Glutathione S-transferase (GST) is a key gene involved in multiple stress tolerance in all living organisms, though it is still to be disclosed the gene function in teff grass [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.)Trotter].The objectives of this study were to clone and molecular characterization of GST gene in teff grass. We characterized GST1 from teff grass (EtGST1), it composed of a 645-bp open reading frame (ORF) that encoded 195 amino acid residue. Further, we transformed EtGST1 in E.coli BL21 (DE3) cells. This recombinant EtGST1 in E.coli BL21(DE3) induced at 37°C temperature. In addition, Growth of cells overexpressing EtGST1 rapidly increased in the presence of polyethylene glycol (5%), heat (46°C), NaCl (0.6%), and arsenic (1 mM) than that of cells harboring an empty vector. These results suggest that EtGST1 would be suitable candidate for improving tolerance in forages and/or grasses species against multiple abiotic stresses.

Cold, salt and heat are most critical factors that restrict full genetic potential, growth and development of crops worldwide.. In this study, we applied an annealing control primer (ACP) based GeneFishing approach to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in annual ryegrass (cv. Kowinearly) leaves under cold, salt and heat stresses. Two-week-old seedlings were exposed to cold (4°C), salt (NaCl 200 mM) and heat (42 °C) treatments for 6 h. A total 8 differentially expressed genes were isolated form ryegrass leaves. These genes were sequenced then identified and validated form National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. We identified several promising genes encoding light harvesting chlorophyll a/b binding protein, alpha-glactosidase b, chromosome 3B, elongation factor 1-alpha, FLbaf106f03, complete genome, translation initiation factor SUI1, and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. These genes were potentially involved in photosynthesis, plant development, protein synthesis and abiotic stress tolerance in plants. These genes might be useful for the enhancement of abiotic stress tolerance in fodder crops along with crop improvement under unfavorable environmental conditions.

Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) variability can be used to study the physics of the region in the vicinity of the central black hole. In this paper, we investigated intra-night optical variability of AGN in the COSMOS field in order to understand the AGN instability at the smallest scale. Observations were performed using the KMTNet on three separate nights for 2.5 to 5 hours at a cadence of 20 to 30 min. We find that the observation enables the detection of short-term variability as small as ∼ 0.02 and 0.1 mag for R ∼ 18 and 20 mag sources, respectively. Using four selection methods (X-rays, mid-infrared, radio, and matching with SDSS quasars), 394 AGN are detected in the 4 deg2 field of view. After differential photometry and X2−test, we classify intra-night variable AGN. The fraction of variable AGN (0–8%) is statistically consistent with a null result. Eight out of 394 AGN are found to be intra-night variable in two filters or two nights with a variability level of 0.1 mag, suggesting that they are strong candidates for intra-night variable AGN. Still they represent a small population (2%). There is no sub-category of AGN that shows a statistically significant intra-night variability.

Personalised nutrition can contribute significantly to the prevention of non-communicable dietary related diseases by providing dietary suggestions based on individual’s nutritional needs. Adoption of the concept of personalised nutrition by individuals is crucial for the success of personalised nutrition services. However, consumers’ adoption intention of personalised nutrition services is not only the result of cognitive deliberations of benefits and risks, but several studies in other contexts show that affective and contextual factors also play an important role in explaining consumers’ adoption intention. This study therefore examines whether affective factors (i.e., measured by means of ambivalent feelings) and contextual factors (i.e., eating context) increase the understanding of consumers' intentions to use personalized nutrition services. An online survey study was conducted among a total of 996 participants in the Netherlands. The results of a number of estimated fully latent structural regression models show that the intention to use personalized nutrition is not only positively driven by a weighing of benefits and risks (i.e., privacy calculus), which is also established in previous studies, but also negatively by ambivalent feelings. In turn, the results show that ambivalence towards personalized nutrition is predicted by privacy risk and the extent to which someone perceives the eating context as a barrier for personalized nutrition. Taken together, the current study implies that to stimulate the adoption of personalized nutrition services not only benefits and risks of personalized nutrition should be addressed, but also consumers’ ambivalent feelings regarding the concept and contextual factors that may prohibit adoption.

Brand love has received considerable attention in the past few years. This study focuses on social adjustive as a potential antecedent of brand love. This study also examines the contingent roles of brand love and brand identification in the relationship between social adjustive and brand relationship outcomes such as brand loyalty and positive word of mouth (WOM). Findings reveal that social adjustive is significantly related to brand love and brand relationship outcomes; and that brand love partially mediates the relationship between social adjustive and brand relationship outcomes. Further, brand identification is found to elevate the positive relationship between social adjustive and brand love, but not between social adjustive and brand relationship outcomes. These results lead to several theoretical and managerial implications.

