During the last several years, the population of the ussur brown katydid, Paratlanticus ussuriensis has been highly increased at mountain-side orchards in Youngdong province in Korea. Nymphs and adults emerged one time per year from early May to August and cause a serious demage on the crop production. Adults oviposit eggs from July to September under the ground and eggs overwinter at diapause stage. However, the diapause duration P. ussuriensis is known to either one year or prolonged to additional years. The environmental cues, such as temperature, could be a critical to determine the diapause duration but the precise diapause mechanism of P. ussuriensis eggs is unclear. We demonstrated to determine the stage of diapause initiation during embryogenesis. Newly oviposited eggs were incubated for 60 days at two temperature conditions (20℃and 30℃). When the eggs were incubated at 20℃ those weights were not changed, but when they incubated at 30℃ those were increased from 15-days-old. Total RNA contents of eggs incubated at 30℃ were highly increased from the 15-days-old when they compared with those of eggs incubated at 20℃. In addition, total DNA contents of eggs were greatly higher when they incubated at 30℃. Our results suggest that early embryonic development was sensitive to high temperature and it was stimulated at 15-days-old. To determine the temperature response of embryonic development at molecular level we identified heat shock protein 70 (hsp70) gene of P. ussuriensis. Further analysis would conduct the gene expression rate of diapausing eggs on different temperature conditions by using real time RT-PCR technique and determine the molecular characteristics of P. ussuriensis egg diapause.

Five genera and 7 species of sciarid flies were collected in shiitake mushroom farm from 2007 to 2009. Among them, Lycoriella ingenua was dominant as a possible pest of the shiitake mushroom cultivated in plastic bottles. Other six species are reported for the first time in Korea.

Twenty-five species of the genus Psallus Fieber 1858 are revised from Korean Peninsula. Two new species are described: Psallus sp. nov. 1 and P. sp. nov. 2. Four species, Psallus rogeoguttatus Yasunaga et Vinokurov 2000, P. cinnabarinus Kerzhner 1979, P. flavescens Kerzhner 1988, and P. longinovae Kerzhner 1988 are reported for the first time. The checklist is reconstructed and a key is provided to distinguish all Korean species with the clear dorsal photos and illustrations of male genitalia. In addition, biology is discussed for all possible species according to collection data.

The first comprehensive cladistic analysis of Miridae, the plant bugs, based on ~3000 base pairs of mitochondrial (COI, 16S) and nuclear (18S, 28SD3) genes, is presented. For 105 taxa (101 Mirid species in 7 subfamilies and 11 tribes, and 4 outgroups) in 7 subfamilies and 11 tribes of Miridae, the combined dataset was analyzed using ML (maximum likelihood), BC (bayesian criteria) and MP (maximum parsimony). Clades recovered in all analyses, comprise 6 main groups: Cimicomorpha and Miridae; Phylinae; Mirinae (Eurystylus + Polymerus + Proboscidocoris + Taylorilygus + Stenodemini); Orthotylinae; Mirini (Adelphocoris group except “Apolygus complex”); Apolygus complex; Deraecorinae; Bryocorinae + Isometopinae + Cylapinae. Our results indicate 1) the monophyletic relationships of two subfamilies Phylinae and Deraeocorinae within the family Miridae; 2) the paraphyly of subfamily Mirinae. Phylogenetic relationships at the tribal or subfamily level are provided in comparison with the prior studies based on morphological data.

The present investigation establishes deltamethrin resistance in the common bed bug, Cimex lectularius, populationcollected from New York City (NY-BB). The mortality resistance ratio indicated that NY-BB population was 264-fold more resistant to 1% deltamethrin in contact bioassay compared to one insecticide- susceptible population collected in Florida (FL-BB). Specific enzyme activities (general esterase, glutathione S-transferase, and 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase) of NY-BB were not statistically different from those of FL-BB, indicating that the metabolic factors are not associated with the deltamethrin resistance in NY-BB. Complementary DNA fragments that encoded the open reading frame of voltage-sensitive sodium channel α-subunit genes from the FL-BB and NY-BB were obtained by homology probing PCR and sequenced. Sequence alignment of the internal and 5’ and 3’ RACE fragments generated a 6500 bp cDNA sequence contig, which was composed of a 6084 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding 2027 amino acid residues and 186 bp 5’ and 230 bp 3’ untranslated regions (5’ and 3’UTRs, respectively). Sequence comparisons of the complete open reading frames of the sodium channel genes identified two point mutations (V419L and L925I) that were presented only in the NY-BB population. L925I, located the intracellular loop between IIS4 and IIS5, has been previously found in the pyrethroid-resistant populations of whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) that was more than 100-fold resistant to fenpropathrin. V419L, located in the IS6 transmembrane segment, is a novel mutation. This evidence suggests that the two mutations are likely the major resistance-causing mutations in the deltamethrin-resistant NY-BB via a knockdown-type nerve insensitivity mechanism.

