteriophora caused higher larval mortality comparing to S. bicornutum at both temperature ranges. Analysis of variance revealed significant nematode species and concentration as well as temperature effects on larval mortality. By increasing of concentration of nematode and temperature, larval mortality was raised. The highest penetration in larva and the highest mortality of fifth instar larvae of C. glandium was observed for H. bacteriophora under the both temperature ranges. Based on probit analysis, the LC50 of H. bacteriophora at two temperature ranges of 21-24ºC and 25-28ºC were determined 1331 and 1037 IJs/ml, respectively. Regression analysis showed significant relationship between concentrations and larval mortality in both nematodes and both temperature ranges. Therefore, H. bacteriophora comparing to S. bicornutum is more effective and can be suggested for complementary studies toward finding a suitable biocontrol agent of the pest

Physicochemical and sensorial properties of grapefruit jams as affected by processing

Jam is an effective and tasty way of preserving fruit. Jam processing procedures as well as storage conditions and duration are important factors for jam quality. Traditional jam processing involves the application of severe thermal treatments that imply undesirable changes in the product quality characteristics such as colour, texture, flavour and nutritional and functional value. In this work, osmotic dehydration (OD) and/or microwave energy (MW) was proven as adequate to obtain jam with the typical characteristics of water content, degree Brix, pH and water activity of jam obtained by conventional thermal heating. The sensory evaluation carried out to compare the product showed that samples submitted to more intense heating treatments (conventional or MW) had significantly higher scores in colour saturation, brightness, grapefruit taste and extensibility than OD or OD+MW ones. As deduced from the obtained results, OD treatment prevents grapefruit colour changes, and mild MW heating contributes to increase the consistency and decrease the extensibility of the obtained jam. In this way, OD+MW jam was preferred by assessors mainly due to its higher consistency. The sample obtained by this procedure was stable during storage.The authors would like to thank the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia for the financial support given throughout the Project AGL 2005-05994. The language revision of this paper was funded by the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain.Igual Ramo, M.; García Martínez, EM.; Camacho Vidal, MM.; Martínez Navarrete, N. (2013). Physicochemical and sensorial properties of grapefruit jams as affected by processing. Food and Bioprocess Technology. 6(1):177-185. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-011-0696-2S17718561AENOR (2009). Sensory analysis. Methodology. Paired comparison test. UNE-EN-ISO 5495.AOAC. (2000). Official methods of analysis of AOAC International (17th ed.). Gaithersburg: AOAC International.Baker, R.-A., Berry, N., Hui, Y.-H., & Barrett, D.-M. (2005). Fruit preserves and jams. In Processing fruits: science and technology (2nd ed., pp. 113–125). Boca Ratón: CRC Press.Bodart, M., de Peñaranda, R., Deneyer, A., & Flamant, G. (2008). Photometry and colorimetry characterisation of materials in daylighting evaluation tools. Building and Environment, 43, 2046–2058.BOE (1990). Real Decreto 670/1990, de 25 de mayo, por el que se aprueba la norma de calidad para confituras, jaleas y marmalade de frutas, crema de castañas y mermelada de frutas. BOE Nº 130 (31/5/1990), 15140–15144.Bourne, M. (1982). Food texture and viscosity—concept and measurement. New York: Academic.Cañumir, J.-A., Celis, J.-E., Brujin, J., & Vidal, L. (2002). Pasteurisation of apple juice by using microwaves. Lebensmittel-Wissenschaft und Technologie, 35, 389–392.Contreras, C., Martín-Esparza, M.-E., Martínez-Navarrete, N., & Chiralt, A. (2008). Influence of microwave application on convective drying: effects on drying kinetics, and optical and mechanical properties of apple and strawberry. Journal of Food Engineering, 88, 55–64.Dervisi, P., Lamb, J., & Zabetakis, I. (2001). High pressure processing in jam manufacture: effects on textural and color properties. Food Chemistry, 73, 85–91.Deyhim, F., Garica, K., Lopez, E., Gonzalez, J., Ino, S., Garcia, M., et al. (2006). Citrus juice modulates bone strength in male senescent rat model of osteoporosis. Nutrition, 22(5), 559–563.García-Martínez, E., Ruiz-Diaz, G., Martínez-Monzó, J., Camacho, M.-M., Martínez-Navarrete, N., & Chiralt, A. (2002). Jam manufacture with osmodehydrated fruit. Food Research International, 35, 301–306.Igual, M., García-Martínez, E., Camacho, M.-M., & Martínez-Navarrete, N. (2010a). Effect of thermal treatment and storage on the stability of organic acids and the functional value of grapefruit juice. Food Chemistry, 118, 291–299.Igual, M., Contreras, C., & Martínez-Navarrete, N. (2010b). Non-conventional techniques to obtain grapefruit jam. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies, 11(2), 335–341.Meilgaard, M., Civille, G.-V., & Carr, B.-T. (1999). Attribute differences test. Pairwise ranking test: Friedman analysis. Sensory evaluation techniques (pp. 103–106). Boca Ratón: CRC Press.Moraga, M.-J., Moraga, G., Fito, P. J., & Martínez-Navarrete, N. (2009). Effect of vacuum impregnation with calcium lactate on the osmotic dehydration kinetics and quality of osmodehydrated grapefruit. Journal of Food Engineering, 90, 372–379.Nikdel, S., Chen, C., Parish, M., MacKellar, D., & Friedrich, L. (1993). Pasteurization of citrus juice with microwaves energy in a continuous-flow unit. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 41, 2116–2119.Poulose, S.-M., Harris, E.-D., & Patil, B.-S. (2005). Citrus limonoids induce apoptosis in human neuroblastoma cells and have radical scavenging activity. Journal of Nutrition, 135, 870–877.Sanchez-Moreno, C., Plaza, L., De Ancos, B., & Cano, M.-P. (2003). Quantitative bioactive compounds assessment and their relative contribution to the antioxidant capacity of commercial orange juices. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 83, 430–439.Shi, X.-Q., Chiralt, A., Fito, P., Serra, J., Escoin, C., & Gasque, L. (1996). Application of osmotic dehydration technology on jam processing. Drying Technology, 14(3&4), 841–857.Tárrega, A., & Costell, E. (2007). Colour and consistency of semi-solid dairy desserts: instrumental and sensory measurements. Journal of Food Engineering, 78, 655–661.Vanamala, J., Reddivari, L., Yoo, K.-S., Pike, L.-M., & Patil, B.-S. (2006). Variation in the content of bioactive flavonoid in different brands of orange and grapefruit juices. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 19(2–3), 157–166.Wicklund, T., Rosenfeld, H.-J., Martinsen, B.-K., Sundførb, M.-W., Lea, P., Bruun, T., et al. (2005). Antioxidant capacity and colour of strawberry jam as influenced by cultivar and storage conditions. LWT-Food Science and Technology, 38(4), 387–391.Yu, L.-L., Zhou, K.-K., & Parry, J. (2005). Antioxidant properties of cold-pressed black caraway, carrot, cranberry, and hemp seed oils. Food Chemistry, 91, 723–729

