Social bees have been extensively studied for their gut microbial functions, but the significance of the gut microbiota in solitary bees remains less explored. Solitary bee, females provision their offspring with pollen from various plant species, harboring a diverse microbial community that colonizes larvae guts. The is the most abundant microbe, but evidence concerning the effects of and other provision microbes on growth and survival are lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe solitary bee Osmia lignaria is a native pollinator in North America with growing economic importance. The life cycle of O. lignaria provides a unique opportunity to compare the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying two ecologically contrasting dormancies within the same species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInsects exposed to constant low temperatures (CLT) exhibit high rates of mortality as well as a variety of sublethal effects. In many species, interruptions of CLT with brief pulses of warm temperatures (fluctuating thermal regimes, FTR) lead to increases in survival and fewer sublethal effects. However, we still lack a complete understanding of the physiological mechanisms activated during FTR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is an economically important pest insect of potatoes. Understanding how the mechanisms driving its invasiveness vary between sexes will be critical for developing modern control methods. However, the currently available methods for sexing adult Colorado potato beetles are either inefficient or unsuitable for projects that require RNA as an input, like those measuring gene expression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNovel gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor (GABAR) ligands structurally related to imidazobenzodiazepine MIDD0301 were synthesized using spiro-amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs). These compounds demonstrated increased resistance to phase 2 metabolism and avoided the formation of a 6H isomer. Compound design was guided by molecular docking using the available crystal structure of the αβγ GABAR and correlated with in vitro binding data.
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