One of the overlooked points in mosquito blood feeding research is a final step before blood feeding. We provide the anatomical and chemosensory evidence that a piercing structure of the mouthpart of the mosquitoes is an essential apparatus for the penultimate stage in blood feeding in mosquitoes. Indeed, the stylet possesses a number of sensory hairs located at the tip of the stylet. These hairs house olfactory receptor neurons that express two conventional olfactory receptors of Aedes aegypti (AaOrs), AaOr8 and AaOr49, together with the odorant co-receptor (AaOrco). In vivo calcium imaging using transfected cell lines demonstrated that AaOr8 and AaOr49 were activated by volatile compounds present in blood. Taken together, we identified olfactory receptor neurons in the stylet involved in mosquito blood feeding behaviors, which in turn indicates that olfactory perception in the stylet is necessary and sufficient for mosquitoes to find host blood in order to rapidly acquire blood meals from a host animal.

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) of the genus Steinernema are pathogenic to the insects and well known as ideal models for understanding parasite-host interaction. EPNs harbor a number of bacterial symbionts in their gut belonging to the noble genus Xenorhabdus which are capable of killing insects by themselves or by combination with nematodes by suppressing insect immune defense. Here, we report host range of Steinernema monticolum and its symbiont Xenorhabdus hominickii. S. monticolum has a diverse host range including lepidopteran and coleopteran insects although they showed higher pathogenicity to the lepidopteran insects. Especially, X. hominickii suppressed insect immune responses. A target insect, Spodoptera exigua, exhibited both cellular and humoral immune responses by expressing antimicrobial peptides and forming nodules in response to heat-killed X. hominickii. However, live bacteria significantly suppressed the immune responses. An addition of arachidonic acid to the bacterial infection significantly rescued the immune responses, suggesting eicosanoid biosynthetic pathway as a pathogenic target of X. hominickii.

White organic light-emitting diodes with a structure of indium-tin-oxide [ITO]/ N,N-diphenyl-N,N-bis-[4-(phenylm- tolvlamino)-phenyl]-biphenyl-4,4-diamine [DNTPD]/ [2,3-f:2, 2-h]quinoxaline-2,3,6,7,10,11-hexacarbonitrile [HATCN]/ 1,1- bis(di-4-poly-aminophenyl) cyclo -hexane [TAPC]/ emission layers doped with three color dopants/ 4,7-diphenyl-1,10- phenanthroline [Bphen]/ Cs2CO3/ Al were fabricated and evaluated. In the emission layer [EML], N,N-dicarbazolyl-3,5-benzene [mCP] was used as a single host and bis(2-phenyl quinolinato)-acetylacetonate iridium(III) [Ir(pq)2acac]/ fac-tris(2- phenylpyridinato) iridium(III) [Ir(ppy)3]/ iridium(III) bis[(4,6-di-fluoropheny)-pyridinato-N,C2] picolinate [FIrpic] were used as red/green/blue dopants, respectively. The fabricated devices were divided into five types (D1, D2, D3, D4, D5) according to the structure of the emission layer. The electroluminescence spectra showed three peak emissions at the wavelengths of blue (472~473 nm), green (495~500 nm), and red (589~595 nm). Among the fabricated devices, the device of D1 doped in a mixed fashion with a single emission layer showed the highest values of luminance and quantum efficiency at the given voltage. However, the emission color of D1 was not pure white but orange, with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage [CIE] coordinates of (x = 0.41~0.45, y = 0.41) depending on the applied voltages. On the other hand, device D5, with a double emission layer of mCP:[Ir(pq)2acac(3%) +Ir(ppy)3(0.5%)]/ mCP:[FIrpic(10%)], showed a nearly pure white color with CIE coordinates of (x = 0.34~0.35, y = 0.35~0.37) under applied voltage in the range of 6~10 V. The luminance and quantum efficiency of D5 were 17,160 cd/m2 and 3.8% at 10 V, respectively.