A full genomic DNA microarray technique was employed to investigate the effects of Dongchunghacho on aortal and hepatic gene expression in apolipoprotein E knockout mice fed a high-fat/high-cholesterol diet. Male 8- week - old ApoE-/- mice were randomly divided into two groups, control(high cholesterol group; HC) and supplementation of Dongchunghacho (SD). All of the mice were fed a high-fet/high cholesterol diet with or without Dongchunghacho supplemented by 1% for 6 weeks. At first, lipid profile of the Dongchunghacho was measured by biochemical analysis. No differences were observed in serum triglyceride and total cholesterol levels between the two groups. Antigenotoxic effect of the Dongchunghacho was measured by the single cell gel electrophoresis assay (Comet assay) and quantified as % fluorescence in tail. Dongchunghacho supplementation decreased significantly leukocytic DNA damage and also there was a tendency of reduction in hepatic DNA damage in Dongchunghacho group compared with the control group. In up regulated genes in liver and aorta of the mice, genes with 0 to 2- fold difference in expression level between the two group (HD and SD) was very much more in liver than in aorta, on the contrary, those with 2-fold to 16-flod difference increased greatly rather in aorta than in liver. Also, almost the same results were observed in down regulated genes in liver and aorta between the two groups. These results suggested that supplementation of Dongchunghacho might be helpful in preventing leukocytic DNA damage induced by high fat diet, and has a more crucial roles in aortal gene expression.

Subterranean termiteslive in the soil and wood that is in contact with soil. They have to discover food by constructing underground tunnel networks. Once the food is discovered and connected to the galleries, one important aspect of the foraging behavior is the food transfer by individual termites moving within the existing tunnels that lead to multiple existing food sources. In order to reveal how much the tunnel network is reliable to the food transfer efficiency, we used a lattice model suggested by Lee et al. (2006), which is capable of simulating the tunnel networks of Coptotermes formosanus and Riparius flavipes. After constructing the simulated tunnel networks, we randomly distributed food particles on the tunnel networks and then computed path entropy for the networksby selecting and evaluating the shortest paths from encountered food particles to the nest. The path entropy measured the degree of reliability of the networks for the food transfer entropy. Simulation results showed that path entropy between the simulated networks of C. formosanus and R. flavipes was significantly different due to the combinational effects of the network components such as the number of primary tunnels and the branching probability. We discussed the meaning of the results in relation to termite foraging efficiency.

Predation, development, and ovipostion experiments were conducted to evaluate Amblyseius swirskii (Athias-Henriot) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) as a potential biological control agent for tomato russet mite, Aculops lycopersici (Massee) (Acari: Eriophyidae) which is a periodic pest of greenhouse tomatoes. Results show that A. swirskii attacked all developmental stages of A. lycopersici, and had a type II functional response on the prey densities given. The predation rates of A. swirskii on A. lycopersici in the presense of alternative food sources such as pollen, thrips first instar, or whitefly eggs were recorded as 74%, 56%, and 76%, respectively of the predation rate on A. lycopersici alone. Amblyseius swirskii successfully completed their life-cycle on either A. lycopersici or cattail pollen. At 25oC, 70% RH, development time of female A. swirskii fed on A. lycopersici or on cattail pollen took 5.0 and 6.2 days, respectively. For the first 10 days after moulting to the adult stage, A. swirskii fed on A. lycopersici had higher daily oviposition rate (2.0 eggs per day) than on pollen (1.5 eggs per day). From this laboratory study, it can be concluded that A. swirskii has promising traits as a predator against A. lycopersici and that their populations can be stably maintained using alternative food such as cattail pollen. We suggest that the effectiveness of A. swirskii against A. lycopersici under field conditions deserves to be investigated.