Haplodiploidy and the evolution of facultative sex ratios in a primitively eusocial bee

In eusocial Hymenoptera, the haplodiploid system of sex determination creates relatedness asymmetries such that workers are more closely related on average to their sisters than to their brothers. For such societies, kin-selection theory and sex-ratio theory predict that workers maximize their inclusive fitness by biasing the investment sex ratio toward females. To test the prediction of sex-ratio biasing, relatedness asymmetries were experimentally manipulated in colonies of the primitively eusocial bee Augochlorella striata (Halictidae: Hymenoptera) by removing or not removing foundress queens. Queenright colonies (relatedness asymmetry present) produced a more female-biased sex ratio than did queenless colonies (relatedness asymmetry absent). Worker reproduction and unmated replacement queens can be discounted as alternative explanations. Workers therefore facultatively adjusted their colony's sex ratio and, in the presence of a relatedness asymmetry, biased the investment sex ratio toward their more closely related sisters and away from their more distantly related brothers.     

Behavioral control of workers by queens in primitively eusocial bees

Queens of Lasioglossum zephyrum, a primitively eusocial bee, are considerably more active than workers. The queen's behavior stimulates worker activities; removal of the queen results in a marked reduction in activities of other bees. The queen not only activates workers but also directs them by a primitive recruitment behavior suggestive of tandem running of highly eusocial ants.     

Studies on the inheritance of insect resistance of Bt cotton

以Bt棉R-1、R-2及常规品种鄂棉22、鄂抗棉3号为亲本配制了3个组合的F     

Larval testes of the tobacco budworm: a new source of insect ecdysteroids

Testes of last-instar larvae of the tobacco budworm release five times more ecdysteroid into incubation medium (judged by radioimmunoassay) in 2.5 hours than is found in testis homogenates. Incubation of testicular components indicates that the testis sheath may be the site of ecdysteroid synthesis. Fractionation of hemalymph, testis homogenate, and incubation medium by high-performance liquid chromatography produces a distinct ecdysteroid pattern in each case. Thus, released testis ecdysteroids are probably converted to other forms for use, sequestration, or general circulation. Their functions are unknown.     

玉米转Bt基因后代的抗虫性鉴定及其遗传分析

采用田间接虫鉴定与室内PCR扩增，对玉米4个遗传背景，2个不同回交世代转基因材料进行了抗虫性鉴定．结果表明：回交3代、4代转基因材料平均抗虫性与其阴性对照相比达到了显著或极显著水平，外源Bt基因在回交后代中符合孟德尔定律1:1的分离比例．在4个遗传背景共98株含Bt基因的单株中，田间抗虫性表现高抗73株，抗5株，中抗7株，感2株，高感11株，抗虫株率占86．7％．     

Lack of fitness cost and inheritance of resistance to abamectin based on the establishment of a near-isogenic strain of Tetranychus urticae

Many populations of the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, have developed high levels of resistance to the pesticide abamectin in China and other countries. This study developed a near-isogenic line to understand better the inheritance, cross-resistance, and fitness costs associated with abamectin resistance in the field population of T. urticae in China. We introduced the trait that confers extremely high abamectin resistance in a field-collected population of T. urticae into a susceptible laboratory strain (IPP-SS) to generate an abamectin-resistant near-isogenic line (NIL-Aba). This process was carried out through multiple backcrossing to IPP-SS and via parthenogenesis and abamectin screening. Compared with IPP-SS, the NIL-Aba strain had a 25 147-fold resistance to abamectin and a high level of cross-resistance to bifenthrin (288.17-fold), an intermediate level to emamectin benzoate (42.57-fold), and low levels to bifenazate, chlorfenapyr, cyflumetofen, cyenopyrafen, and cyetpyrafen with resistance ranging from 3.18- to 9.31-fold. But it had no cross-resistance to profenofos. The resistance to abamectin in NIL-Aba was autosomal, incompletely dominant, and polygenic. Based on two sex life table parameters, no fitness cost was found in NIL-Aba. Establishing the NIL-Aba strain provides a reliable basis for an in-depth study of abamectin resistance in T. urticae. New information on toxicological characteristics and fitness cost should facilitate the management of abamectin resistance in field populations of T. urticae.     

Sea-level fingerprinting as a direct test for the source of global meltwater pulse IA

The ice reservoir that served as the source for the meltwater pulse IA remains enigmatic and controversial. We show that each of the melting scenarios that have been proposed for the event produces a distinct variation, or fingerprint, in the global distribution of meltwater. We compare sea-level fingerprints associated with various melting scenarios to existing sea-level records from Barbados and the Sunda Shelf and conclude that the southern Laurentide Ice Sheet could not have been the sole source of the meltwater pulse, whereas a substantial contribution from the Antarctic Ice Sheet is consistent with these records.     

Rapid spread of a bacterial symbiont in an invasive whitefly is driven by fitness benefits and female bias

Maternally inherited bacterial symbionts of arthropods are common, yet symbiont invasions of host populations have rarely been observed. Here, we show that Rickettsia sp. nr. bellii swept into a population of an invasive agricultural pest, the sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, in just 6 years. Compared with uninfected whiteflies, Rickettsia-infected whiteflies produced more offspring, had higher survival to adulthood, developed faster, and produced a higher proportion of daughters. The symbiont thus functions as both mutualist and reproductive manipulator. The observed increased performance and sex-ratio bias of infected whiteflies are sufficient to explain the spread of Rickettsia across the southwestern United States. Symbiont invasions such as this represent a sudden evolutionary shift for the host, with potentially large impacts on its ecology and invasiveness.     

