Association between CD14 gene polymorphisms and disease phenotype in sarcoidosis

SummaryAlthough the etiology of sarcoidosis is unknown, genetic susceptibility has been demonstrated. Granuloma formation is a key feature in the pathophysiology of sarcoidosis and Crohn’s Disease, raising the possibility that these diseases share common pathogenetic pathways. An association between sarcoidosis and the protein “CD14”, a molecule that is part of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) cell surface receptor complex, has been suggested.In the current study we evaluated the CD14 gene promoter 159 C→T polymorphic site and soluble CD14 levels in a cohort of 74 sarcoidosis patients compared to 85 healthy controls. We further sought to identify correlations between clinical phenotype, specific genotypes and soluble CD14 levels.We found the TT genotype to be more prevalent in the sarcoidosis patient group than in controls (p=0.03). Serum levels of soluble CD14 were higher in the sarcoidosis patients (p=0.001). Within the patient cohort, CC homozygous patients presented at an older age with milder disease as assessed with the SAC score, longer time to diagnosis, and less impairment of pulmonary function tests.Our study suggests a role of CD14 in the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis, and a clinical phenotype-genotype association. Further mechanistic and epidemiologic studies are needed in order to establish the specific role of CD14 in the etiology, pathogenesis and clinical phenotype of sarcoidosis

Scientific and technological developments in mating disruption of scale insects

[EN] Mating disruption (MD) is a species-specific and environmentally friendly pest management tactic based on the release of synthetic sex pheromones aiming to interrupt the mate-finding communication and prevent mating in the target pest. The present work aims to provide an overview of the current scientific and technical knowledge on mating disruption of scale pests (Hemiptera: Coccoidea). Biparental scales are suitable targets for mating disruption (technically, MD is not suitable for parthenogenetic scales), as the females have a limited spreading ability, and adult males are short lived and have a narrow window of time for mate searching. In this perspective, delayed mating also plays an important role by reducing female attractiveness and population growth potential. The mechanisms involved in MD of scales are most likely assigned to `competitive disruption¿ rather than `noncompetitive¿ mechanisms, although no specific studies addressed this issue. Mating disruption has been commercially developed and increasingly applied against the vine mealybug Planococcus ficus (Signoret) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) and the California red scale Aonidiella aurantii (Maskell) (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) to a lesser extent. Critical factors affecting MD effectiveness are the pest density and effective disruption late in the season. Mating disruption applied to scale pests is effective in small plots and compatible with biological control and integrated management programs. In conclusion, MD has a high potential for management of scale pests, providing that key factors such as technological advances in pheromone synthesis and pheromone formulations, elucidation of disruption mechanisms, and simplification of the registration process are addressed.The authors wish to thank Alejandro Carbonell and Teresa Gadea (EPA, Ecologia y Proteccion Agricola SL), Ignacio de Alfonso (Suterra LCC), David Haviland (University of California), and Vittorio Veronelli (CBC Europe) for providing insightful information on the application and spread of mating disruption. Funding was provided by Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia I.P., Portugal, to Centro de Estudos Florestais (UIDB/00239/2020), and by the University of Catania in the framework of the research project `Emergent pests and pathogens and relative sustainable strategies -5A722192113'.Franco. José Carlos; Cocco, A.; Lucchi, A.; Mendel, Z.; Suma, P.; Vacas, S.; Mansour, R.... (2022). Scientific and technological developments in mating disruption of scale insects. Entomologia Generalis. 42(2):251-273. https://doi.org/10.1127/entomologia/2021/1220S25127342

Presence of the Eucalyptus gall wasp Ophelimus maskelli and its parasitoid Closterocerus chamaeleon in Portugal: first record, geographic distribution and host preference

The Eucalyptus gall wasp Ophelimus maskelli (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) and its parasitoid Closterocerus chamaeleon (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) were observed for the first time in Portugal, in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Data on the distribution of O. maskelli in Portugal, differences in the susceptibility of two host species, Eucalyptus globulus and Eucalyptus camaldulensis, and parasitism by C. chamaeleon are given

Genetic diversity and host alternation of the egg parasitoid Oencyrtus pityocampae between the pine processionary moth and caper bug