Traditionally, mistletoe is known as an effective anti-cancer medicinal plant, and lectin is recognized as a major component with cytotoxic and immuno-stimulant activity in mistletoe. A Korean mistletoe lectin (KML) has specificity to galactose and galactosamine and is distinguish from European mistletoe lectin (EML). When we examined the concentration of lectin in mistletoe originated from five different types of host trees, the result indicate that the lectin concentration is variable depending on the host tree. Noticeably, mistletoe from chestnut tree contains ten folds higher lectins than that of an oak tree. We also tested the concentration of KML and crude extract (KM-110) of Korean mistletoe that shows 90% cytotoxicity in L5178Y-ML25 lymphoma cell. In addition, the cells show 90% and 70% viability by the treatment of two neutralizing antibodies of KML, 9H7-D10 and 8B11-2C5 neutralization effect with two monoclonal antibodies of KML, 9H7-D10 and 8B11-2C5. Therefore, the result expected that the mistletoe contain some other cytotoxic components except lectin. Finally, the production of TNF-α and IL-6 by RAW 264.7 cells stimulated with lectin free-crude extract (LFKM-110) following neutralization by 9H7-D10 monoclonal antibody shows higher than that of lectin containing-crude extract (KM-110). These results suggest that the Korean mistletoe lectin ha a great potential to be developed as therapeutic agent of cancer.

경기도 8개 지역에서 2010년부터 2012년 동안 식균성인 노랑무당벌레의 발생기주를 조사한 결과, 흰가루병에 감염된 12종의 식물에서 관찰 이 되었다. 특히 가장 밀도가 높았던 배과원에서 노랑무당벌레는 7월 상순부터 11월 상순까지 발견되었다. 식균성인 노랑무당벌레의 장내에서는 흰가루병 균사나 포자 외에 다른 먹이의 흔적이 발견되지 않았고, 알과 번데기를 제외한 전 발육단계에서 균을 섭식하는 특성을 볼 때 절대적 식균성 곤충으로 생각된다. 25℃에서 오이 흰가루병균을 섭식한 노랑무당벌레의 발육기간은 알, 유충, 번데기, 성충이 각각 3.9, 10.4, 4.1, 37.7일 이었고, 발육단계별 오이 흰가루병 섭식량은 45.6, 144.4, 372.2, 628.1, 473.7 mm 2로 4령, 성충, 3령, 2령, 1령 순으로 많았다. 본 연구를 통해 노랑무당벌 레의 오이 흰가루병에 대한 섭식능력을 바탕으로 향후 유용 토착천적으로써 대량사육기술, 저독성 약제 선발 등 작물 흰가루병 종합방제기술(IPM) 에 대한 연구가 필요하리라 사료된다.

Glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) is a member of the heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) family that is specific to endoplasmic reticulum (ER). It is known as chaperones and signaling regulators that respond to ER stresses in vertebrates. However, its function in invertebrates, including insects, is uncertain. Here we determined a full cDNA sequence and the expression patterns of grp78 of Aphis gossypii, which is a major pest of numerous crop plants worldwide. Its cDNA had highly conserved motifs of the HSP70 family and the C-terminal motif of KDEL characteristic of ER-specific HSPs. It showed 98.5% identity with the GRP78 of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. Real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that the grp78 level was higher in the fourth instar nymph than in the younger instar and adult stages. Its level was not affected by thermal stress of 10 to 40°C for 1 h. The grp78 level was proportional to the ingestion of a sucrose solution ranging in concentration from 0% to 30% in a Parafilm feeding chamber. In addition, the grp78 level varied among aphids feeding on leaves from 14 different host plants for 24 h; it was higher with eggplant and pepper but lower with pigweed and tobacco than any other plants. Our study suggests that the grp78 level is regulated by nutritional condition of A. gossypii.

