224 results match your criteria: "U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center[Affiliation]"

Review of surveillance systems for tephritid fruit fly threats in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

J Econ Entomol

February 2024

New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, The Ian Armstrong Building, 105 Prince St, Orange 2800, Australia.

Article Synopsis
  • - Countries in the Pacific region show varied fruit fly surveillance practices despite having common guidelines, using three main parapheromones to trap adult male fruit flies, though some species require alternative attractants.
  • - Factors such as local climate, target species, and chemical regulations influence the choice of traps, lures, and toxicants, impacting trap effectiveness and deployment strategies.
  • - Most countries have standardized procedures for trap inspection and data handling, but advancements in automated trap technologies are changing these practices in response to evolving fruit fly risks from both existing and neighboring species.
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Reference genome for the Mojave poppy bee (Perdita meconis), a specialist pollinator of conservation concern.

J Hered

July 2024

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), Pollinating Insects Research Unit, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States.

The Mojave poppy bee, Perdita meconis Griswold (Hymenoptera: Anthophila: Andrenidae), is a species of conservation concern that is restricted to the eastern Mojave Desert of North America. It is a specialist pollinator of two poppy genera, Arctomecon and Argemone (Papaveraceae), and is being considered for listing under the US Endangered Species Act along with one of its pollinator hosts, the Las Vegas bearpoppy (Arctomecon californica). Here, we present a near chromosome-level genome of the Mojave poppy bee to provide a genomic resource that will aid conservation efforts and future research.

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DATA RESOURCES AND ANALYSES FAIR Header Reference genome: A TRUSTworthy standard.

bioRxiv

December 2023

Arthropod-borne Animal Diseases Research Unit, Center for Grain and Animal Health Research United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 1515 College Ave, Manhattan, KS 66502 USA.

The lack of interoperable data standards among reference genome data-sharing platforms inhibits cross-platform analysis while increasing the risk of data provenance loss. Here, we describe the FAIR-bioHeaders Reference genome (FHR), a metadata standard guided by the principles of Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse (FAIR) in addition to the principles of Transparency, Responsibility, User focus, Sustainability, and Technology (TRUST). The objective of FHR is to provide an extensive set of data serialisation methods and minimum data field requirements while still maintaining extensibility, flexibility, and expressivity in an increasingly decentralised genomic data ecosystem.

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Pilot Testing of an Area-Wide Biological Control Strategy against the Coffee Berry Borer in Colombia Using African Parasitoids.

Insects

November 2023

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, United States Department of Agriculture, District of Columbia (USDA), Washington, DC 20250, USA.

The coffee berry borer (CBB), (Ferrari, 1867) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), native to Africa, is a major global insect pest of coffee. It has invaded many coffee production areas around the world that do not have natural enemies. In this study, two African parasitoids, Waterston (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae) and Waterston (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), were mass-reared for field release against in Chinchiná, Colombia.

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Article Synopsis
  • Model species like Arabidopsis thaliana are essential for advancing plant science and improving our understanding of the land plant evolutionary tree.
  • The research highlights how Arabidopsis can serve as a bridge to explore genetic resources across the entire Brassicales order, linking traits and evolutionary patterns.
  • The authors advocate for establishing a "model clade" approach and propose creating global networks to enhance collaborative studies on Brassicales-wide traits.
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Apple snails of the genus Perry, 1810 (Mollusca: Caenogastropoda: Ampullariidae) are native to the Neotropics and exhibit high species diversity, holding cultural and ecological significance as an important protein source in Peru. However, most genetic studies in have focused mostly on invasive species, especially in Southeast Asia, where they are considered important pests. In this study, we assembled and annotated the mitochondrial genomes of two species native to the Peruvian Amazon: Ampuero & Ramírez, 2023 and (Deville & Hupé, 1850).

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Phylogenomic analysis provides diagnostic tools for the identification of (Diptera: Tephritidae) species complex.

Evol Appl

September 2023

U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center, Tropical Pest Genetics and Molecular Biology Research Unit Hilo Hawaii USA.

Insect pests cause tremendous impact to agriculture worldwide. Species identification is crucial for implementing appropriate measures of pest control but can be challenging in closely related species. True fruit flies of the genus Schiner (Diptera: Tephritidae) include some of the most serious agricultural pests in the Americas, with the (Wiedemann) complex being one of the most important due to its extreme polyphagy and wide distribution across most of the New World tropics and subtropics.

