RNAi (RNA interference) is a tool for silencing of target genes through sequence-specific manner. Spodoptera exigua belongs to Noctuidae family of Lepidoptera and is serious threat to crops of economic importance. One of S. exigua chymotrypsin gene (SeCHY2) was cloned into the L4440 vector to produce sequence specific dsRNAs (double-stranded RNAs). Recombinant L4440 vectors were transformed into Escherichia coli strain HT115 (DE3). Oral delivery of bacterially expressed dsRNA gave significant larval mortality. Quantitative real-time PCR results showed that expression level of target SeCHY2 gene in the larval gut tissue was significantly down-regulated. Pretreatment with an ultra-sonication and heating to disrupt bacterial cell wall/membrane significantly increased the insecticidal activity of the transformed bacteria

Insect infestation leads to huge loss of agricultural products and transmission of vector-borne diseases causing millions of deaths per annum. Juvenile hormone (JH) controls the development and reproduction of insects, therefore the grouth of insects can be inhibited by interfering the action of JH. Based on this, we developed a novel insect species-specific screening system to identify juvenile hormone antagonists (JHANs) from natural origin. These compounds can disrupt JH-mediated insect development by interfering the binding of a heterodimer, steroid receptor coactivator (SRC), with its partner protein, the methoprene-tolerant (Met) JH receptor. This screening system could be used as a new tool to develop eco-friendly and species-specific insecticides.

Insect chitinases (CHTs), an extracellular enzyme, belong to family 18 glycosyl hydrolases that hydrolyze chitin by an endo-type manner. In insect genomes, there are a large number of genes encoding CHT-like proteins, and they have been classified into eleven groups based on phylogenetic analysis. In this study, we have investigated functions of a group III chitinase (TcCHT7) in Tribolium castaneum. Although, unlike most insect CHTs, TcCHT7 contains a predicted transmembrane segment in N-terminal, immunohistochemical analysis reveals that it is localized in the newly forming procuticle, suggesting that TcCHT7 is released from the plasma membrane of underlying epidermal cells. RNAi for TcCHT7 does not affect on any types of molting. However the resulting pupae and adults fail to undergo wing-expansion and abdominal contraction. In addition, TcCHT7-deficient insects exhibit ultrastructural defects in both rigid (e.g. elytron) and soft (e.g. hindwing) cuticles. These results demonstrate that functional importance of TcCHT7 in the formation of the rigid and soft cuticles of the beetle.

The leafhopper subfamily, Typhlocybinae (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadellidae), caused direct damage by sap-sucking or indirect damage by transmission of viruses or diseases to the host plants, so Typhlocybinae is one of the most important insect pests in agriculture, urban ecology, forest, etc. in the world. However, their identifications are very difficult due to small size and morphological similarities, and their exact biological information such as host plants and life cycle are not reported yet for most species. So, we construct an integrated biological database that presents accurate diagnostic methods (illustrated key characters, DNA barcoding data), patterns and seasons of occurrences, and some ecological photographs such as dorsal habitus of specimens and plant damages

The subfamily Iassinae Walker belongs to the family Cicadellidae (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). A total of 124 genera with 1,999 species have been described in the world. To date, two genera, Batracomorphus Lewis and Iassus Fabricius, and 5 species of the subfamily have been recorded in Korea. In this talk, one new species and one new record of the genus Batracomorphus and one new species and two new records of the genus Iassus from Korea are presented. And we also provide biological information such as host plants and distributional records of the Korean Iassine species.

