Wolbachia infection in populations of the coniferous forest pest Dendrolimus superans sibiricus Tschetverikov, 1908 (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae)

Siberian silk moth (Dendrolimus superans sibiricus) is a very dangerous pest of coniferous trees, in particular, larch and various pine species. Outbreaks of this pest lead to defoliation and forest destruction in a vast area of the Asian part of Russia. Many biological agents, such as viruses, pathogenic microorganisms and parasitoids, prevent the growth of Siberian silk moth population. Here we consider non-pathogen symbiotic Wolbachia bacteria, which are transovarially transmitted between specimens from mother to offspring. This symbiont has an ability to affect biology of its host. In theory, Wolbachia can prevent the growth of population size or induce it, which determines the focus of interest in Wolbachia-host investigation. Two samples from a Siberian silk moth population collected in 2014 and 2016 in Khabarovsk area were studied for Wolbachia infection. We found a high Wolbachia prevalence in the population of Siberian silk moth, in particular, the sample of 2014 was totally infected and the sample of 2016 had 90 % infected specimens. There were at least two distinct Wolbachia strains reveled by analysis of two loci from the MLST protocol, namely f tsZ-36, f bpA-4 and f tsZ-22, f bpA-9. In this study, a possible role of Wolbachia in the symbiotic association with Siberian silk moth and general ways of investigation of this symbiosis are discussed

Multifractality in Time Series

We apply the concepts of multifractal physics to financial time series in order to characterize the onset of crash for the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index x(t). It is found that within the framework of multifractality, the "analogous" specific heat of the S&P500 discrete price index displays a shoulder to the right of the main peak for low values of time lags. On decreasing T, the presence of the shoulder is a consequence of the peaked, temporal x(t+T)-x(t) fluctuations in this regime. For large time lags (T>80), we have found that C_{q} displays typical features of a classical phase transition at a critical point. An example of such dynamic phase transition in a simple economic model system, based on a mapping with multifractality phenomena in random multiplicative processes, is also presented by applying former results obtained with a continuous probability theory for describing scaling measures.Comment: 22 pages, Revtex, 4 ps figures - To appear J. Phys. A (2000

A thalamic reticular networking model of consciousness

<p>Abstract</p> <p>[Background]</p> <p>It is reasonable to consider the thalamus a primary candidate for the location of consciousness, given that the thalamus has been referred to as the gateway of nearly all sensory inputs to the corresponding cortical areas. Interestingly, in an early stage of brain development, communicative innervations between the dorsal thalamus and telencephalon must pass through the ventral thalamus, the major derivative of which is the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). The TRN occupies a striking control position in the brain, sending inhibitory axons back to the thalamus, roughly to the same region where they receive afferents.</p> <p>[Hypotheses]</p> <p>The present study hypothesizes that the TRN plays a pivotal role in dynamic attention by controlling thalamocortical synchronization. The TRN is thus viewed as a functional networking filter to regulate conscious perception, which is possibly embedded in thalamocortical networks. Based on the anatomical structures and connections, modality-specific sectors of the TRN and the thalamus appear to be responsible for modality-specific perceptual representation. Furthermore, the coarsely overlapped topographic maps of the TRN appear to be associated with cross-modal or unitary conscious awareness. Throughout the latticework structure of the TRN, conscious perception could be accomplished and elaborated through accumulating intercommunicative processing across the first-order input signal and the higher-order signals from its functionally associated cortices. As the higher-order relay signals run cumulatively through the relevant thalamocortical loops, conscious awareness becomes more refined and sophisticated.</p> <p>[Conclusions]</p> <p>I propose that the thalamocortical integrative communication across first- and higher-order information circuits and repeated feedback looping may account for our conscious awareness. This TRN-modulation hypothesis for conscious awareness provides a comprehensive rationale regarding previously reported psychological phenomena and neurological symptoms such as blindsight, neglect, the priming effect, the threshold/duration problem, and TRN-impairment resembling coma. This hypothesis can be tested by neurosurgical investigations of thalamocortical loops via the TRN, while simultaneously evaluating the degree to which conscious perception depends on the severity of impairment in a TRN-modulated network.</p

CYTOTYPES OF MUTANT DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER STOCKS FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE GENETICS OF POPULATION LABORATORY OF THE INSTITUTE OF CYTOLOGY AND GENETICS SB RAS: GENOTYPES OF THE WOLBACHIA ENDOSYMBIONT AND HOST MITOTYPES

Wolbachia is a genus of maternally inherited bacteria that is widespread in field populations of Drosophila melanogaster. However, there are no sufficient data on Wolbachia infection among laboratory mutant stocks. We show the wide prevalence of Wolbachia among 353 mutant stocks from the collection of the Genetics of Populations Laboratory, Institute of Cytology and Genetics (ICG), Novosibirsk, Russia. The endosymbiont has been stably inherited in laboratory stocks for a long period of time. Two uninfected stocks from the collection are considered as a result of bacteria loss during maintaining them in the laboratory. There are three Wolbachia genotypes: wMel, wMelCS, and wMelCS2 in the collection. As endosymbiont is coinherited with mytochondria the definite cytotypes are formed from Wolbachia genotypes and mytotypes. We have revealed four cytotypes: M-MEL, M-w-, S-CS, and S-w– in the collection that had been described earlier for field populations of D. melanogaster. The cytotype and genotype frequency patterns differ significantly from those encountered in the wild, that is accounted for genealogy of each stock

Dryocoetiops krivetsae sp. n. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae: Dryocoetini), the northernmost species of the genus: conflicts between molecular and morphological data in the tribe Dryocoetini