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Gut bacterial population and community dynamics following adult emergence in pest tephritid fruit flies.

Sci Rep

August 2023

Tropical Pest Genetics and Molecular Biology Research Unit, Daniel K Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, 64 Nowelo Street, Hilo, HI, 96720, USA.

Gut microbiota are important contributors to insect success. Host-microbe interactions are dynamic and can change as hosts age and/or encounter different environments. A turning point in these relationships the transition from immature to adult life stages, particularly for holometabolous insects where there is radical restructuring of the gut.

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Hotter days, stronger immunity? Exploring the impact of rising temperatures on insect gut health and microbial relationships.

Curr Opin Insect Sci

October 2023

Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, 3050 Maile Way, Gilmore Hall 513, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. Electronic address:

Climate change can generate cascading effects on animals through compounding stressors. As ectotherms, insects are particularly susceptible to variation in temperature and extreme events. How insects respond to temperature often occurs with respect to their environment, and a pertinent question involves how thermal stress integrates with insect capabilities to resolve interactions with gut microorganisms (microbiome and gut pathogens).

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Beverage mixtures based on pineapple () and turmeric () juice as a ready-to-drink product were developed, and their physicochemical, nutritional, and sensory properties were evaluated. Four different concentrations of turmeric juice (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% (/)) were added to pineapple juice to make turmeric-fortified pineapple (TFP) juice samples. Pineapple juice without turmeric was the control.

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The parasitoid wasp Venturia canescens is an important biological control agent of stored products moth pests and serves as a model to study the function and evolution of domesticated endogenous viruses (DEVs). The DEVs discovered in V. canescens are known as virus-like particles (VcVLPs), which are produced using nudivirus-derived components and incorporate wasp-derived virulence proteins instead of packaged nucleic acids.

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The rusty patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis, is an important pollinator in North America and a federally listed endangered species. Due to habitat loss and large declines in population size, B. affinis is facing imminent extinction unless human intervention and recovery efforts are implemented.

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Food preservation is a critical issue in ensuring food safety and quality. Growing concern around industrial pollution of food and demand for environmentally sustainable food has led to increased interest in developing effective and eco-friendly preservation techniques. Gaseous ClO has gained attention for its strong oxidizing properties, high efficacy in microorganism inactivation, and potential for preserving the attributes and nutritional quality of fresh food while avoiding the formation of toxic byproducts or unacceptable levels of residues.

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Typical delimitation trapping survey designs for area-wide (nonlocalized) insect populations are regularly spaced grids, and alternative shapes have not been evaluated. We hypothesized that transect-based designs could give similar detection rates with significantly shorter servicing distances. We used the TrapGrid model to investigate novel "trap-sect" designs incorporating crossed, spoked, and parallel lines of traps, comparing them to a regular grid, in single survey and multiple-site scenarios.

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Evaluation of bioactive low-density polyethylene (LDPE) nanocomposite films in combined treatment with irradiation on strawberry shelf-life extension.

J Food Sci

May 2023

INRS-Armand Frappier Health Biotechnology Research Centre, Research Laboratories in Sciences, Applied to Food (RESALA), MAPAQ Research Chair in Food Safety and Quality, Canadian Irradiation Center (CIC), Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods (INAF), Laval, Quebec, Canada.

Article Synopsis
  • - A new type of film made of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and reinforced with cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) was developed, containing cinnamon essential oil and silver nanoparticles to help preserve fresh strawberries.
  • - The antimicrobial effectiveness of the films was tested against common bacteria and fungi, with the best results showing over 75% inhibition of microbial growth, particularly in the film containing the active formulation.
  • - Storage trials indicated that the most effective film (with the active formulation) significantly reduced spoilage and weight loss in strawberries, especially when combined with gamma radiation, resulting in up to a 94% decrease in decay after 12 days.
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An electrochemical immunosensor has been developed for the rapid detection and identification of potentially harmful bacteria in food and environmental samples. This study aimed to fabricate a microwire-based electrochemical immunosensor (MEI sensor) for selective detection of and in microbial cocktail samples using dielectrophoresis (DEP)-based cell concentration. A gold-coated tungsten microwire was functionalized by coating polyethylenimine, single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) suspension, streptavidin, biotinylated antibodies, and then bovine serum albumin (BSA) solutions.

