We investigated the detoxification strategies of Helicoverpa armigera and Heliothis virescens, which allow them to feed successfully on cotton plants that produce toxic gossypol as a chemical defense compound. First, we tested CYP6AE14, a proposed candidate enzyme for gossypol detoxification, for its ability to detoxify gossypol. In incubation assays with gossypol and heterologously expressed CYP6AE14 no metabolites were detected. Our data show that CYP6AE14 is not directly involved in gossypol metabolism, at least under the assay conditions tested, but rather takes part in the general stress response of the herbivores to plant toxins. Second, we discovered that H. armigera and H. virescens excrete a large proportion (50%) of unmetabolized gossypol in the feces, but additionally metabolize gossypol by glycosylation. Analysis of larval feces revealed three monoglycosylated and up to five diglycosylated gossypol isomers when larvae fed on gossypol-supplemented diet. Based on their expression patterns we selected H. armigera candidate UGT genes and functionally expressed the respective proteins in insect cells. In enzymatic assays, we showed that UGT41B3 and UGT40D1 are capable of glycosylating gossypol mainly to a diglycosylated gossypol isomer that is characteristic for H. armigera and is absent in H. virescens feces. We offer novel insights into the detoxification mechanism of the plant defensive toxin, gossypol, by two generalist herbivores.

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.

Firms cooperate not only with complementary partners such as their suppliers and customers, but also increasingly with their competitors which can result in a simultaneous pursuit of cooperation and competition – coopetition (Brandenburger and Nalebuff, 2011). Coopetition is a paradox as it involves firms interacting with two contradictory logics – cooperation and competition, which their contradictory, yet interrelated, demands seem logical in isolation, but absurd and irrational when appearing simultaneously (Peng et al., 2017). The extant research on the role of the competitor as an NPD partner also throws conflicting results; positive and negative NPD performance. This variance could be related to the firm’s internal capability to manage the partnership in NPD activities. This research aims to investigate these issues: Part I examines ‘the paradox of coopetition’ by investigating how firm’s experience of coopetitive relationship influence on firm’s coopetition capability. Part II investigates the key antecedents and outcomes of coopetition capability on the competitor partnership for new product development. The findings suggest a balanced-strong coopetition and alliance management capability are useful to build coopetition capability. In turn, coopetition capability has direct and indirect effects on NPD performances.

The catch composition of commercially important species of the stationary lift net at Barangay Gines, Miagao, Iloilo, the Philippines was investigated from December 2013 to May 2014 during the different phases of the moon. A total of 486 kg of fish coming from 12 different genera, including mollusk and crustaceans, was caught and identified from the catch of the stationary lift net. Among the 12 genera identified from the catch of stationary lift net, anchovy (Stolephorus), sardines (Sardinella), squid (Loligo) and mysid shrimp (Acetes) were considered to be commercially important due to their value. Acetes catch was highest during the new moon in the month of January. Loligo catch was also high during the new moon except in the month of May. Stolephorus catch was also highest during the new moon except in the month of January. Sardinella catch was highest during the first quarter in the month of February. Full moon had the lowest catch all throughout the duration of the study while new moon had the highest catch during December 2013 to March 2014 and first quarter was the highest in the months of April and May.