生物技术是农业科技创新的源头动力

利用生物技术对生物遗传信息进行操作,在动物、植物、微生物所有的物种间进行基因的转移和重组,可以创造出新物种,由此动物、植物、微生物育种进入了一个崭新的时期。通过对生物技术的概述、现状和进展成果的阐述,引证其是农业科技创新源头的动力。     

A direct repeat is a hotspot for large-scale deletion of human mitochondrial DNA

Kearns-Sayre syndrome (KSS) and progressive external ophthalmoplegia (PEO) are related neuromuscular disorders characterized by ocular myopathy and ophthalmoplegia. Almost all patients with KSS and about half with PEO harbor large deletions in their mitochondrial genomes. The deletions differ in both size and location, except for one, 5 kilobases long, that is found in more than one-third of all patients examined. This common deletion was found to be flanked by a perfect 13-base pair direct repeat in the normal mitochondrial genome. This result suggests that homologous recombination deleting large regions of intervening mitochondrial DNA, which previously had been observed only in lower eukaryotes and plants, operates in mammalian mitochondrial genomes as well, and is at least one cause of the deletions found in these two related mitochondrial myopathies.     

Laying Eggs in a Neighbor's Nest: Benefit and Cost of Colonial Nesting in Swallows

Intraspecific brood parasitism (laying eggs in another's nest) occurs widely in colonial cliff swallows (Passeriformes: Hirundinidae: Hirundo pyrrhonota). In colonies consisting of more than ten nests, up to 24 percent of the nests were sometimes parasitized by colony members. Laying eggs in a conspecific's nest may be a benefit of coloniality for parasitic individuals and simultaneously may represent a cost to host individuals within the same colony.     

Microtus: A Simple Method of Recording Time Spent in the Nest

A prairie vole, Microtus ochrogaster, was tagged with a radioactive label, a survey meter was placed over its nest, and the presence or absence of the animal in the nest was recorded on tape.     

节瓜性型遗传规律研究初报

采用遗传学的方法，对节瓜纯雌株与正常株、全雄株杂交的F1、F2、BC1代的花性分离规律进行了研究。结果表明，节瓜的花性主要由2对独立分离基因控制，纯雌株型、全雄株型分别由2对纯合或1对纯合1对杂合基因控制；纯雌株的基因型为Aabb或Aabb，全雄株的基因型为aaBB或AABb，其他组合的表现型均为正常株。     

Loss of intraspecific aggression in the success of a widespread invasive social insect

Despite the innumerable ecological problems and large economic costs associated with biological invasions, the proximate causes of invasion success are often poorly understood. Here, evidence is provided that reduced intraspecific aggression and the concomitant abandonment of territorial behavior unique to introduced populations of the Argentine ant contribute to the elevated population densities directly responsible for its widespread success as an invader. In the laboratory, nonaggressive pairs of colonies experienced lower mortality and greater foraging activity relative to aggressive pairs. These differences translated into higher rates of resource retrieval, greater brood production, and larger worker populations.     

麻官塘水库堤坝白蚁蚁群分布型研究

麻官塘水库300 m长的大堤内挖出30个囟土白蚁蚁巢,用聚集强度指数分析各蚁巢在堤段的水平和垂直分布格局,求得麻官塘水库堤坝白蚁水平分布、垂直分布强度指数均是C>1,CA>0,00,表明该水库堤坝白蚁蚁群水平方向和垂直方向分布均是聚集格局。     

Mantophasmatodea: a new insect order with extant members in the Afrotropics

A new insect order, Mantophasmatodea, is described on the basis of museum specimens of a new genus with two species: Mantophasma zephyra gen. et sp. nov. (one female from Namibia) and M. subsolana sp. nov. (one male from Tanzania). This is the first time since 1914 that a newly described extant insect taxon has proved unplaceable within a recognized order. Mantophasmatodeans are apterous carnivores. Their closest phylogenetic relationships may be to Grylloblattodea (ice-crawlers) and/or Phasmatodea (stick insects), but the morphological evidence is ambiguous. Raptophasma Zompro from Baltic amber is assigned to the Mantophasmatodea, revealing a wider previous range for the lineage.     

害虫生防新靶标——昆虫中肠围食膜的研究进展

围食膜是无脊椎动物所特有的一种半透性膜状结构,昆虫的围食膜是由中肠细胞分泌形成的,根据分泌细胞在中肠所处的位置,可将围食膜分为Ⅰ型和Ⅱ型。由于围食膜紧贴中肠内壁,包裹着食物,因此具有保护中肠上皮细胞和有助于食物消化吸收的功能。围食膜主要是由几丁质和蛋白组装而成,由此可以寻找到其潜在的害虫防治的新靶标位点。文章重点论述了昆虫围食膜的形成机制、结构组成以及目前以围食膜为靶标的害虫防治最新进展。