The Effects of Different Wavelengths of Light on Tribolium castaneum

Citation: Pfannenstiel, L. (2017). The Effects of Different Wavelengths of Light on Tribolium castaneum . 1st Annual Undergraduate Research Experience in Entomology Symposium, November 16, 2016. Manhattam, KS.Insects are known to be able to see different wavelengths of lights than humans can see. Because of this, there has been a lot of research done into using light to prevent damage caused by storedproduct pests. Common pests that research has been performed on are psocids (Diaz-Montano et al., 2015) and fruit flies (Saranwong et al., 2011). One of the biggest pests of stored-products is the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum. Research on the attraction of different wavelengths of light has already been done on these beetles and published (Duehl et al., 2011), and my project mirrors that research. My hypothesis was that the shorter wavelengths of light would attract red flour beetles while the longer wavelengths of light would have no effect. My results show that, compared to a white light, the shorter wavelength light attracted more beetles. Compared to no light, there wasn’t a definite trend in wavelength of lights and attractiveness. The attractiveness of short-wavelength lights could be used to make traps for red flour beetles more effective and prevent damage to storedgrains

Survey of Trogoderma species (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) associated with international trade of dried distiller’s grains and solubles in the USA: Presentation

Dried distiller’s grains and solubles, DDGS, is a valuable commodity with substantial international trade. Vietnam discovered an infestation of Trogoderma inclusum, an actionable quarantine pest, in DDGS from the USA in 2012. All subsequent shipments to Vietnam were required to be fumigated. A shipment to Vietnam from the USA 2015 was then discovered with T. variabile. We surveyed the presence and activity of T. inclusum and T. variabile at locations in the USA that provide DDGSs for shipment to Vietnam. Seven facilities in four states that either produced DDGSs or that facilitated bulk shipments were studied. Pheromone traps were deployed at each location and monitored for several weeks. T. variaible was trapped at all seven sites while T. inclusum was trapped at just five of these. T. variabile were captured in nearly every trapping period and at higher numbers than T. inclusum at five locations, while two locations captured more T. inclusum than T. variabile. Spatial variation seemed to occur within each site, but there was no common pattern among facilities. Substantial numbers of beetles were caught in the outdoor sticky flight traps for most locations, except for relatively low flight trap numbers at locations 1, 4 and 6. The results show that T. variabile and T. inclusum are commonly associated with DDGSs produced in the USA, that these beetles could infest product being shipped overseas, and provide information that can be used to develop risk assessment and pest management programs for the future.Dried distiller’s grains and solubles, DDGS, is a valuable commodity with substantial international trade. Vietnam discovered an infestation of Trogoderma inclusum, an actionable quarantine pest, in DDGS from the USA in 2012. All subsequent shipments to Vietnam were required to be fumigated. A shipment to Vietnam from the USA 2015 was then discovered with T. variabile. We surveyed the presence and activity of T. inclusum and T. variabile at locations in the USA that provide DDGSs for shipment to Vietnam. Seven facilities in four states that either produced DDGSs or that facilitated bulk shipments were studied. Pheromone traps were deployed at each location and monitored for several weeks. T. variaible was trapped at all seven sites while T. inclusum was trapped at just five of these. T. variabile were captured in nearly every trapping period and at higher numbers than T. inclusum at five locations, while two locations captured more T. inclusum than T. variabile. Spatial variation seemed to occur within each site, but there was no common pattern among facilities. Substantial numbers of beetles were caught in the outdoor sticky flight traps for most locations, except for relatively low flight trap numbers at locations 1, 4 and 6. The results show that T. variabile and T. inclusum are commonly associated with DDGSs produced in the USA, that these beetles could infest product being shipped overseas, and provide information that can be used to develop risk assessment and pest management programs for the future

Bioassay of Solubilized \u3ci\u3eBacillus thuringiensis\u3c/i\u3e var. \u3ci\u3eisraelensis\u3c/i\u3e Crystals by Attachment to Latex Beads