Since 2000, the damages of hemipteran pests have severely increased. This study was performed to find the proper monitoring methods and investigate seasonal occurrences of the two apple-infesting stink bug species by the year and to evaluate the orchard rate of infestation and rate of damaged apple. Also the preferences of stink bugs to the crabapple cultivars were investigated in orchards. Compared data obtained from monitoring methods using visible counts, aggregation pheromone traps or mercury light traps, the occurrence density of apple-infesting stink bugs (Plautia stali and Halyomorpha halys) could be monitored more effectively in aggregation pheromone trap than visible count or mercury light trap. The occurrence densities of two species during growing season were low in 2013, but increased in 2014. From the investigations at 25 orchards of eight districts was the infestation rate was at 16.7% in 2013 and 62.1% in 2014 . The occurrence density of stink bugs in crabapples was highest in ‘Purple lemoine’ followed by ‘Professor sprenger’ ‘M. baccata’, ‘Robinson crab’, ‘Sandong pingguo’, damaged fruit rate. The number of damaged holes was high in order as ‘Hopa-A’, ‘Sandong pingguo’, ‘Adam’s crab’, ‘Professor sprenger’, ‘Purple lemoine’.

Indianmeal moth Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is an economical pest of stored grains and their products, causing severe loss by feeding and producing silken web containing frass and exuvia. An ectoparasitoid Bracon hebetor Say (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) attacks this pest as a natural enemy and induce paralysis and developmental arrest in it. At molecular level its venom induce many physiological changes in host P. interpunctella to make it suitable source of food and development for its young ones. To explore these physiological changes at molecular level in P. interpunctella, we observed expression level of different genes having different functions related to immunity, defense and development at different intervals followed by B. hebetor envenomation. Fifth instar day 5 old larvae of P. interpunctella were used in experiment. Our results showed that B. hebetor envenomation effect the gene expression differently in host P. interpunctella. This basic study will be the starting point to understand the role of envenomation in host regulation studies.

In type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) cosmology, a well-established correlation exists between the mass of host galaxies and the Hubble residual (HR) of SNe Ia. In order to investigate the origin of this correlation, we used low-resolution spectroscopic data of early-type host galaxies obtained from our YOnsei Nearby Supernovae Evolution Investigation (YONSEI) project. We measured velocity dispersions and Lick/IDS absorption line indices from these fully calibrated spectra. These indices were used to estimate the luminosity-weighted mean age, metallicity and mass of host galaxies. We found a tight correlation between host mass and population age, which is consistent with the "downsizing" trend in early-type galaxies. This suggests that the well-established correlation between HR and host mass is most likely due to the difference in population age. More observations, which are in progress, are required to understand the impact of luminosity evolution on SNe Ia cosmology.

We analyze the host galaxy of the tidal disruption object, Swift J1644+57, based on long-term optical to NIR data obtained with CQUEAN and UKIRT WFCAM observations. We decompose the bulge component using high resolution HST WFC3 images. We conclude that the host galaxy is bulge dominant. We investigate optical to NIR light curves and estimate the multi-band uxes of the host galaxy. We fit spectral energy distribution (SED) models in order to determine the stellar mass. Finally, we estimate the mass of the black hole in the center of the host galaxy based on several scale relations.

본 연구에서는 2014년 전국을 대상으로 갈색날개매미충의 국내 분포, 기주식물, 잠재서식지를 조사하였다. 갈색날개매미충은 43개 시군에서 관찰되었고, 경북에서 처음 확인되었다. 기주식물은 산지 및 농작물에서 53과 113종으로 확인되었고, 선행연구를 포함하여 62과 138종으로 조사되었다. 주요 기주식물은 사과나무, 두릅나무, 때죽나무, 갯버들, 닥나무, 자귀나무, 가죽나무, 밤나무, 아까시나무, 산수유 등이었다. 종분포 예측은 Maxent 모형을 사용하였고, 12개의 모형변수(8개 기후변수, 1개 토지피복변수, 1개 임상변수, 1개 생태자연도 변수, 1개 거리변수)를 활용하였다. 모형의 정확도는 0.884로 매우 우수하였다. 연구결과에 의하면 여름철 강수량, 여름철 평균기온, 임상현황, 토지이용현황이 갈색날개매미충의 잠재서식지에 영향을 미치는 중요한 요인으로 밝혀졌다.

The study conducted questionnaire analysis on 607 host company employee and 404 subcontractor employee in order to examine the difference in the safety culture cognition of host company and subcontractor. As a result, host company had higher recognition in all safety culture factors compare to that of subcontractor, and there were bigger gap of cognition in the 'cognition in safety status and culture', 'accident and near-miss', 'immediate superior's concentration degree in safety and health' than that of other cognition factors. Furthermore, team leaders showed the highest cognition in both host company and subcontractor, and employees with above 20 year career had the highest cognition in both host company and subcontractor. There is high relationship between host company and subcontractor in the correlations in safety culture cognition factors. Through this study, we identified the difference in the safety culture cognition factor of host company and subcontractor.

