Host relationships between insects and plants are one of the major factor driving evolutionary diversification within terrestrial ecosystems. Beetles (Coleoptera) are the most diverse and species-rich group of insects, and a robust, time-calibrated phylogeny is fundamental to understanding macroevolutionary processes that underlie their diversity. Recently, many studies have been carried out about the relationships among those taxa according to the attention on co-evolution of phytophagous insects and their hosts, however, most of them focused on special taxa (family or genus level) of insects. In this presentation, we especially reviewed current trends of studies on interactions between coleopteran insects and host plant in the world and Korea for proposals of future studies.

본 연구는 산림 내에서 수종갱신 및 천연갱신 등의 산림시업을 실시한 이후 딱정벌레류 곤충분포상의 변화 양상을 군집수준으로 조사 · 분석하여 종다양성이 증대되는 시업방법의 구명을 통해 산림생물다양성 보전을 위한 효과적인 관리기법을 제시하는데 필요한 기초자료를 확보하고자 수행되었다. 이를 위해 2012년, 강원도 삼척군 하장면 일대의 소나무림 갱신임지 내에서 5개의 임업시업 방법별로 처리한 후 동일지점에서 2013년 7월부터 10월까지 딱정벌레류 곤충상 조사를 실시하였다. 조사 목적상 갱신임지 유형별로 딱정벌레류를 정량조사하기 위해 45일 간격으로 린드그렌퍼넬트랩을 이용하여 채집조사를 실시하였으며, 조사대상인 딱정벌레류의 분류군별 다양도 및 풍부도를 중심으로 분석을 실시하였다. 연구 결과, 딱정벌레류는 총 40과 156종 1,112개체가 조사되었다. 조사 초기 단계에서 각 처리방법별 뚜렷한 밀도차이는 나타나지 않았으나, 전 처리구들이 대조구에 비해 다양도 및 풍부도가 증가하는 경향을 보였고, 이 중 대상개벌을 실시한 구간에서 비교적 높은 밀도를 보이는 것으로 확인되었다.

CD63, a member of tetraspanin membrane protein family, plays pivotal role in cell growth, motility, signal transduction, host-pathogen interactions and cancer. In this work, the cDNA encoding CD63 homologue (TmCD63) was cloned from larvae of coleopteran beetle, Tenebrio molitor. The cDNA is comprised of an open reading frame of 705 bp, encoding putative protein of 235 amino acid residues. In silico analysis shows that the protein has four putative transmembrane domains and one large extracellular loop. The characteristic ‘Cys-Cys-Gly’ motif and ‘Cys188’ residues are highly conserved in the large extracellular loop. Phylogenetic analysis of TmCD63 revealed that they belong to the insect cluster with 50-56% identity. Analysis of spatial expression patterns demonstrated that TmCD63 mRNA is mainly expressed in gut and Malphigian tubules of larvae and the testis of the adult. Developmental expression patterns of CD63 mRNA showed that TmCD63 transcripts are detected in late larval, pupal and adult stages. Interestingly, TmCD63 transcript was upregulated the maximum 4.5 fold in response to DAP-type peptidoglycan during the first 6 h, although other immune elicitors also made significant increase in the transcript level at later time-points. These results suggest that CD63 might contribute to T. molitor immune response against various microbial pathogens.

We have identified novel ricin-type (R-type) lectin by sequencing of random clones from cDNA library of the coleopteran beetle, T.molitor. The cDNA sequence is comprised of 495 bp encoding a protein of 164 amino acid residues and shows 49% identity with galectin of Tribolium castaneum. Bioinformatics analysis shows that the amino acid residues from 35 to 162 belong to ricin-type β-trefoil structure. The transcript was significantly upregulated after early hours of injection with peptidoglycans derived from Gram (+) and Gram (-) bacteria, beta-1, 3 glucan from fungi and an intracellular pathogen, L. monocytogenes suggesting putative function in innate immunity.

Cry3 toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis are used as biopesticides and the transgenic crops to control of leaf-feeding beetles. Cadherin in insect midgut epithelium is identified as receptor for Cry toxins in several insects and some domains of it synergizes Cry toxicity. Cadherin (DvCad1-CR8-10) fragment of Diabrotica virgifera virgifera enhanced Cry3Bb toxicity to Colorado potato beetle (CPB), Leptinotarsa decemlineata. Single cadherin repeat (CR) fragment of DvCad1-CR8-10, have a strong binding affinity to the active Cry3Bb toxin. The dissociation constant Kd value of CR8, CR9, and CR10 were 4.9 nM, 28.2 nM, and 4.6 nM, respectively. Interestingly, CR8 and CR10 enhanced Cry3Bb toxicity against CPB and Lesser mealworm (LMW), Alphitobius diaperinus, neonates in up to 2-folds. The DvCad1-CR10 peptide is further analyzed by in-frame deletion to determine the active site for Cry3Bb toxin. The active site is narrowed down to a 26 amino acid locating in the N-terminal region of DvCad1-CR10 that either synergized Cry3Bb toxicity on the CPB and LMW neonates in 3-folds or bound to the toxin with high affinity. The extent of Cry3Bb toxin enhancement by the activie site in DvCad1-CR10 may have practical application for control of CPB and LMW.

