Spatial Pattern of Host Tree Size, Rather than of Host Tree Itself, Affects the Infection Likelihood of a Fungal Stem Disease.

The spatial pattern of diseased forest trees is a product of the spatial pattern of host trees and the disease itself. Previous studies have focused on describing the spatial pattern of diseased host trees, and it remains largely unknown whether an antecedent spatial pattern of host/nonhost trees affects the infection pattern of a disease and how large the effect sizes of the spatial pattern of host/nonhost trees and host size are. The results from trivariate random labeling showed that the antecedent pattern of the host ash tree, , but not of nonhost tree species, impacted the infection pattern of a stem fungal disease caused by .

Most dominant roles of insect gut bacteria: digestion, detoxification, or essential nutrient provision?

Background: The insect gut microbiota has been shown to contribute to the host's digestion, detoxification, development, pathogen resistance, and physiology. However, there is poor information about the ranking of these roles. Most of these results were obtained with cultivable bacteria, whereas the bacterial physiology may be different between free-living and midgut-colonizing bacteria.

Molecular characterization of diapause hormone and pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide from the black-back prominent moth, Clostera anastomosis (L.) (Lepidoptera, Notodontidae).

Using a strategy of rapid amplification of cDNA ends, the cDNA of diapause hormone (DH) and pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PBAN) was cloned from the head of Clostera anastomosis (L.). The Cloan-DH-PBAN cDNA contains an open reading frame encoding a 196-amino acid preprohormone, from which five putative FXPRL peptides, DH, PBAN, alpha-SGNP(SGNP, suboesophageal ganglion neuropeptide), beta-SGNP and gamma-SGNP, are released.