Japanese pine sawyer, Monochamus alternatus HOPE (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) are considered as important pine forestinsect pests in several countries which transmits the pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophylus. In this study, wetried to control Japanese pine sawyer using entomopathogenic fungi to prevent the spread of pine wilt disease in Korea.Several entomopathogenic fungi were exposed to the adults of Japanese pine sawyer and mycosis was observed in themembranous cuticles after 6 days. In particular, two isolates showed high virulence against the adults. The selected 2isolates were sprayed to the adults at 1×105, 1×106 and 1×107 conidia/ml. In the concentration of 1×107 conidia/ml, thesurvival rates of insects were 40% and 47%, respectively. Based on these results, the possibility of controlling the Japanesepine sawyer was confirmed.

Chemical pesticides have been used for persimmon pest control, however the overuse caused insect resistance andenvironmental toxicity. Herein this work, we investigated the biological potential of eco-friendly organic pesticides (biologicals)and entomopathogenic fungi in controlling persimmon pests, Stathmopoda masinisaa and Riptortus pedetris. A botanicalmixture of Chinese scholar tree, goosefoot and subtripinnata extract, Bacillus thuringesis NT0423 and one isolate of Beauveriabassiana showed high insecticidal activity against the pests in laboratory conditions. The selected botanical extract andmicroorganism were combined with a chemical pesticide (buprofezin+dinotefuran WP) and were assessed their controlefficacy in persimmon fields. Compared to the three times of chemical spray, the combination of more than one timeof chemical spray and the selected biologicals controlled the persimmon pests with an acceptable levels. Consequentlyone time of biological spray can be integrated to the spray program where only chemicals are strongly considered.

The hard tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis (Ixodida: Ixodidae) is one of the vectors of severe fever with thrombocytopeniasyndrome virus (SFTSV) causing in humans, however little consideration was given to the biological control of the pest.We evaluated three bioassay methods, such as spray, dipping and dropping. As a result, the dipping method was themost efficient way to measure the fungal virulence. Finally, we constructed a Haemaphysalis longicornis pathogenic fungallibrary to further facilitate the resources to be used as potential biological control agents. A conidial suspension of 1×107conidia/ml was exposed to the ticks by dipping. We confirmed that some isolates were highly virulent to the ticks. Thisresults indicated that some fungi could be used to effectively control the Haemaphysalis longicornis.

Many entomopathogenic fungal isolates received interests for controlling insect pests. But very few numbers of isolatesreached agricultural fields as commercial products. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of grain substrates forconidial production, focusing on conidial productivity and thermotolerance. Next to efficiently use the produced conidiafor spray application, conidia need to be separated from the grain substrates. Isaria javanica and I. fumosorosea conidiawere solid-cultured on ten kinds of cereal grains. Solid-cultured grains were packed in a screen bag and immersed inwater with a variety of surfactants at 100 ppm, such as Silwet, CO-2.5, CO-12, LE-7, PE-61, TDE-3, Tween 20 or Tween80. High levels of conidial release were observed on LE-7, TDE-3 and Tween80 treatments. This work suggests thatthe screen bag can be used to separated conidia from the cultured grains with the help of surfactants.

A genus of entomopathogenic Beaveria bassiana has been widely used in pest management, however little studies havebeen given to its virulence-related genes. To identify the roles of virulence genes, AtMT-induced random mutants weregenerated and followed by localization study with TAIL-PCR. Two genes, Complex I intermediated-associated protein30 (CIP30) and Autophagy protein 22 (Atg22), were predicted as virulence-related genes in B.bassiana JEF-007. To validatethe a possible relationship between two genes and fungal virulence, hpRNAi was performed. A hpRNAi plasmid wasconstructed as a model system to knock down of egfp gene in egfp-expressing B. bassiana transformant. A Real-TimePCR showed the knock down of egfp gene expression via hpRNAi. The CIP30 and Atg22 genes in B. bassiana willbe validated by the established RNAi technique. This work can be a strong platform for the functional genetics in B.bassiana.

Individual safety is a fundamental concern. People generally try to avoid danger or mishaps in the workplace, and to consider safety as a primary condition for satisfactory employment and agreeable shopping experiences. Organizations can assure that workers, clients, the public, and the environment perceive that they are in safe environments by providing highly secure services. Secure working environments and safety-focused human resource environments are essential antecedents to safe performance and outcomes. Dangerous workplace environments cause employees to feel stress and anxiety. Thus their performance decreases and accidents and injuries increase. Workplace safety is the most important factor influencing service and performance, especially for allowing frontline salespersons to focus on providing customer satisfaction. In this study of workplace safety, we apply the service quality dimension to examine its relationship with employee perceptions of job satisfaction and their related job performance. We discuss theoretical and practical implications based on the results.

