Fitness of (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on Cultivated Wheat and a Weed, Wild Oat (), and Its Implications for Pest Management.

(Walker), a significant migratory pest in many Asian countries, can cause severe damage to wheat crops. Understanding whether wild oat can serve as an alternate host is important for informing predictive models of infestation levels in wheat fields and can improve pest and weed management strategies. We first conducted both choice and no-choice experiments and found that readily laid eggs on both wheat and wild oat, with no significant oviposition preference.

Characterization of sulfakinin and its role in larval feeding and molting in Spodoptera frugiperda.

Feeding and molting are particularly important physiological processes for insects, and it has been reported that neuropeptides are involved in the nervous regulation of these 2 processes. Sulfakinin (SK) is an important neuropeptide that is widely distributed among insects and plays a pivotal role in regulating feeding, courtship, aggression, and locomotion. In this study, we investigated the involvement of SK in feeding and molting on a highly notorious pest insect, the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda.

Strigolactones Regulate Secondary Metabolism and Nitrogen/Phosphate Signaling in Tea Plants via Transcriptional Reprogramming and Hormonal Interactions.

Strigolactones (SLs) are known to regulate plant architecture formation, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) responses, and secondary metabolism, but their effects in tea plants remain unclear. We demonstrated that the application of a bioactive SL analogue GR24 either to tea roots or leaves initially stimulated but later inhibited catechins, theanine, and caffeine biosynthesis. GR24 treatment also promoted the accumulation of flavonols and insoluble proanthocyanidins in a time- and dose-dependent manner.

Shorten spreading duration enhance the quality of summer Meitan Cuiya tea.

Meitan Cuiya (MTCY), a representative green tea from Guizhou, China, may exhibit lower quality in summer due to increased bitterness and astringency. Spreading is a common method to enhance tea quality, but its impact on summer MTCY remains unclear. This study combined transcriptomics and volatile metabolomics to investigate the effects of spreading duration on quality of summer fresh tea leaves and MTCY.

New (Massarinaceae, Dothideomycetes) and (Incertae sedis, Sordariomycetes) species associated with walnut ( L.) in China.

Six collections of ascomycetes were obtained from samples collected from dead branches and leaves of in Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, China. By incorporating multigene phylogenetic analysis (ITS, LSU, , SSU, , ) supplemented by morphological data, we establish two novel species, namely and . In morphology, can be distinguished from by its narrower conidia (13-16 µm vs.

RNAi of nuclear receptor E78 inhibits the cuticle formation in the molting process of spider mite, Tetranychus urticae.

Background: The two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, is an important pest mite in agriculture worldwide. E78, as a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily and a downstream responsive gene of ecdysteroids, plays a crucial role in regulating physiological behaviors such as development and reproduction in insects. However, its function in mites remains unclear.

Discosia brasiliensis causing Discosia leaf blight on tea plant (Camellia sinensis) in China.

Tea (Camellia sinensis), a perennial evergreen shrub, is one of the most important cash crops in China. Tea leaves with symptoms of wilt disease was observed in Fengqing County, Lincang City, Yunnan Province, China. Large irregular jujube-red necrotic spots appeared on the leaves of tea plants, and the lesions with grayish white edge were accompanied by a certain degree of shrinkage.

Genome-wide association mapping reveals novel genes and genomic regions controlling root-lesion nematode resistance in chickpea mini core collection.

Root-lesion nematodes (RLN) pose a significant threat to chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) by damaging the root system and causing up to 25% economic losses due to reduced yield. Worldwide commercially grown chickpea varieties lack significant genetic resistance to RLN, necessitating the identification of genetic variants contributing to natural resistance.

Metagenomic profiling of gut microbiota in Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) larvae fed on different host plants.

Background: The fall armyworm (FAW, Spodoptera frugiperda) is a polyphagous pest known for causing significant crop damage. The gut microbiota plays a pivotal role in influencing the biology, physiology and adaptation of the host. However, understanding of the taxonomic composition and functional characteristics of the gut microbiota in FAW larvae fed on different host plants remains limited.

The ATP-binding cassette transporter subfamily G member 4 mediates cuticular hydrocarbon transport to regulate drought tolerance in Acyrthosiphon pisum.

ABC transporters are a highly conserved membrane protein class that promote the transport of substances across membranes. Under drought conditions, insects primarily regulate the content of cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) to retain water and prevent evaporative loss. Involvement of ABC transporter protein G (ABCG) subfamily genes in insect CHC transport has been relatively understudied.