This study addresses the boycott spillover phenomenon in the context of linked regions/countries. The study evaluates the extent to which new labelling initiatives would lead to boycott expansion to linked regions. The study results provide evidence to the spillover effects and highlight the role played by various factors.

By increasing awareness of product offers and availability in the consumer’s proximity, Location Based Marketing (LBM) increases relevance of placed advertisements. However, depending on how it is executed, such advertising can also be perceived as intrusive, irritating, or even violating consumer’s privacy. Existing knowledge does not offer clear directions for retailers, who are keen to know of LBM’s effectiveness on sales. In this paper, authors investigate the effects of LBM on application (app) driven revenues of 116 major mobile retailers from around the globe. In particular, we examine the contingency effects of the roles of device as well as privacy needs of the brand audience. Findings reveal that effects of LBM on app-based revenues vary by tactic (inbound vs. outbound), type of device (Tablet vs. Phone), and user type based on brand of app (Android vs. Apple). Overall, this research identifies critical factors for retailers to consider, in order to best monetize their location based efforts. Contributions of the analysis and managerial implications are discussed.

Methyl benzoate (MB) is a natural compound in many plants and shows insecticidal toxicity against various insect pests. We determined contact, fumigant, and repellent activities of MB against the sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci and the greenhouse whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae). Complete contact mortality was obtained by 4% MB. Contact mortality at 2% MB into eggs, 4th instar nymphs and adults were 69.4%, 91.6% and 80%, respectively. Fumigation of 2% MB killed 95% of adults. In addition, treatment of 4% MB repelled 60% adults. There was no significant different between two species. Our results suggest that MB has high potential as an natural pesticide for sustainable pest management in crop production.

Fungus gnat, Bradysia impatiens is the most serious pest of different vegetable crops, mushroom and ornamental crops. In this study, we compared the control efficacy of two entomopathogenic nematode; Steinernema carpocapsae and Heterorhabdistis indica in Bradysia impatiens last instar maggots at 25℃ in laboratory. Our present study shows that, nematode infection and reproduction both were higher in the warm adapted nematode H. indica than the cold adapted S. carpocapsae. Therefore, entomopathogenic nematode H. indica can be use for control the Badysia impatiens as the efficient biological control agent.

Insulin/IGF signaling (IIS) regulates different physiological processes such as metabolism, trehalose level, growth, and reproduction. Four IIS components are identified from the bean pod borer, Maruca vitrata (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). RNA interference (RNAi) of insulin receptor (InR), Forkhead Box O (FOXO), Target of Rapamycin (TOR) or Akt led to ovary dysfunction. Especially, the RNAi treatment significantly reduced the stem cell division in the germarium. However, an addition of a porcine insulin stimulated the cell division. Immature diets significantly influenced on the ovarian stem cell development.

The entomopathogenic bacteria Xenorhabdus/Photorhabdus inhibit insect immune responses by inhibiting eicosanoid biosynthesis. Especially, the bacterial secondary metabolites inhibit PLA2 that release eicosanoid biosynthesis precursors. Some organic extracts of the bacteria-cultured broth possessed PLA2 inhibitory activity. This study used butanol to extract the metabolites and showed that the extract possessed potent inhibitory activity against insect immunity. The inhibition was reversed by the addition of eicosanoid biosynthesis precursor, suggesting PLA2 inhibition. Furthermore, sub-fractionation of the butanol extract separated the secondary metabolites and the fractions exhibited differential PLA2 inhibition. The active fractions appeared to contain novel compounds that are not known in PLA2 inhibition of these bacteria.

Eicosanoids play crucial roles in mediating insect immune responses. PLA2 releases arachidonic acid (AA) from phospholipids (PLs) and AA is usually used for biosynthesis of eicosanoids. However, AA is little (less than 0.05%) detected in insect PLs. In contrast, insect PLs have a lot of other C18 PUFAs (linoleic acid and linolenic acid). A new hypothesis is that AA is synthesized from C18 precursor by subsequent desaturation and elongation reactions. We predicted several fatty acyl desaturases (DESs) from Spodoptera exigua. Some specific DES inhibitors inhibited eicosanoid-mediated immune responses. Subsequent AA precursor analysis suggests that AA may be synthesized from linolenic acid via the omega-6 pathway.