Solubilized crystals of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis were 7,000 times less toxic to Aedes aegypti larvae than intact crystals, presumably because mosquito larvae are filter feeders and selectively concentrate particles while excluding water and soluble molecules. A procedure is described whereby soluble toxins are adsorbed to 0.8- micrometer latex beads, with retention of toxicity. The latex bead assay should make it possible to analyze the structure and mode of action of the mosquito toxin

Structural Disulfide Bonds in the \u3ci\u3eBacillus thuringiensis\u3c/i\u3e subsp. \u3ci\u3eisraelensis\u3c/i\u3e Protein Crystal

We examined disulfide bonds in mosquito larvicidal crystals produced by Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis. Intact crystals contained 2.01 x 10-8 mol of free sulfhydryls and 3.24 x 10--8 mol of disulfides per mg of protein. Reduced samples of alkali-solubilized crystals resolved into several proteins, the most prominent having apparent molecular sizes of 28, 70, 135, and 140 kilodaltons (kDa). Non-reduced samples contained two new proteins of 52 and 26 kDa. When reduced, both the 52- and 26-kDa proteins were converted to 28-kDa proteins. Furthermore, both bands reacted with antiserum prepared against reduced 28-kDa protein. Approximately 50% of the crystal proteins could be solubilized without disulfide cleavage. These proteins were 70 kDa or smaller. Solubilization of the 135- and 140-kDa proteins required disulfide cleavage. Incubation of crystals at pH 12.0 for 2 h cleaved 40% of the disulfide bonds and solubilized 83% of the crystal protein. Alkali-stable disulfides were present in both the soluble and insoluble portions. The insoluble pellet contained 12 to 14 disulfides per 100 kDa of protein and was devoid of sulfhydryl groups. Alkali-solubilized proteins contained both intrachain and interchain disulfide bonds. Despite their structural significance, it is unlikely that disulfide bonds are involved in the formation or release of the larvicidal toxin

Structural Disulfide Bonds in the \u3ci\u3eBacillus thuringiensis\u3c/i\u3e subsp. \u3ci\u3eisraelensis\u3c/i\u3e Protein Crystal

We examined disulfide bonds in mosquito larvicidal crystals produced by Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis. Intact crystals contained 2.01 x 10-8 mol of free sulfhydryls and 3.24 x 10--8 mol of disulfides per mg of protein. Reduced samples of alkali-solubilized crystals resolved into several proteins, the most prominent having apparent molecular sizes of 28, 70, 135, and 140 kilodaltons (kDa). Non-reduced samples contained two new proteins of 52 and 26 kDa. When reduced, both the 52- and 26-kDa proteins were converted to 28-kDa proteins. Furthermore, both bands reacted with antiserum prepared against reduced 28-kDa protein. Approximately 50% of the crystal proteins could be solubilized without disulfide cleavage. These proteins were 70 kDa or smaller. Solubilization of the 135- and 140-kDa proteins required disulfide cleavage. Incubation of crystals at pH 12.0 for 2 h cleaved 40% of the disulfide bonds and solubilized 83% of the crystal protein. Alkali-stable disulfides were present in both the soluble and insoluble portions. The insoluble pellet contained 12 to 14 disulfides per 100 kDa of protein and was devoid of sulfhydryl groups. Alkali-solubilized proteins contained both intrachain and interchain disulfide bonds. Despite their structural significance, it is unlikely that disulfide bonds are involved in the formation or release of the larvicidal toxin

