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.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the development of bovine nuclear transfer (NT) embryos cultured in serum-free conditions. Bovine NT embryos cultured in various culture conditions were compared blastocyst development, total cell number and apoptosis using TUNEL assay. In experiment 1, blastocyst rates of NT embryos were significantly higher (P<0.01) in FBS (22.0％) and BSA (26.6％) groups than in PVA (6.3％) group. Total cell number was significantly higher in FBS (78.4±19.4) and BSA (90.9±29.1) groups than in PVA group (46.0±0.0). Apoptotic cell number was significantly fewer in FBS (3.1±1.4) and BSA (1.7±1.4) groups than in PVA group (7.0±20.0) However, all of results were not different between the FBS and BSA group. In experiment 2, blastocyst rates of NT embryos were significantly higher (P<0.05) in fatty acid free-BSA (FAF-BSA) group (26.8％) than in fraction V-BSA group (11.2％). Total cell number were somewhat higher in FAF-BSA group (89.8±30.7) than in fraction V-BSA group (88.1±19.3). Apoptotic cell number were somewhat fewer in FAF-BSA (1.7±1.5) group than in fraction V-BSA group (4.2±2.9). These findings suggest that serum free condition were effective for the in vitro development of bovine NT embryos. Therefore, we concluded that fatty acid free-BSA has beneficial effect in development bovine NT embryos and can be use as a serum substitute.

DNA methylation at CpG sites, which is a epigenetic modification, is associated with gene expression without change of DNA sequences. During early mouse embryogenesis, dynamic changes of DNA methylation occur. In this study, DNA methylation patterns of porcine embryos produced in vivo and in vitro were examined at various developmental stages by the immunocytochemical staining method. Interestingly, active demethylation was not observed on the paternal pronucleus of porcine zygotes. However, differences were detected in the passive demethylation process between in vivo and in vitro embryos. There was no change in the DNA methylation state until the blastocyst stage of in vivo embryos, whereas partial demethylation was observed in several blastomeres from a 4 cell stage to a morula stage of in vitro embryos. The whole genome of inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) cells in porcine blastocysts were evenly methylated without de novo methylation. Our findings demonstrate that genome-wide demethylation does not occur in pig embryos during preimplantation development unlike murine and bovine embryos. It indicates that the machinery regulating epigenetic reprogramming may be different between species.