 ,  , This study was conducted to estimate the effects of fire intensity and recovery methods on coleopteran communities in three burned forests, Goseong, Gangneung, and Samcheok in Gangwon province, Korea. Four sampling sites were selected in each study area according to disturbance degree (DD) caused by fire intensity and recovery methods. DD in the study sites were categorized as 0 (no fire), 1 (weak fire), 2 (strong fire), and 3 (strong fire followed by human disturbance). Beetles collected by pitfall traps were classified into 3 functional guilds: detritivore, herbivore, and carnivore. Diversity and abundance were slightly higher in the burned sites (DD = 1-3) than in the unburned sites (DD = 0), although there was no statistical significance. Coleopteran communities differed according to fire intensity and recovery method. This suggests that recovery of burned forests using both natural recovery and reforestation may increase the diversity of coleopteran communities.

The Wolbachia bacterium, one of the most prevalent endosymbiotic bacteria, is known to induce reproductive anomalies such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, feminization, male killing and parthenogenesis in various arthropod species. The bacterium is considered to have had huge impacts on hosts' reproductive biology, immunity, evolution, and molecular machineries. Infection surveys on the bacterium have rather been limited to specific taxa that are mainly of economical importance or conducted with randomly collected organisms. Here we investigated infection frequency of Wolbachia in 206 Coleopteran insects collected from Korea. Among them 28 species (13.59%) across families proved to harbor Wolbachia. The phylogenetic trees based on the partial 16s rRNA gene and the partial Wolbachia surface protein (wsp) gene of Wolbachia show that all the Wolbachia strains belong to either Supergroup A or B and Wolbachia evolved independently from its hosts. In addition, the cophylogenetic analysis of the 16s rRNA gene and wsp gene implies that there have been horizontal DNA transfers and recombination events within and between divergent Wolbachia supergroups.

Forest pests are one of the major disturbance factors in forest ecosystem and their outbreaks are expected to be severer under influence of climate changes. Among the forest pests, coleopterans can be key stone species because they are one of the dominant groups in forest and their ecological functions are very diverse. Moreover, saproxylic beetles contributed to ecological succession of forests thus, ecological functions of forests are changed in response to their outbreaks. The outbreaks of mountain pine beetle (MPB) were the most dramatic examples that outbreaks by climate change induce changes in ecological function of forest. Compositions of coleopteran species were variable to latitudinal changes whereas compositions of functional group were consistent. This showed that ecological function of coleopteran had resilience to climate changes and directions of changes in coleopteran communities were predictable based on species-specific latitudinal distribution. In addition, abundance of saproxylic beetles increased with increase in DBH (diameter at breast height), suggesting tree ages are one of the key factors for saproxylic beetles. Finally, potential changes in interactions between saproxylic beetles and trees under climate changes were discussed.

We have determined the complete mitochondrial genome of the yellow-spotted long horned beetle, Psacothea hilaris (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), an endangered insect species in Korea. The 15,856-bp long P. hilaris mitogenome harbors gene content typical of the animal mitogenome and a gene arrangement identical to the most common type found in insect mitogenomes. As with all other sequenced coleopteran species, the 5-bp long TAGTA motif was also detected in the intergenic space sequence located between tRNASer (UCN) and ND1 of P. hilaris. The 1,190-bp long non-coding A+T-rich region harbors an unusual series of seven identical repeat sequences of 57-bp in length and several stretches of sequences with the potential to form stem-and-loop structures. Furthermore, it contains one tRNAArg-like sequence and one tRNALys-likes equence. Phylogenetic analysis among available coleopteran mitogenomes using the concatenated amino acid sequences of PCGs appear to support the sister group relationship of the suborder Polyphaga to all remaining suborders, including Adephaga, Myxophaga, and Archostemata. Among the two available infraorders in Polyphaga, a monophyletic Cucujiformia was confirmed, with the placement of Cleroidea as the basal lineage for Cucujiformia. On the other hand, the infraorder Elateriformia was not identified as monophyletic, thereby indicating that Scirtoidea and Buprestoidea are the basal lineages for Cucujiformia and the remaining Elateriformia.

In this study, we determined the complete mitochondrial genome of the jewel beetle, Chrysochroa fulgidissima (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), from four overlapping fragments. The 15,592-bp long C. fulgidissima mitogenome exhibits a gene arrangement and content identical to the most common type in insects. The start codon of the C. fulgidissima COI gene is unusual, in that no typical ATN codon is available. The 875-bp A+T-rich region is the shortest among the coleopteran mitogenomes that have thus far been sequenced in their entirety. The most unusual feature of the genome is the presence of three tRNA-like sequences within the A+T-rich region: two tRNALeu(UUR)-like sequences and one tRNAAsnlike sequence. These sequence stretches evidence the proper anticodon sequence and the potential to form secondary structures, but also harbor many mismatches in the stems. Phylogenetic analysis using a concatenation of 13 amino acid sequences of protein-coding genes among the available sequenced species of coleopteran superfamilies (Buprestoidea and Elateroidea belonging to the infraorder Elateriformnia, and Chrysomeloidea and Tenebrioroidea belonging to the infraorder Cucujoiformia) by Bayesian inference, maximum-parsimony analyses, and maximum-likelihood analysis unexpectedly revealed a lack of support for monophyletic Elateriformia.

The field survey was conducted weekly from April to October in 2004 and 2005 on the sites along the 5.16 road. Sampling sites were made every 100 m height starting from 250 m altitude of both sides of Mt. Halla along 5.16 Road, which crosses the mountain