Research ArticleThe increased use of molecular tools for species identification in recent decades revealed that each of many apparently generalist parasitoids are actually a complex of morphologically similar congeners, most of which have a rather narrow host range. Ooencyrtus pityocampae (OP), an important egg parasitoid of the pine processionary moth (PPM), is considered a generalist parasitoid. OP emerges from PPM eggs after winter hibernation, mainly in spring and early summer, long before the eggs of the next PPM generation occurs. The occurrence of OP in eggs of the variegated caper bug (CB) Stenozygum coloratum in spring and summer suggests that OP populations alternate seasonally between PPM and CB. However, the identity of OP population on CB eggs seemed uncertain; unlike OP-PPM populations, the former displayed apparently high male/female ratios and lack of attraction to the PPM sex pheromone. We studied the molecular identities of the two populations since the morphological identification of the genus Ooencyrtus, and OP in particular, is difficult. Sequencing of COI and ITS2 DNA fragments and AFLP analysis of individuals from both hosts revealed no apparent differences between the OP-PPM and the OP-CB populations for both the Israeli and the Turkish OPs, which therefore supported the possibility of host alternation. Sequencing data extended our knowledge of the genetic structure of OP populations in the Mediterranean area, and revealed clear separation between East and West Mediterranean populations. The overall level of genetic diversity was rather small, with the Israeli population much less diverse than all others; possible explanations for this finding are discussed. The findings support the possibility of utilizing the CB and other hosts for enhancing biological control of the PPMinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Plasticity in dendroclimatic response across the distribution range of Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis)

We investigated the variability of the climate-growth relationship of Aleppo pine across its distribution range in the Mediterranean Basin. We constructed a network of tree-ring index chronologies from 63 sites across the region. Correlation function analysis identified the relationships of tree-ring index to climate factors for each site. We also estimated the dominant climatic gradients of the region using principal component analysis of monthly, seasonal, and annual mean temperature and total precipitation from 1,068 climatic gridpoints. Variation in ring width index was primarily related to precipitation and secondarily to temperature. However, we found that the dendroclimatic relationship depended on the position of the site along the climatic gradient. In the southern part of the distribution range, where temperature was generally higher and precipitation lower than the regional average, reduced growth was also associated with warm and dry conditions. In the northern part, where the average temperature was lower and the precipitation more abundant than the regional average, reduced growth was associated with cool conditions. Thus, our study highlights the substantial plasticity of Aleppo pine in response to different climatic conditions. These results do not resolve the source of response variability as being due to either genetic variation in provenance, to phenotypic plasticity, or a combination of factors. However, as current growth responses to inter-annual climate variability vary spatially across existing climate gradients, future climate-growth relationships will also likely be determined by differential adaptation and/or acclimation responses to spatial climatic variation. The contribution of local adaptation and/or phenotypic plasticity across populations to the persistence of species under global warming could be decisive for prediction of climate change impacts across populations. In this sense, a more complex forest dynamics modeling approach that includes the contribution of genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity can improve the reliability of the ecological inferences derived from the climate-growth relationships.This work was partially supported by Spanish Ministry of Education and Science co-funded by FEDER program (CGL2012-31668), the European Union and the National Ministry of Education and Religion of Greece (EPEAEK- Environment – Archimedes), the Slovenian Research Agency (program P4-0015), and the USDA Forest Service. The cooperation among international partners was supported by the COST Action FP1106, STREeSS