Chitin deacetylases (CDAs) are extracellular-modifying enzymes that deacetylate chitin to produce chitosan. Insect CDAs have been divided into five groups based on phylogenetic analysis. We previously reported the functional importance of group I CDAs, TcCDA1 and TcCDA2, from Tribolium castaneum in molting, morphology of cuticle as well as in movement of legs. However, ultrastructure in the cuticle after RNAi for these genes have not been investigated. In this study, we further analyzed precise localization of these proteins and ultrastructural changes/defects of the cuticles in TcCDA1- and TcCDA2-deficient insects. Loss of function of TcCDA1 and TcCDA2 causes disorganized horizontal laminae and vertical pore canals in both rigid (e.g. elytron and ventral body wall) and soft (e.g. hindwing and dorsal body wall) adult cuticles. These results indicate that TcCDA1 and TcCDA2 are critical for development and formation of the beetle cuticles

Ryanodine receptors (RyRs) regulate the contractions of insect muscles by altering intracellular Ca2+ concentration and are the targets of chlorantraniliprole. Here we established two resistant strains of Drosophila melanogaster, which were treated with low or high concentrations of chlorantraniliprole, and their resistance levels were determined on the basis of contact and ingestion toxicities. Compared with the wild type, the two resistant strains did not show any significant differences in contact toxicity. However, they showed significantly increased resistance ratios in ingestion toxicity than that by the wild type. The resistant strains had altered expression levels of RyRs and more enhanced Acetylcholinesterase and Glutathione-S-transferase activities than that by the non-selected strain. These results suggested that the resistance development of chlorantraniliprole in the two strains might be mediated by the activation of detoxification pathways in D. melanogaster.

Maruca vitrata larvae feed on flowers and pods of several leguminous crops, and can severely reduce seed yield. Adult emergence, mating and oviposition behaviors were observed in a 15h/9h=light/dark and 25℃ condition as a base study for monitoring. Emergence occurred mainly during the first five hours of scotophase. Mating occurred from the two days after emergence, and the mated females started to lay eggs from the next day. A maximal mating rate was observed in the night of five days. Mating occurred significantly more often during the time from 2 hours before to 3 hours after lights-off, but older females mated more frequently during the photophase. Electroanntennographic responses of males to some chemicals, and body extracts and volatile collections of females were measured

Morphology of antennal sensilla and their distribution were investigated in male and female adults of Ooencyrtus nezarae, an egg parasitoid of Riptortus pedestris, using scanning electron microscopy. Antennae of O. nezarae was composed of scape, pedicel and seven flagella in both sexes. Six types of sensilla (s. trichodea, s. basiconica, s. chaetica, s. campaniformia, s. sickle-shaped and unknown s.) were identified from both sexes. Among them, s. trichodea and s. sickle-shaped were multiporous, others are not. They distributed in varying numbers. Sexual dimorphism was clearly observed in the distribution of s. trichodea (only on male antennae) and unknown sensilla (only on female antennae). These findings would be helpful for further studies on detailed sex specific-receptive functions of each antennal sensilla.

Dermanyssus gallinae is parasitic to chicken, and they cause many damages such as disturbing sleep reducing for body weight and egg production by blood-sucking. To develop acaricide against D. gallinae, The acaricidal activity of 40 species plant extract were examined. Cnidium officinale extracted by Me-OH showed 82.0% acaricidal activity after treated 48 hrs at 4,000 ppm. The hexane fraction showed 92.4% mortality against D. gallinae at 48 hrs at 2,000 ppm. Purification of the biologically active constituents from the hexane extraction with acaricidal activity was done using silica gel open column chromatography and HPLC. H1122 fraction gave 80.9% mortality to D. gallinae at 400 ppm after treated 48 hrs. H1122 fraction was analyzed by GC-MS and NMR.

Insect cuticle/exoskeleton covering the entire external surface of the body is essential for protecting insects from various environmental stresses. Tyrosine metabolism plays a major role in not only the darkening of cuticle but also its hardening. In this work, we have focused on the functional analysis of nine genes involved in tyrosine-mediated cuticle tanning (pigmentation and sclerotization) pathway in Tenebrio molitor, which has a unique adult cuticle coloration, dark/black dorsal thorax and elytron, and reddish ventral thorax and abdomen. The temporal and spatial expression patterns of the genes were analyzed by real-time PCR, and RNA interference (RNAi) was performed to study the functional importance of these genes in cuticle coloration and/or hardening in T. molitor. This work was supported by NRFs (NRF-2015R1A2A2A01006614 and NRF-2015R1A6A3A04060323).