Entomopathogenic fungi, widely distributed in nature, have been developed as biopesticides of agricultural pests. However, little is known about isolation method for obtaining a variety of highly virulent strains from the soil. In this work, the previously established method using mealworm (larvae of Tenebrio molitor) as a baiting system was used to efficiently isolate fungal strains from soil, and the isolated fungal library in Korea was established. To isolate entomopathogenic fungi, soil samples from 10 regions of Korea such as Iksan, Imsil, Gunsan, Yeosu, Suncheon, Gwangyang, Jinju, Hamyang, Boseong and Jangseong were collected. Of the collected soils, 21 and 34 isolates of entomopathogenic fungi were isolated from Iksan and Gunsan, respectively. The isolates were classified as genera of Metarhizium, Beauveria and Isaria. This work can suggest an effective insect pathogenic fungal isolation method

Entomopathogenic fungi have been known as promising candidates in biological control. However, a large number of conidia with higher stability should be produced for industrialization. In this work investigated the possibility of several grains for the production of thermotolerant Isaria javanica and I. fumosoroseus conidia. The fungal conidia were produced on ten grains for 14 days in Petri dish conditions. Of the ten granular substrates, millet, perilla seed and barley showed the high conidial production, 15.7 ± 8.4, 17.3 ± 5.2 and 13.5 ± 1.9 × 109 conida/g in I. javanica and 15.9 ± 0.6, 15.0 ± 0.5 and 15.0 ± 0.7 ×109 conida/g in I. fumosoroseus, respectively. However, the two strains showed relatively low thermal stability regardless of substrates, when exposed to 45℃ for 1, 2 and 3 hours. This work suggests a possible substrate for conidial production of entomopathogenic fungi with low cost.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation (AtMT) has been widely used for generation of fungal transformants and recently applied to Beauveria bassiana. In this study to comprehend how the AtMT promoter influences on the expression of selection marker (hygromycin B resistance gene; hph), two different Ti-Plasmids were constructed: pCeg (gpdA promoter-based) and pCambia-egfp (CaMV 35S promoter-based). Putative transformants were subjected to the PCR, RT-PCR and qRT-PCR to inspect the T-DNA insertion rate and gene expression level. In conclusion, more than 80% of the colonies succeeded in AtMT transformation and the hph expression level of AtMT/pCeg colonies was higher than that of AtMT/pCambia-egfp colonies. This result can provide useful information on the AtMT of B. bassiana, especially antibiotics susceptibility and promoter-dependant expression level.

Entomopathogenic fungi are expected to play a role as great biological control agents in the global bio-pesticide market in the future. The first step is the collection of fungal isolates and it should be a platform for the development of highly effective biopesticides. In this work, we constructed a fungal library using a mealworm pathogenecity-based fungal collection method and further characterized some isolates with high virulence. A phylogenetic tree was generated, and of the isolates 17 isolates’ biological features were characterized, such as morphology, virulence against several insect, stability of conidia for heat, production of biologically active materials, such as enzymes. This work reports an attractive entomopathogenic fungal library including the information of effective isolates in pest management.

Many turfgrass pests, Ectinohoplia rufipes, Exomala orientalis and Popillia quadriguttata, cause serious damage to grass fields in Korea. In this study, control of turfgrass pests using entomopathogenic fungi were investigated using Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis as an alternative insect. In a preliminary experiment, some Metathizium sp. showed ca. 60% virulence after 7 days exposure to the entomopathogenic fungi. Compared to the contact-exposure, overall a spray treatment showed lower control efficacy against P. brevitarsis seulensis. Furthermore, mortality of various developmental stages of P. brevitarsis seulensis was investigated under laboratory conditions. This work suggests that when treated with fungi mortality of P. brevitarsis seulensis was closely related with developmental stage. These results provide a basic information for the control of P. brevitarsis seulensis using entomopathogenic fungi

Entomopathogenic fungi are potential pesticides as biological control agents. However, many previous studies have focused on basic researches to control pest using insect-pathogenic fungi. Herein, the molecular characteristics of insect defense mechanisms against fungal pathogens and fungal pathogenicity to insects were investigated. The whole genome of Beauveria bassiana (Bb) JEF-007 was sequenced (36,538,394 bp) using Pacbio sequencing. Based on this data, the transcriptomes of bean bug and fungus were analyzed using RNA-seq. In the transcriptome analyses, six and five genes were validated to be involved in the fungal pathogenicity and insect defense, respectively. This work can provide an understanding of the insect-pathogen interactions

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.