Prof. José Carlos Franco Awarded the ISSIS Recognition in Scale Insect Science

Prof. José Carlos Franco Santos Silva has been awarded the ISSIS recognition for his scientific achievements and significant contributions in the science of scale insects on July, 2016 in the city of Catania, Sicily. José was recognized for his important studies on mealybug and their natural enemies. José was born in 1960 in Sacavém, Loures (northeast of Lisbon), Portugal. His entire career has been at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia. This famous institute, located in Tapada da Ajuda, in the heart of Lisbon, has roots since 1852, when the Instituto Agricola e Escola Regional de Lisboa was established. José began his studies in the Instituto Superior de Agronomia in 1982and received his undergraduate degree in 1985. In 1988 he completed his MSc in Plant Production. Jose spent his PhD years as an assistant in the Department of Plant Protection and later in Plant Ecology. His PhD research was devoted to study of mealybug ecology in citrus groves under the supervision Prof. Pedro Amaro. Since 1999 José is Professor of Entomology and Plant Protection at the High Institute of Agronomy of the University of Lisbon, and serves also as researcher at Centro de Estudos Florestais. José ’s scope of interest is wide, covering several lines of studies, however, the center of his scientific activity is empirical research focusing on biology and behavior of scale insects, their natural enemies and associates. He is an expert and leader in both IPM and habitat management. Indeed, his research is the state of the art in these disciplines. Jose is involved in extensive international activity as well as being, the chief editor of the journal Phytoparasitica. José’s favorite models are citrus orchards and vineyards. José is also a pioneer in the integration of semiochemicals and biological control tactics in scale insect management. Jose explores new sampling methods of insect populations, and performs basic research in reproductive biology of mealybugs, host- parasitoid interactions, and in the searching behavior of natural enemies of mealybugs. José has published some 40 reviewed papers, most of them contribute to the science of scale insects. José collaborates with scientist in many countries. This is reflected in his numerous research partners and by his vigorous activities as an organizer of scientific workshops and congresses. José’s research interests includevarious pests of fruit trees and vineyards. His great passion for mealybugs always leads him to discover something new about scale insects. Among his major achievements is the understanding of the role of mealybug sex pheromone in the sexual behavior of the male, the various kairomonal responses of their parasitoids, and the function of mealybug defense system against parasitoids. José is a gifted teacher. He has supervised over 40 MSc and PhD students. He loves learning, teaching, and is beloved by his students, earning their appreciation as well as their affection. At the same time José continueshis collaboration with growers who feel the same about him and his contribution to pest management in general and scale insect in particular. José is among the active members of ISSIS who are the lifeblood of these symposia

Scale Insect Research Award for Prof. Manuela Branco

Manuela Branco was honored in absentia during the XIV ISSIS meeting, held in Catania, Italy, from June 13th - 16th, 2016, for her achievements in the study of scale insects. She was born in October 1960 in Vila Real, Trás-os-Montes, in the North of Portugal, a land of forests and vineyards. Although she has been living in Lisbon all her lifetime, most of her holidays up to the age of 16 were spent with her grandmother in the North. She believes that her passion for forests and nature comes from those times. She is married with Orlando, and mother of two sons, João and Miguel, and a daughter, Beatriz. She completed her studies in Forestry and Natural Resources at the School of Agronomy (ISA), in the Technical University of Lisbon, in 1984. The project of her graduation was carried out at the National Institute of Forest Research (NIFR) and was dedicated to study the phenotypic variability of the honeybee. She proceeded working at NIFR for two years. Already in 1986, she was appointed lecturer at the Forestry Department of ISA and taught in several courses, including Apiculture, Animal Resources, Invertebrates Biology, Animal Biology, Ecology and Forest Protection. In 1993, she obtained a Master degree in Statistics and Probability from the Faculty of Sciences, at the University of Lisbon; her thesis was done on modelling the population dynamics of honeybee colonies. In the same year, she enrolled in the University of Wales, College of Cardiff, UK for her PhD in Applied Biology, under the supervision of Robert Stewart Pickard and Neil Kidd. She completed the PhD thesis in 1997, addressing the population dynamics of Varroa destructor, a parasite of the honeybee. In 2006, she obtained her post-doctoral qualification as the highest academic degree [habilitation] at the Technical University of Lisbon. During her academic career she supervised 2 post-doc and 4 PhD students, and more than 30 MSc thesis or final graduation reports. She published 52 papers in international journals, and more than 50 other publications, including 12 book chapters. Her research activity has been focusing on forest entomology and forest protection, with special attention to insect ecology and biological control. She started working on scale insects in the end of the 1990 ́s. Much of her activity in this field has been directed to pine bast scales (Matsucoccus spp. ) and mealybugs (Pseudococcidae), with major attention on biological control and chemical ecology aspects of these insects. Among her interesting findings was the discovery of the kairomonal attraction of Matsucoccus predators to the sex pheromone of their prey (Branco et al. 2006a, 2006b, 2011). Manuela and her research partners also shed light on the bioecology of the ladybird Iberorhyzobius rondensis (Raimundo et al. 2006; Tavares et al. 2014, 2015a, 2015b). Among of her impressive achievements was the modelling of spread distance of scale insect males and natural enemies (Branco et al. 2006c). Lately, she has been intensively involved in the study of the relationships between mealybugs and their parasitoids (Bugila 2014a, 2014b, 2015). She is an active partner in ISSIS meetings since 2001. She attended ISSIS-IX, Padua, Italy (2001), ISSIS-X, Adana, Turkey (2004), ISSIS-XII, Crete, Greece (2010), and organized with José Carlos Franco the ISSIS-XI, at Oeiras, Portugal (2007), editing the corresponding proceedings (Branco et al. 2008)