To realize large-format compact array detectors covering a wide far-infrared wavelength range up to 200 μm, we have been developing Blocked-Impurity-Band (BIB) type Ge detectors with the room- temperature surface-activated wafer bonding technology provided by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. We fabricated various types of p+-i junction devices which possessed a BIB-type structure, and evaluated their spectral response curves using a Fourier transform spectrometer. From the Hall effect measurement, we also obtained the physical characteristics of the p+ layers which constituted the p+-i junction devices. The overall result of our measurement shows that the p+-i junction devices have a promising applicability as a new far-infrared detector to cover a wavelength range of 100-200 μm.

We present project updates of the next-generation infrared space mission SPICA (Space Infrared Tele- scope for Cosmology and Astrophysics) as of November 2015. SPICA is optimized for mid- and far-infrared astronomy with unprecedented sensitivity, which will be achieved with a cryogenically cooled (below 8 K), large (2.5 m) telescope. SPICA is expected to address a number of key questions in various fields of astrophysics, ranging from studies of the star-formation history in the universe to the formation and evolution of planetary systems. The international collaboration framework of SPICA has been revisited. SPICA under the new framework passed the Mission Definition Review by JAXA in 2015. A proposal under the new framework to ESA is being prepared. The target launch year in the new framework is 2027/28.

We analyzed spectral data of the astrophysical diuse emission obtained with the low-resolution spec- troscopy mode on the AKARI InfraRed Camera (IRC) in the 1.8-5.3 μm wavelength region. Advanced reduction methods specialized for slit spectroscopy of diuse sky spectra have been developed, and a catalog of 278 spectra of the diffuse sky covering a wide range of Galactic and ecliptic latitudes was constructed. Using this catalog, two other major foreground components, the zodiacal light (ZL) and the diuse Galactic light (DGL), were separated and subtracted by taking correlations with ZL brightness es- timated by the DIRBE ZL model and with the 100 μm dust thermal emission, respectively. The isotropic emission was interpreted as the extragalactic background light (EBL), which shows significant excess over the integrated light of galaxies at <4 μm.

We propose a cosmological survey to probe star formation and nuclear activity in galaxies at redshifts of z=2-4 by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features using the SPICA mid-infrared instrument (SMI) with a spectral resolution of R=20. We will cover a wavelength range of 20-36 μm that corresponds to z=2-4 for the PAH features (11.3, 7.7, and 6.2 μm). The sensitivity will be 1 X 10-19 W/m2 (5 σ) in case of a reference survey that covers 4 arcmin2 field in a one-hour observation. It corresponds to LIR=2 X 1011 L⊙ at z=3 and will give us more than 10000 galaxies in a 450 hour survey.

We present a summary of our spectroscopic redshift catalogue of 404 sources in the AKARI Deep Field South (ADF-S). We have used the AAOmega spectrograph to target mid-infrared and far-infrared sources selected primarily from AKARI observations in this field for which we were able to obtain optical counterparts. Our sources with identified redshifts include 316 with Hα detections at z  0:345 and 15 sources at z > 1 with MgII or Ly emission lines. About 13% of our z  0:345 sources are dominated by active galactic nuclei (AGN) emission, although many show emission from both star formation and AGNs. The median Balmer decrement is 5.9. Ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) were found only in the higher-redshift sources. Optical and near infrared data will be available shortly, enabling calibration of the line luminosities and spectral energy distribution (SED) tting for these sources.