Nematode endoparasites do not codiversify with their stick insect hosts.

Host-parasite coevolution stems from reciprocal selection on host resistance and parasite infectivity, and can generate some of the strongest selective pressures known in nature. It is widely seen as a major driver of diversification, the most extreme case being parallel speciation in hosts and their associated parasites. Here, we report on endoparasitic nematodes, most likely members of the mermithid family, infecting different Timema stick insect species throughout California. The nematodes develop in the hemolymph of their insect host and kill it upon emergence, completely impeding host reproduction. Given the direct exposure of the endoparasites to the host's immune system in the hemolymph, and the consequences of infection on host fitness, we predicted that divergence among hosts may drive parallel divergence in the endoparasites. Our phylogenetic analyses suggested the presence of two differentiated endoparasite lineages. However, independently of whether the two lineages were considered separately or jointly, we found a complete lack of codivergence between the endoparasitic nematodes and their hosts in spite of extensive genetic variation among hosts and among parasites. Instead, there was strong isolation by distance among the endoparasitic nematodes, indicating that geography plays a more important role than host-related adaptations in driving parasite diversification in this system. The accumulating evidence for lack of codiversification between parasites and their hosts at macroevolutionary scales contrasts with the overwhelming evidence for coevolution within populations, and calls for studies linking micro- versus macroevolutionary dynamics in host-parasite interactions

Distribution and New Host Plants of Seed Beetles (Col.: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae) from Iran

This report is part of a national project for gathering and classifying the arthropod seed feeders in different provinces of Iran between 2008–2014. In this paper, nineteen host species with their areas of distribution are presented for twelve species of seed beetles (Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae). Most of the identified host plants (84%) belong to the family Fabaceae (Leguminosae). In addition, all known hosts for these beetles are discussed. The identified species in this study were confirmed by Dr. Alex Delobel in the Natural history Museum of Paris. The studied material is deposited in the arthropod collection of Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands

Tychiini and Mecinini (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Curculioninae) of Iran: eleven species recorded for the first time, with new data on host plants and distribution of several species

A faunistic study on the tribes Tychiini and Mecinini (Curculionidae, Curculioninae) was carried out during the years 2010-2013 in different ecological regions of Iran. Twenty nine species belonging to the genera Mecinus Germar, 1821, Gymnetron Schoenherr, 1825, Rhinusa Stephens, 1829, Cleopomiarus Pierce, 1919, Tychius Germar, 1817 and Sibinia Germar, 1817 were collected. Localities and ecological notes on each species are provided. Among these, The following 11 species are new to the Iranian fauna: Mecinus crassifemur (Arzanov, 1991), Mecinus simus (Mulsant & Rey, 1859), Gymnetron linkei Reitter, 1907, Rhinusa antirrhini (Paykull, 1800), Rhinusa brondelii (H. Brisout de Barneville, 1862), Rhinusa florum (Rübsaamen, 1895), Tychius reitteri Faust, 1889, Tychius tridentinus Penecke, 1922, Sibinia aureofulva (Desbrochers des Loges, 1875), Sibinia pellucens (Scopoli, 1772), Sibinia unicolor Fảhraeus, 1843, whereas all other 18 species are new for one or more provinces. Host plants of several species reported for the first time and commented as well