Overexpression of , an F-box gene from , increased the plant branching in tobacco and rice.

Tea plant ( [.]) is one of the most important crops in China, and tea branch is an important agronomic trait that determines the yield of tea plant. In previous work focused on GWAS that detecting GWAS signals related to plant architecture through whole genome re-sequencing of ancient tea plants, a gene locus TEA 029928 significantly related to plant type was found.

Neuropeptide natalisin regulates reproductive behaviors in Spodoptera frugiperda.

Natalisin (NTL) is a conserved neuropeptide, only present in insects, that has been reported to regulate their sexual activity. In this study, we investigated the involvement of NTL in the reproductive behaviors of a major invasive pest, Spodoptera frugiperda. We identified NTL precursor-encoded transcripts, and evaluated their transcript levels in different stages and tissues of S.

Zinc Treatment of Tea Plants Improves the Synthesis of Trihydroxylated Catechins via Regulation of the Zinc-Sensitive Protein CsHIPP3.

The tea plant ( [L.] O. Kussntze) is a global economic crop.

CsMOF1-guided regulation of drought-induced theanine biosynthesis in Camellia sinensis.

The distinctive flavor and numerous health benefits of tea are attributed to the presence of theanine, a special amino acid found in tea plants. Nitrogen metabolite is greatly impacted by drought; however, the molecular mechanism underlying the synthesis of theanine in drought-stricken tea plants is still not clear. Through the drought transcriptome data of tea plants, we have identified a gene CsMOF1 that appears to play a role in theanine biosynthesis under drought stress, presenting a significantly negative correlation with both theanine content and the expression of CsGS1.

Identification, expression profiles, and binding properties of chemosensory protein 18 in Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae).

Chemosensory proteins (CSPs) are highly efficient carry tools to bind and deliver hydrophobic compounds, which play an important role in the chemosensory process in insects. The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), is a cosmopolitan pest that attacks cruciferous crops.

Systemic resistance induced in tomato plants by Beauveria bassiana-derived proteins against tomato yellow leaf curl virus and aphid Myzus persicae.

Background: Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an economically important vegetable crop around the globe. Tomato yellow leaf curling (TYLC) is the most devastating viral disease posing a serious threat to tomato production throughout the tropical and subtropical world.

Multi-environment evaluation of rice genotypes: impact of weather and culm biochemical parameters against sheath blight infection.

Introduction: Sheath blight caused by is one of the major diseases of rice, causing widespread crop losses. The use of semi-dwarf rice varieties in the ongoing nutrient-intensive rice cultivation system has further accentuated the incidence of the disease. An ideal solution to this problem would be identifying a stable sheath blight-tolerant genotype.

Effects of a chitosan nanoparticles encapsulation on the properties of litchi polyphenols.

Litchi polyphenols have very specific biological activities. Nevertheless, the low and inconsistent oral bioavailability and instability hinder the further application of litchi polyphenols in food systems. This work prepared litchi polyphenols loaded chitosan nanoparticles (LP-CSNPs) by ionic gelation method to enhance the encapsulation on the properties of litchi polyphenols.

The transcription factor CsS40 negatively regulates expression and caffeine biosynthesis in connection to leaf senescence in .

Caffeine is considered as one of the most important bioactive components in the popular plant beverages tea, cacao, and coffee, but as a wide-spread plant secondary metabolite its biosynthetic regulation at transcription level remains largely unclear. Here, we report a novel transcription factor () as a caffeine biosynthesis regulator, which was discovered during screening a yeast expression library constructed from tea leaf cDNAs for activation of tea caffeine synthase () promoter. Besides multiple hits of the non-self-activation CsS40 clones that bound to and activated promoter in yeast-one-hybrid assays, a split-luciferase complementation assay demonstrated that acts as a transcription factor to activate the gene and EMSA assay also demonstrated that CsS40 bound to the gene promoter.

Genomics, transcriptomics, and peptidomics of the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella neuropeptides and their expression in response to lead stress.

Neuropeptides are crucial in regulation of a rich variety of developmental, physiological, and behavioral functions throughout the life cycle of insects. Using an integrated approach of multiomics, we identified neuropeptide precursors in the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella, which is a harmful pest of honeybee hives with a worldwide distribution. Here, a total of 63 and 67 neuropeptide precursors were predicted and annotated in the G.