Modelling response of insect trap captures to pheromone dose

We developed a model to predict the dose response pattern in insect captures with sex-pheromone traps. This simulation model enables the testing of three basic assumptions on the links between pheromone dosage and trap catches: (i) the attraction range increases with dose; (ii) for a given dose, the capture size decreases with distance as a logistic function; (iii) for a given distance, the probability that the insect is attracted by the lure increases with dosage. Field data accumulated in our previous studies on the effect of the pheromone dose on the attraction of males of three scale insects - Matsucoccus feytaudi, M. josephi (Hemiptera: Matsucoccidae) and Planococcus citri (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) - and on the kairomonal attraction of three predators of M. feytaudi - Elatophilus crassicornis, E. nigricornis (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) and Hemerobius stigma Stephens (Neuroptera: Hemerobiidae) - was used to validate the model. Additionally, a field trial was conducted in a citrus grove infested by P. citri, in order to assess the parameters of the function that relates probability of capture to distance from the lure. The parameter estimates were subsequently used in the model simulation. The numbers of captures predicted by the model were similar to those observed in the field for all species and sites (r(2) >= 0.91). Model parameters differed according to species but not to site. Differences in population density accounted for the differences in captures observed in different areas. P. citri was an exception to this, in that differences in the male dose response parameters were observed between the tested Portuguese population and the Italian and Israeli populations. The model can be adapted to evaluate information regarding the effect of population size on the maximal attraction distance and trapping efficienc

Morphological and molecular taxonomy of Nidularia balachowskii Bodenheimer (Hemiptera, Coccoidea, Kermesidae) with notes on its life history in Israel

Descriptions and illustrations of the adult female and first-instar nymph of the kermesid Nidularia balachowskii Bodenheimer, based on the adult female lectotype and paralectotype (here designated), and new material collected from Israel are presented. A key for the identification of first-instar nymphs of Nidularia spp. is offered. Molecular identification of N. balachowskii, using nucleotide sequences from the D2–D3 region of the 28S ribosomal gene, and the mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) gene, is presented. Morphological and molecular analyses confirm that N. balachowskii is closely related to other species within the Kermesidae. In Israel, this species develops only on Quercus ithaburensis and is univoltine. This is the first detailed report of N. balachowskii from Israel

Specificity of pheromonal and kairomonal response of the Israeli pine bast scale Matsucoccus josephi and its predator Elatophilus hebraicus

Abstract-It has been demonstrated previously that the sex pheromone of the Israeli pine bast scale, Matsucoccus josephi, (2E,5R,6E,8E )-5,7-dimethyl-2,6,8-decatrien-4-one (1) is also a potent kairomone of the scale insect's predator Elatophilus hebraicus. Surprisingly, the sex pheromones of M. feytaudi (2) and M. matsumurae (3) also attract E. hebraicus. These results have prompted us to prepare a series of analogs of 1 with variations in the two moieties attached to the C --O group (4-9) in order to probe the structure-activity relationship of the pheromonal / kairomonal response of M. josephi and E. hebraicus. The most selective and active pheromone analog is 8, attracting only M. josephi males and the most selective and active kairomone analog is the M. feytaudi pheromone 2, attracting only adults of E. hebraicus. A dose-response field test of these analogs and the chiral and racemic M. josephi pheromone 1 indicates that the specificity is maintained at a broad range between 25 and 400 mg corresponding to 1. Analog 5, which is neither a parapheromone nor a kairomone, and analog 8, which is only a parapheromone, are not inhibitory to M. josephi or to E. hebraicus. Our study indicates that alterations in the diene side chain of 1, common to all three Matsucoccus pheromones, strongly reduce the kairomonal activity while structural changes in the second side chain significantly reduce the pheromonal activity. The discovery of selective analogs of 1 has practical implications and enables specific monitoring of M. josephi or E. hebraicus. Particularly important is the possibility to mass-trap males of M. josephi without reducing the population of E. hebraicus