We carry out the study of 850 μm sources in a part of the XMM-LSS field. The 850 μm imaging data were obtained by the SCUBA-2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) for three days in July 2015 with an integration time of 6.1 hours, covering a circular area with a radius of 15′. We choose the central area up to a radius of 9.′15 for the study, where the noise distribution is relatively uniform. The root mean square (rms) noise at the center is 2.7 mJy. We identify 17 sources with S/N > 3.5. Differential number count is estimated in flux range between 3.5 and 9.0 mJy after applying various corrections derived by imaging simulations, which is consistent with previous studies. For detailed study on the individual sources, we select three sources with more reliable measurements (S/N > 4.5), and construct their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from optical to far-infrared band. Redshift distribution of the sources ranges from 0.36 to 3.28, and their physical parameters are extracted using MAGPHYS model, which yield infrared luminosity LIR = 1011.3−1013.4 L⊙, star formation rate SFR = 101.3−103.2 M⊙yr−1 and dust temperature TD = 30−53 K. We investigate the correlation between LIR and TD, which appears to be consistent with previous studies.

This study was carried out to indirectly predict the storage time limit, hardness, and acidity of Fuji apples in controlled atmosphere (CA) storage. A sensor installed inside the CA storage measured temperature, relative humidity, and gas composition data in real time. The respiration rate from five tons of apples in CA storage was calculated to predict the weight loss rate. As a result, the predicted and actual weight loss rate induced a predictable residual storage time equation that showed a significantly high correlation. The apple storage period showed a high reliability (R2=0.9322) because the predicted equation using respiration rate and number of days stored was about nine months for five tons of apples. Furthermore, the hardness and acidity prediction equation were derived from the quality analysis. However, there was not enough analysis sample correlation (the coefficient was as low as 0.3506 and 0.3144, respectively), but the tendency could be confirmed by reduced hardness and acidity. As a result, these quality prediction equations could encourage CA container distribution, effective for agricultural shipment regulation and increasing the ease of operations.

Zika virus, mosquito-borne disease, caused by mosquitoes has been increased the importance. From March to September, twice a month from 7 different points (3 residential areas, 3 migratory bird sanctuary and 1 cattle shed) were collected using BG trap and BL trap. After identifying the mosquitoes collected, we confirmed the virus infection. Total 26,531 mosquitoes (6 genus 9 species) were collected, virus has been detected from the 3 species (Aedes vexans, Cuilex tritaeniorhynchus, and Amigeres subalbatus) of mosquitoes of them. It showed the highest peak in August, and then gradually decreased. The most common mosquito species was collected Aedes vexan (16,637) in the cattle shed.

Beauveria bassiana JEF-007 with strong virulence against Riptortus pedestiris was selected for the Agrobacerium tumefaciens-mediated transformation(AtMT). AtMT generated two transformants, B1-06 and C1-49, showed significantly reduced virulence against R. pedestris. To identify the virulence-related genes, thermal asymmetric interlaced(TAIL) PCR and flanking region analysis were performed. From the analysis, two genes, Complex I intermediated-associated protein 30(CIA30) and Autophagy protein 22(Atg22), possibly related virulence in B. bassiana JEF-007. For the analysis of two putative virulence-related genes in JEF-007, hairpin RNA interference (hpRNAi) is under consideration. This work can provide the functional roles of the virulence-related genes in B. bassiana JEF-007.

Myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) is an intracellular adaptor protein involved in Toll pathway. In this study, we monitored the response of 4 key genes of the insect immune system against Beauveria bassiana JEF-007 in Tenebrio molitor using RT-PCR. To better understand the roles of Toll pathway in mealworm immune system, TmGPR and TmMyD88 was knocked down by RNAi silencing. Target gene expressions were decreased at 6 days post-dsRNA injection. Therefore, mealworms were compromised by B. bassiana JEF-007 at 6 days post-dsRNA injection. Silencing of the TmMyD88 and TmGPR resulted in reducing the resistance of the host to fungal infection. However, only dsTmMyD88 showed significant difference with dsEGFP by statistical analysis, which may be due to partial gene knock down of dsGPR. These results indicate that TmMyD88 is required in mealworms for survival against B. bassiana JEF-007.

A viral genome was assembled de novo from next-generation sequencing (NGS) data from bean bugs, Riptortus pedestris, infected with an entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana (Bb), and was further confirmed via the RACE method. Based on the phylogenetic analysis of the RdRp sequences, RiPV-1 was clustered in the unassigned insect RNA viruses with two other viruses, APV and KFV. These three viruses were suggested to constitute a new group of insect RNA viruses. Interestingly, RiPV-1 replication was increased dramatically in bean bugs 2 to 6 days after fungal infection. In conclusion, a novel insect RNA virus was found by NGS data assembly. This virus can provide further insight into the interaction between virus, fungus and the host.