본 연구에서는 기생성 맵시벌과의 4종에 대하여 새로운 숙주를 보고하고자 한다. 4종의 맵시벌과는 황오색나비 (나비목: 네발나비과), 밤색하 늘소 (딱정벌레목: 하늘소과), 황다리독나방 (나비목: 독나방과)의 번데기에서 각각 발견되었다. 본 논문에서는 맵시벌과 4종의 간략한 식별형질과 사진정보, 황다리독나방에 기생하는 맵시벌과의 목록을 제시 하였다.

Histone H4 is a protein subunit of nucleosomes in eukaryotes and play crucial roles in DNA package and in regulation of gene expression by covalent modification. A viral histone H4 is encoded in a polydnavirus called Cotesia plutellae bracovirus (CpBV). The viral H4 (CpBV-H4) is highly homologous with other H4 proteins except 38 extended residues in N terminus. Its expression alters insect gene expression and suppresses immune and development. In this study, CpBV-H4 was expressed in a natural host, Plutella xylostella, and its suppressive activity on host gene expression was detected by suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) technique. SSH targets, of which expressions were down-regulated by CpBV-H4, were read by 454 pyrosequencing and annotated using the published P. xylostella whole genome. Resulting targets were assigned to most GO functional categories. Two chromatin remodeling factors were included in the SSH targets. Lysine demethylase (Px-KDM) of P. xylostella was highly expressed during entire larval period in all tested tissues. However, the suppression of Px-KDM expression by a specific RNA interference (RNAi) did not affect immune response, but significantly impaired the larval development. SWI/SNF of P. xylostella (Px-SWI/SNF) was expressed in all developmental stages. Its RNAi did not affect larval development, but led to significant alteration in adult metamorphosis. CpBV-H4 suppressed expressions of both Px-KDM and Px-SWI/SNF, but its truncated mutant lacking in the extended N-terminal tail did not. These results suggest that the developmental alteration in P. xylostella parasitized by C. plutellae can be caused by an epigenetic control of CpBV-H4 against chromatin remodeling factors.

Translational control is a strategy for various viruses to manipulate their hosts to suppress any acute antiviral activity. Some cys-motif genes encoded in polydnaviruses or teratocytes act as host translation inhibitory factor (HTIF) to defend the host antiviral activity. A novel cys-motif gene, TSP13, was encoded in the genome of an endoparasitoid wasp, Cotesia plutellae. TSP13 consists of 129 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular weight of 13.987 kDa and pI value at 7.928. Genomic DNA region encoding open reading frame is interrupted with three introns. TSP13 was expressed in Plutella xylostella larvae parasitized by C. plutellae. C. plutellae bracovirus (CpBV) was purified and injected to nonparasitized P. xylostella. In the virus-injected P. xylostella, TSP13 was shown to be expressed by RT-PCR analysis. Thus, TSP13 was turned out to be encoded in the proviral CpBV genome. TSP13 was cloned into a eukaryotic expression vector, which was then used to infect Sf9 cells to transiently express TSP13. The synthesized TSP13 was detected in the culture broth. Purified TSP13 significantly inhibited cellular immune responses. Furthermore, TSP13 entered the target cells and was localized in the cytosol. This study reports a novel cys-motif gene, which is encoded in CpBV genome localized on chromosome(s) of C. plutellae and replicated to be encapsidated in the episomal viral particles during parasitization.