Kerchev, Ivan A., Ilinsky, Yury Yu., Bykov, Roman A., Mandelshtam, Mikhail Yu. (2023): Dryocoetiops krivetsae sp. n. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae: Dryocoetini), the northernmost species of the genus: conflicts between molecular and morphological data in the tribe Dryocoetini. Zootaxa 5369 (2): 269-276, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5369.2.6, URL: https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/download/zootaxa.5369.2.6/5224

FIGURE 2 in Dryocoetiops krivetsae sp. n. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae: Dryocoetini), the northernmost species of the genus: conflicts between molecular and morphological data in the tribe Dryocoetini

FIGURE 2. The maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree of the tribe Dryocoetini based on the 417 bp COI region. The GenBank or BOLD accession numbers are indicated. The new species Dryocoetiops krivetsae is highlighted in bold. Bootstrap (1000 replicates) values higher than 60 are provided. N.B.: synonyms of D. moestus (=D. coffeae and D. cf. eugeniae) are given according to invalid specific epithets listed in GenBank.Published as part of &lt;i&gt;Kerchev, Ivan A., Ilinsky, Yury Yu., Bykov, Roman A. &amp; Mandelshtam, Mikhail Yu., 2023, Dryocoetiops krivetsae sp. n. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae: Dryocoetini), the northernmost species of the genus: conflicts between molecular and morphological data in the tribe Dryocoetini, pp. 269-276 in Zootaxa 5369 (2)&lt;/i&gt; on page 273, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5369.2.6, &lt;a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10150742"&gt;http://zenodo.org/record/10150742&lt;/a&gt

Rare <i>Wolbachia</i> genotypes in laboratory <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> strains

Symbiotic bacteria of the genus Wolbachia are widespread in Drosophila melanogaster populations. Based on the polymorphism of the Wolbachia genome, the symbionts’ diversity in D. melanogaster is presented by two groups: MEL (wMel, wMel2, wMel3 and wMel4) and CS (wMelCS and wMelCS2). The wMel genotype is predominant in natural D. melanogaster populations and is distributed all over the world. The CS genotypes, on the other hand, are of particular interest because it is unclear how they are maintained in the fruit f ly populations since they should have been eliminated from them due to their low frequency and genetic drift or been replaced by the wMel genotype. However, this is not what is really observed, which means these genotypes are supported by selection. It is known that the wMelPlus strain of the wMelCS genotype can increase the lifespan of infected f lies at high temperatures. The same genotype also increases the intensity of dopamine metabolism in Drosophila compared to the MEL-group genotypes. In the present study, we searched for the rare Wolbachia wMelCS and wMelCS2 genotypes, as well as for new genotypes in wild-type D. melanogaster strains and in several mutant laboratory strains. The symbiont was found in all populations, in 200 out of 385 wild-type strains and in 83 out of 170 mutant strains. Wolbachia diversity in D. melanogaster wild-type strains was represented by the wMel, wMelCS and wMelCS2 genotypes. More than 90 % of the infected strains carried wMel; 9 %, wMelCS2; and only two strains were found to carry wMelCS. No new Wolbachia genotypes were found. The northernmost point reported for the wMelCS2 genotype was Izhevsk city (Udmurtia, Russia). For the f irst time the wMelCS2 genotype was detected in D. melanogaster from the Sakhalin Island, and wMelCS, in the f lies from Nalchik (the North Caucasus). A comparison of Wolbachia genetic diversity between the wild-type laboratory strains and previously obtained data on mutant laboratory strains demonstrated differences in the frequencies of rare CS genotypes, which were more prevalent in mutant strains, apparently due to the breeding history of these Drosophila strains

FIGURE 1 in Dryocoetiops krivetsae sp. n. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae: Dryocoetini), the northernmost species of the genus: conflicts between molecular and morphological data in the tribe Dryocoetini

FIGURE 1. Dryocoetiops krivetsae (female), paratype, habitus and details. A–F: habitus; C: frons; G: antennae; D, H: declivity.Published as part of &lt;i&gt;Kerchev, Ivan A., Ilinsky, Yury Yu., Bykov, Roman A. &amp; Mandelshtam, Mikhail Yu., 2023, Dryocoetiops krivetsae sp. n. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae: Dryocoetini), the northernmost species of the genus: conflicts between molecular and morphological data in the tribe Dryocoetini, pp. 269-276 in Zootaxa 5369 (2)&lt;/i&gt; on page 271, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5369.2.6, &lt;a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10150742"&gt;http://zenodo.org/record/10150742&lt;/a&gt

FIGURE 3 in Dryocoetiops krivetsae sp. n. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae: Dryocoetini), the northernmost species of the genus: conflicts between molecular and morphological data in the tribe Dryocoetini

FIGURE 3. The maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree of the tribe Dryocoetini based on the 406 bp 28S rRNA region. The GenBank or BOLD accession numbers are indicated. The new species Dryocoetiops krivetsae is highlighted in bold. Bootstrap (1000 replicates) values higher than 60 are provided. N.B.: Synonyms of D. moestus (=D. coffeae and D. cf. eugeniae) are given according to invalid specific epithets listed in GenBank.Published as part of &lt;i&gt;Kerchev, Ivan A., Ilinsky, Yury Yu., Bykov, Roman A. &amp; Mandelshtam, Mikhail Yu., 2023, Dryocoetiops krivetsae sp. n. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae: Dryocoetini), the northernmost species of the genus: conflicts between molecular and morphological data in the tribe Dryocoetini, pp. 269-276 in Zootaxa 5369 (2)&lt;/i&gt; on page 274, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5369.2.6, &lt;a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10150742"&gt;http://zenodo.org/record/10150742&lt;/a&gt