Die blande Struma

Eine mechanische Teil-Indikation kann auch schon bei blander Struma des Stadium I bestehen. Die Indikation auf Wunsch des Patienten ist berechtigt, wenn die Schilddrüsenhormonbehandlung erfolglos oder wenig aussichtsreich ist. Die prophylaktischdiagnostische Operationsindikation wird nach Abwägung von statistischem und individuellem Malignom- und Operationsrisiko gestellt. Letztere Indikation überwiegt heute bei weitem. — Die Kropf-Prophylaxe mit jodiertem Speisesalz könnte die mittlere Strumafrequenz in der Bundesrepublick von 15 auf 3 % reduzieren.Surgical treatment can be justified already for nontoxic goiter stage I (WHO) because of tracheal stenosis. Surgery for cosmetic reasons may be adequate, if treatment with thyroid hormones is neither successful nor promising. Diagnostic (histologic) or prophylactic reasons are today the most frequent causes for surgery, in order to detect or avoid thyroid malignancies. — Iodine prophylaxis is advocated in the Federal Republic of Germany, where iodine deficiency and endemic goiter (15 %) are still prevalent

Recruitment of latent pools of high-avidity CD8+ T cells to the antitumor immune response

A major barrier to successful antitumor vaccination is tolerance of high-avidity T cells specific to tumor antigens. In keeping with this notion, HER-2/neu (neu)-targeted vaccines, which raise strong CD8+ T cell responses to a dominant peptide (RNEU420-429) in WT FVB/N mice and protect them from a neu-expressing tumor challenge, fail to do so in MMTV-neu (neu-N) transgenic mice. However, treatment of neu-N mice with vaccine and cyclophosphamide-containing chemotherapy resulted in tumor protection in a proportion of mice. This effect was specifically abrogated by the transfer of neu-N–derived CD4+CD25+ T cells. RNEU420-429-specific CD8+ T cells were identified only in neu-N mice given vaccine and cyclophosphamide chemotherapy which rejected tumor challenge. Tetramer-binding studies demonstrated that cyclophosphamide pretreatment allowed the activation of high-avidity RNEU420-429-specific CD8+ T cells comparable to those generated from vaccinated FVB/N mice. Cyclophosphamide seemed to inhibit regulatory T (T reg) cells by selectively depleting the cycling population of CD4+CD25+ T cells in neu-N mice. These findings demonstrate that neu-N mice possess latent pools of high-avidity neu-specific CD8+ T cells that can be recruited to produce an effective antitumor response if T reg cells are blocked or removed by using approaches such as administration of cyclophosphamide before vaccination

The Role of TLR4 in the Paclitaxel Effects on Neuronal Growth In Vitro

Paclitaxel (Pac) is an antitumor agent that is widely used for treatment of solid cancers. While being effective as a chemotherapeutic agent, Pac in high doses is neurotoxic, specifically targeting sensory innervations. In view of these toxic effects associated with conventional chemotherapy, decreasing the dose of Pac has been recently suggested as an alternative approach, which might limit neurotoxicity and immunosuppression. However, it remains unclear if low doses of Pac retain its neurotoxic properties or might exhibit unusual effects on neuronal cells. The goal of this study was to analyze the concentration-dependent effect of Pac on isolated and cultured DRG neuronal cells from wild-type and TLR4 knockout mice. Three different morphological parameters were analyzed: the number of neurons which developed neurites, the number of neurites per cell and the total length of neurites per cell. Our data demonstrate that low concentrations of Pac (0.1 nM and 0.5 nM) do not influence the neuronal growth in cultures in both wild type and TLR4 knockout mice. Higher concentrations of Pac (1-100 nM) had a significant effect on DRG neurons from wild type mice, affecting the number of neurons which developed neurites, number of neurites per cell, and the length of neurites. In DRG from TLR4 knockout mice high concentrations of Pac showed a similar effect on the number of neurons which developed neurites and the length of neurites. At the same time, the number of neurites per cell, indicating the process of growth cone initiation, was not affected by high concentrations of Pac. Thus, our data showed that Pac in high concentrations has a significant damaging effect on axonal growth and that this effect is partially mediated through TLR4 pathways. Low doses of Pac are devoid of neuronal toxicity and thus can be safely used in a chemomodulation mode. © 2013 Ustinova et al