Heterodera trifolii, mostly known as clover cyst nematode, is currently a serious problem for Chinese cabbage growers of the highland area in Korea. Due to lack of readily information about the nematode on Chinese cabbage in Korea, the pest steadily spread within the highland areas and has become a serious setback. Occurrence, spatial aggregation, egg hatching and the pathogenicity of this nematode are depicted in this study from ecological point of view. The study results suggest site-specific control and a potential planting time for the cabbage to avoid severe damage caused by this nematode.

A native minute pirate bug, Orius minutus (L.), is a generalist predator of small insect pests such as thrips, mites, scale, etc. By comparing with Tetranychus urticae Koch in choice test, we evaluated the prey preference by counting number of prey killed for 4 hours on Amphitetranychus vienensis (Zacher), Frankliniella intonsa (Trybom), Stephanitis pyrioides Scott, and Eriococcus sp. nymph. Among them F. intonsa was the only one killed more than T. urticae by O. minutus. In no choice test, mean number of prey killed was highest in F. intonsa (7.2) followed by T. urticae (3.0), A. vienensis (2.4), Eriococcus sp. (2.0), and S. pyrioides (0.0) for 4 hours. This experiment shows that O. minutus could be a good predator for F. intonsa and T. urticae.

Orius spp. (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae) prey on small arthropods such as aphids, thrips, whitefly, and mites both in greenhouse and field. Use of chemical attractants to natural enemies can improve the efficacy of biological control through push-pull strategy. We compared attractiveness of three synthetic herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs), i.e., nonanal, methyl anthranilate, and methyl salicylate for thrips natural enemies, O. laevigatus (Fieber) and O. minutus (L.), in Y-tube olfactometer. Mated unfed adult females of O. laevigatus showed higher choice rate to methyl anthranilate or methyl salicylate than nonanal. Orius minutus showed higher choice rate to methyl anthranilate than methyl salicylate or nonanal. These results suggest that, among the three HIPVs, methyl anthranilate can be used for the attractant of both O. laevigatus and O. minutus.

과실파리류는 국내 60종의 검역 해충 가운데 42종을 차지하고 있다. 이들 대부분은 자연계 산물인 methyl eugenol (ME) 또는 raspberry ketone에 특이적으로 유인된다. 이들 유인물질을 파라핀 왁스를 이용하여 제형화하였고, 이를 대만에서 야외 유인 효과를 검증하였다. 이들 왁스 제형은 모두 델타트랩에 설치하고 8월 말경에 모니터링 한 결과 ME 왁스 제형은 오리엔탈과실파리(Bactrocera dorsalis)를 매일 60-80 마리 포획하 였다. 반면에 Cuelure 왁스제형은 오이과실파리(Bactrocera cucurbitae)와 B. tau를 유인하였다. 이러한 결과는 본 왁스제형이 이들 검역 해충에 대 한 국내 모니터링에 응용될 수 있다는 것을 제시하고 있다.

Cryopreservation of oocytes by vitrification technique may contribute a lot in the field of reproductive biotechnology. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the effectiveness of two cryo-devices for vitrification of immature oocytes of indigenous zebu cows. Slaughter house derived immature cumulus-oocyte-complexes (COCs) of cows were vitrified using 15% dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) as cryoprotective agent (CPA) with 0.5 mol sucrose in TCM 199 supplemented with 20% FBS. Vitrification of COCs was completed after immediate plunging of COCs loaded cryotop or French mini straw into the liquid nitrogen (LN2). Then the COCs containing cryotop or French mini straws were warmed in 0.25 mol sucrose and 20% FBS supplemented TCM 199 followed by in vitro culture in 50 μl droplets of bicarbonate buffered TCM 199 supplemented with 10% FBS, pyruvate, FSH and oestradiol for 24 hrs at 39°C with 5% CO2 in humidified air. After maturation culture, oocytes were denuded and examined under inverted microscope for presence of polar body as the indication of maturation. Denuded oocytes were also stained by whole mount technique using 1% orcein to examine the maturation by presence of MII chromosomes. The in vitro maturation rate was significantly (p<0.05) higher in oocytes vitrified and warmed using crytop (47.1±6.9%) than that of French mini straw (15.9±12.5%). Moreover, in vitro maturation rate was significantly (p<0.05) highe r in control oocytes (not vitrified) (84.5±14.2%) than that of vitrified oocytes. In conclusion, cryotop is better than French mini straw as cryo-device for vitrification of bovine immature oocytes