Recognition of foreign oviposition-marking pheromone in a multi-trophic context

Both phytophagous and parasitic insects deposit oviposition-marking pheromones (OMPs) following oviposition that function to inform conspecifics of a previously utilized host of reduced suitability. The blueberry maggot fly, Rhagoletis mendax Curran (Diptera: Tephritidae), deposits eggs individually into blueberries and then marks the fruit surface with an OMP which reduces acceptance of fruit for oviposition by conspecifics. Diachasma alloeum (Muesebeck) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a parasitic wasp attacking larval R. mendax which also deposits an OMP, signaling conspecifics of a wasp-occupied host. Behavioral studies were conducted testing the hypothesis that the OMP of the parasitic wasp modifies the oviposition behavior of its host fly. In this study, we show that the OMP of D. alloeum is recognized by R. mendax, and female flies will reject wasp-marked fruit for oviposition. Thus, we present a rare demonstration of pheromonal recognition between animals occupying different taxonomic orders and trophic levels. This chemical eavesdropping may enhance the ability of the fly to avoid fruit unsuitable for larval development.     

Identification of Bacillus methylotrophicus and its application in preventing fly maggot production in the environment北大核心CSCD

This research aimed to screen Bacillus spp. to prevent the production of fly maggot on kitchen wastes from soil in the experimental bases of the South China Agricultural University. A nutrient-rich medium was used to isolate the Bacillus spp. with high temperature treatment. The seventeen Bacillus strains were obtained and assigned to three groups by using Insertion Sequence based PCR (IS-PCR) DNA fingerprinting patterns. The homology of the 16S rDNA gene was 100% between Group I and Bacillus methylotrophicus CBMB 205T, 99.61% between Group II and Bacillus aerophilus 28KT, and 99.87% between Group III and Bacillus cereus ATCC 14579T. The results of kitchen waste tests proved that the representative bacteria of Group I RF2 had the ability to prevent fly maggot production on kitchen wastes. Furthermore, the results of physiological and biochemical tests, carbon utilization tests, and antagonists against plant pathogen tests showed that the bacteria from Group I RF2 had the ability to decompose glucose into pyruvate and then decarboxylate pyruvate to diacetyl under alkaline conditions, convert ammonia to intracellular amino acids or other kinds of nitrogenous compounds, use many kinds of carbon source for self-growth, and be antagonistic against plant pathogenic rice sheath blight disease, banana fusarium wilt, and Fusarium oxysporum. Besides, the bacteria from RF2 could secret organic acids to dissolve insoluble phosphate [Ca3(PO4)2] for its own growth by decreasing the pH. Group I RF2 was a strong plant-promotion bacterium, and had good prospects of application for preventing fly maggot production on kitchen wastes. © 2018 Science Press. All rights reserved.     

Metabolic responses of indigenous bacteria in chicken faeces and maggots to multiple antibiotics via heavy water labeled single-cell Raman spectroscopy

The use of maggots derived from chicken faeces as fish diets might serve as a vehicle for the widespread of multiple antibiotic resistant bacteria(ARB) in the environment. Heavy water labeled single-cell Raman spectroscopy(D 2 O-Raman) was applied to detect the metabolic responses of indigenous bacteria in chicken faeces and maggots to different concentrations of combined colistin, kanamycin, and vancomycin. By incubating the samples with D 2 O and antibiotics, metabolically active bacterial cel...     

城市公共厕所对环境的卫生学研究

本文介绍了通过现场调查和实验研究,对六个城市的564座公共厕所进行了分析,结果为:水冲式公厕较非水冲式公厕卫生条件好,用卫生学指标评价水冲式公厕也明显好于非水冲式公厕.水冲式公厕臭气氨的浓度最低值0.11mg/m~3,最高值13.72mg/m~3,硫化氢最低值未检出,最高值0.006mg/m~3;蝇平均少于30只,蛆基本无.非水冲式公厕臭气氨的浓度最低值0.3mg/m~3,最高值26.47mg/m~3.硫化氢最低值未检出,最高值0.385mg/m~3;蝇平均多于30只顺每厕蹲位内多于15尾.研究表明公厕恶臭气体、蝇及她对城市环境和生态有明显的污染,应引起重视并加强改造和管理.     

Differences in the electroantennal responses of apple- and hawthorn-infesting races of Rhagoletis pomonella to host fruit volatile compounds

Summary. Domestic apple (Malus pumila)- and hawthorn (Crataegus sp.)-infesting races of Rhagoletis pomonella, Walsh (Diptera: Tephritidae) provide an excellent model to examine the role that host plant specificity plays during sympatric speciation (i.e., divergence in the absence of geographic isolation). Previous work has shown that these races differ in their propensities to accept apple and hawthorn fruits in behavioral choice assays, and that this discrimination translates into "host fidelity" in the field (i.e., apple flies tend to mate on and oviposit into apples and hawthorn flies on hawthorns). ?We present the results of a study examining possible physiological factors contributing to host choice differences in R. pomonella. We tested whether apple and hawthorn flies differ in their electroantennogram (EAG) responses to biologically relevant volatile compounds emitted from apples and hawthorns. Significant differences were found in the relative EAG responses of apple and hawthorn flies to host fruit compounds at five of six paired study sites across the eastern United States. The geographic pattern of EAG variation was complex, however, with local populations of apple and hawthorn flies tending to be more similar to one another than to flies of the same race at distant sites. This pattern was largely due to EAG responses for several compounds showing longitudinal or latitudinal clines, the latitudinal clines being similar to those observed for allozyme loci in the host races. We also found evidence for sex-related differences, as males tended to have higher mean EAG responses to compounds than females. Host-associated differences were therefore nested within geographic and sex-related differentiation in R. pomonella.?Further behavioral studies are needed to distinguish whether the EAG differences are responsible for, as opposed to being a consequence of, host-plant fidelity and adaptation. Crosses are also required to establish a genetic basis for the EAG responses, although we did find significant correlations between EAG scores for several compounds and the allozymes NADH-Diaphorase-2 and Hydroxyacid dehydrogenase at one of the study sites. Questions therefore remain concerning the evolutionary significance of the EAG response differences between apple and hawthorn fly races. Nevertheless, these differences raise the possibility that antennal responses to fruit-related volatile compounds contribute to host plant discrimination in R. pomonella. Regardless, the EAG responses represent another set of traits, in addition to diapause/eclosion time phenotypes and allozyme frequencies, differing between apple and hawthorn host races of R. pomonella. Received 17 March 1998; accepted 21 September 1989.