The extragalactic background suggests half the energy generated by stars was reprocessed into the infrared (IR) by dust. At z1.3, 90% of star formation is obscured by dust. To fully understand the cosmic star formation history, it is critical to investigate infrared emission. AKARI has made deep mid-IR observation using its continuous 9-band filters in the NEP field (5.4 deg2), using 10% of the entire pointed observations available throughout its lifetime. However, there remain 11,000 AKARI infrared sources undetected with the previous CFHT/Megacam imaging (r ~25.9ABmag). Redshift and IR luminosity of these sources are unknown. These sources may contribute signicantly to the cosmic star-formation rate density (CSFRD). For example, if they all lie at 1< z <2, the CSFRD will be twice as high at the epoch. We are carrying out deep imaging of the NEP eld in 5 broad bands (g; r; i; z; and y) using Hyper Suprime-Camera (HSC), which has 1.5 deg field of view in diameter on Subaru 8m telescope. This will provide photometric redshift information, and thereby IR luminosity for the previously-undetected 11,000 faint AKARI IR sources. Combined with AKARI's mid-IR AGN/SF diagnosis, and accurate mid- IR luminosity measurement, this will allow a complete census of cosmic star-formation/AGN accretion history obscured by dust.

The recent updates of the North Ecliptic Pole deep (0.5 deg2, NEP-Deep) multi-wavelength survey covering from X-ray to radio-wave is presented. The NEP-Deep provides us with several thousands of 15 μm or 18 μm selected galaxies, which is the largest sample ever made at these wavelengths. A continuous filter coverage in the mid-infrared wavelength (7, 9, 11, 15, 18, and 24 μm) is unique and vital to diagnose the contributions from starbursts and AGNs in the galaxies out to z=2. The new goal of the project is to resolve the nature of the cosmic star formation history at the violent epoch (e.g. z=1{2), and to find a clue to understand its decline from z=1 to present universe by utilizing the unique power of the multiwavelength survey. The progress in this context is brie y mentioned.

There exists strong evidence supporting the co-evolution of central supermassive black holes and their host galaxies; however it is still under debate how such a relation comes about and whether it is relevant for all or only a subset of galaxies. An important mechanism connecting AGN to their host galaxies is AGN feedback, potentially heating up or even expelling gas from galaxies. AGN feedback may hence be responsible for the eventual quenching of star formation and halting of galaxy growth. A rich multi- wavelength dataset ranging from the X-ray regime (Chandra), to far-IR (Herschel), and radio (WSRT) is available for the North Ecliptic Pole field, most notably surveyed by the AKARI infrared space telescope, covering a total area on the sky of 5.4 sq. degrees. We investigate the star formation properties and possible signatures of radio feedback mechanisms in the host galaxies of 237 radio sources below redshift z = 2 and at a radio 1.4 GHz ux density limit of 0.1 mJy. Using broadband SED modelling, the nuclear and host galaxy components of these sources are studied simultaneously as a function of their radio luminosity. Here we present results concerning the AGN content of the radio sources in this eld, while also offering evidence showcasing a link between AGN activity and host galaxy star formation. In particular, we show results supporting a maintenance type of feedback from powerful radio-jets.

Using the InfraRed Camera (IRC) on board the infrared astronomical satellite AKARI we study the 3.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) feature and its connection to active galactic nucleus (AGN) properties for a sample of 54 hard X-ray selected bright AGN, including both Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 type objects. The sample is selected from the 9-month Swift/BAT survey in the 14-195 keV band and all of the sources have known neutral hydrogen column densities (NH). The 3.3 μm PAH luminosity (L3:3μm) is used as a proxy for star-formation (SF) activity and hard X-ray luminosity (L14-195keV) as an indicator of the AGN power. We explore for possible dierence of SF activity between type 1 (un-absorbed) and type 2 (absorbed) AGN. We use several statistical analyses taking the upper-limits of the PAH lines into account utilizing survival analysis methods. The results of our log(L14-195keV) versus log(L3:3μm) regression shows a positive correlation and the slope for the type 1/unobscured AGN is steeper than that of type 2/obscured AGN at a 3σ level. Also our analysis shows that the circum-nuclear SF is more enhanced in type 2/absorbed AGN than type 1/un-absorbed AGN for low L14-195keV luminosity/low Eddington ratio AGN, while there is no significant dependence of SF activity on the AGN type in the high L14-195keV luminosities/Eddington ratios.