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Insect herbivores face multiple challenges to their ability to grow and reproduce. Plants can produce a series of defenses that disrupt and damage the herbivore digestive system, which are heightened upon injury by insect feeding. Additionally, insects face threats from virulent microorganisms that can incur their own set of potential costs to hosts.

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The pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is a major global pest of cotton. Current management practices include chemical insecticides, cultural strategies, sterile insect releases, and transgenic cotton producing crystalline (Cry) protein toxins of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). These strategies have contributed to the eradication of P.

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Anti-inflammatory Quinoline Alkaloids from the Roots of .

J Nat Prod

February 2023

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, University of Hawai'i at Hilo, Hilo, Hawaii 96720, United States.

Sixteen new quinoline alkaloids (-, , , , -, , and ) and 10 known analogs (, , , , -, and -), along with three known cyclopeptide alkaloids (-), were isolated from the roots of . The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by detailed NMR and circular dichroism with computational support and mass spectrometry data interpretation. Anti-inflammatory potential of isolates was evaluated based on inhibition of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α)-induced nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activity with cell culture models.

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RNA virus discoveries in the electric ant, Wasmannia auropunctata.

Virus Genes

April 2023

Fundación para el Estudio de Especies Invasivas, Bolívar 1559, B1686EFA, Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Article Synopsis
  • Researchers have identified five new and one previously known virus genomes from the electric ant (Wasmannia auropunctata) collected in Argentina, suggesting a potential biological control method for this invasive species.
  • The viruses discovered include various types such as dicistrovirus, polycipiviruses, solinvivirus, and others, indicating the diversity of viral infections in the ant species.
  • Notably, these viruses were absent in electric ants collected in the USA, highlighting geographic variation in virus presence and implying that they may not exist in other regions where the electric ant is invasive.
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Article Synopsis
  • - In 2020, symptomatic leaves of hibiscus plants were collected in Oahu, HI, showing signs of mosaic, ringspot, and chlorotic spots, prompting a study.
  • - High-throughput sequencing of the leaves resulted in the identification of two viruses: hibiscus chlorotic ringspot virus and peanut chlorotic streak virus, suggesting they are new species in their respective genera.
  • - Further testing, including RT-PCR and Sanger sequencing, confirmed the presence of these viruses, alongside a survey of 54 additional hibiscus samples to assess their broader distribution on Oahu.
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High-throughput sequencing was used to analyze Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (family Malvaceae) plants with virus-like symptoms in Hawaii. Bioinformatic and phylogenetic analysis revealed the presence of two tobamoviruses, hibiscus latent Fort Pierce virus (HLFPV) and a new tobamovirus with the proposed name "hibiscus latent Hawaii virus" (HLHV). This is the first report of the complete sequence, genome organization, and phylogenetic characterization of a tobamovirus infecting hibiscus in Hawaii.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers studied viral populations in pineapple using RNA-sequencing from samples in Hawaii, identifying two new sadwaviruses, PSV-C and PSV-D.
  • The analysis revealed 69 viral sequences, including previously known viruses like the pineapple bacilliform ER virus, and showcased genetic diversity and recombination in the pineapple mealybug wilt-associated virus complex.
  • The study also developed improved RT-PCR diagnostic tests for reliable detection of these viruses, enhancing surveillance and understanding of viral infections in pineapple crops.
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Insight into weevil biology from a reference quality genome of the boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).

G3 (Bethesda)

February 2023

Insect Control and Cotton Disease Research Unit, Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center, USDA, Agricultural Research Service, 2771 F and B Road, College Station, TX 77845, USA.

The boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman, is one of the most historically impactful insects due to its near destruction of the US cotton industry in the early 20th century. Contemporary efforts to manage this insect primarily use pheromone baited traps for detection and organophosphate insecticides for control, but this strategy is not sustainable due to financial and environmental costs. We present a high-quality boll weevil genome assembly, consisting of 306 scaffolds with approximately 24,000 annotated genes, as a first step in the identification of gene targets for novel pest control.

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