매실의 낙과 피해를 일으키는 복숭아씨살이좀벌은 경기도, 충청남북도, 전라남북도 지역의 매실과 살구, 그리고 중국산 복숭아 종자에서 확인되었다. 복숭아씨살이좀벌은 땅에 떨어진 핵과류의 핵 속에서 유충 상태로 월동하고, 노숙유충은 4월 중순까지, 번데기는 3월 하순에서 4월 하순까지 관찰되었으며, 성충은 4월 하순~5월 상순 사이에 90% 이상이 우화하는 것으로 조사되었다. 암컷 성충은 핵이 경화되기 이전 씨앗이 액 상일 때 과실 씨앗의 외피 바로 밑에 산란하였으며, 산란관의 길이가 5 mm를 넘지 않아 산란이 가능한 매실의 크기는 직경이 2 cm를 넘지 않았 다. 하나의 과실에 최대 5개의 알이 관찰되었으며, 알 기간은 2일을 넘지 않았다. 부화한 유충은 먼저 고형화되는 배로 이동하여 이를 섭식하면서 성장하는데 이 과정에서 유충들 사이의 경쟁으로 인해 한 마리의 유충만 생존하였다. 6월 상순경 피해를 받은 과실의 대부분이 부패증상을 보이 며 낙과하였다. 땅에 떨어진 과실의 핵 속에서 이듬해 봄까지 노숙유충으로 월동하였다.

Cotesia plutellae, an endoparasitoids braconid wasp, possesses a polydnaviruses (PDVs) called Cotesia plutellae bracovirus (CpBV) that encodes viral histone H4 (= CpBV-H4). This viral histone H4 shares high sequence homology (82.5%) with host`s H4 of P.xylostella, except an extended N-terminal tail consisting of 38 amino acid residues with nine lysines. Its extended N-terminal tail has been postulated to play a crucial role in suppressing host immunity, growth and development-associated genes, presumably through an epigenetic control mechanism. A suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) analysis was analyzed in transcriptome by short-read sequencing technology and provided several target and non-target genes of a viral histone H4. In this study, we analyzed the effect CpBV-H4 on the expression of two target genes: Lysine-specific demethylase (KDM) and Serine proteinase inhibitor (Serpins). Transient expression of CpBV-H4 into non parasitized P. xylostella was performed by microinjection of a recombinant expression vector, and showed the expression up to 70 h. Under this transient expression condition, we analyzed the effect of CpBV-H4 on the expression of target genes by RT-PCR at different time points. Interestingly, the CpBV-H4 significantly inhibited the expression of these target genes, while the truncated CpBV-H4 deleting the N-terminal tail did not show this inhibitory effect. This study also showed that the viral histone H4 suppresses expressions of lysine-specific demethylase and serine proteinase inhibitor (Serpin2) to inhibit host growth and development.

The Riptortus pedestris-Burkholderia symbiotic system is a promising model for understanding molecular mechanism of symbiosis. In previous studies, the Burkholderia symbiont has been shown to play important biological roles in the growth and fitness of host R. pedestris. The Burkholderia symbiont, one of bacteria found in the soil, is the only bacterium that can colonize the symbiotic midgut region of R. pedestris. However, the molecular mechanism of host selectivity for the Burkholderia symbiont remains unknown. To determine where the selection occurs, we firstly compared initial infectivity of different mid-gut regions after oral infection of Escherichia coli and Burkholderia. Interestingly, E. coli were not detected in any regions of mid-gut, while Burkholderia could reach to the posterior region of mid-gut. Therefore, we hypothesized that host selectivity for the Burkholderia symbiont is occurred in the salivary gland. To address this hypothesis, we treated E. coli and Burkholderia with lysate of salivary gland and examined their survival by estimation of colony forming unit (CFU) on the plate. We found that E. coli, but not Burkholderia, was susceptible to the lysate of salivary gland. To determine molecular basis of the selective mechanism in the salivary gland, we analyzed antimicrobial proteins (AMPs) from lysate of salivary gland. we identified three AMPs, namely rip-trialysin1, rip-trialysin2 and lysozyme and further purified rip-trialysin1 and rip-trialysin2. When E. coli and Burkholderia were treated with rip-trialysin1 and rip-trialysin2, rip-trialysin1 exhibited little antimicrobial activity, but rip-trialysin2 exhibited antimicrobial activity. Furthermore, we found that E. coli was susceptible, but Burkholderia is resistant to commerciallypurchased egg white lysozyme. Our results suggest that R. pedestris salivary gland provides a chance of selection for the Burkholderia symbiont and lysozyme in salivary gland seems to play an important role for the selection of gut symbiont.