Bombyx mandarina (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae), the presumed ancestor of the domesticated silkworm B. mori, has long been a subject of study to illustrate the geographic relationships in connection with origin of B. mori. We sequenced 100 mitochondrial genomes of B. mandarina collected from South Korea and Japan and these were combined with public data. Phylogenetic and population genetic analyses showed that all individuals collected in South Korea, except one individual from Inje, formed a strong group together with northern China and some individuals of southern China. This group was placed as the sister group to B. mori strains, suggesting that this group could have been served as an immediate progenitor for B. mori. For further robust inference more analysis is underway.

Spodoptera eridania and S. ornithogalli (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), which are polyphagous pests that damage various crops such as tomatoes and beans are regulated quarantine species that are highly likely to invade South Korea. Therefore, it is crucial to promptly and accurately identify the presence of S. eridania and S. ornithogalli in crop fields to effectively eradicate as a regulated quarantine species. In this study, we developed a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay, which allows for rapid in-field identification. To develop the LAMP　assay, we selected target species-specific genomic regions from the whole-genome sequences of one target and 13 other lepidopteran species. We validated each five and six primer sets that consistently produced positive reactions in S. eridania and S. ornithogalli, respectively. To test the sensitivity of the each locus, LAMP reactions were performed using various reaction times using crude DNA, which was extracted from various types of adult tissues. All sensitivity tests were also successful.

국내 유입 가능성이 높은 검역 관리해충인 Spodoptera eridania 및 S. ornithogalli는 전 세계적으로 토마토, 콩 등 여러 종의 작물을 가해하는 광식성 해충이다. 이에 따라 국내 유입 시 해당 작물에 높은 경제적 피해를 입힐 가능성 이 있으므로 신속 정확한 진단이 필요한 실정이다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 상기 두 종을 대상으로 현장 활용이 가능한 LAMP 진단법 개발을 수행하였다. 표적종 두 종 및 비표적종 11종(국내 발생 Spodoptera 종 및 동일 기주 가해종 등)의 전장유전체 정보를 확보한 후 비교 분석을 통해 각 표적종 별 특이적 영역을 확보한 후 해당 영역을 대상으로 LAMP 프라이머를 제작하였다. DNA 농도 10 ng/μL, 반응시간 40분을 기준으로 LAMP 진단을 수행한 결과, Spodoptera eridania는 5개의 LAMP 진단 마커를 개발하였고, S. ornithogalli는 3개의 LAMP 진단 마커를 개발하였다.

Porcine parvovirus 2 (PPV2) was recently detected in the Republic of Korea. This paper reports two near-complete genome sequences of PPV2 identified for the first time in the lung tissue of aborted pig fetuses.

Currently, phylogenetic relationships of Bombycoidea have been reconstructed using molecular data, but generated several hypotheses on among-familial relationships [(especially, “Satruniidae+Bombycidae+Sphingidae” group)] within Bombycoidea. Thus, in this study, we sequenced 39 mitogenomes from both Bombycoidea and Lasiocampoidea. Consequently, one topology was obtained on the basis of ML and BI methods. It suggested the monophyly of the two superfamilies (Bombycoidea and Lasiocampoidea) consistently with a high nodal support; the sister relationship between Saturniidae and Sphingidae in “SBS”; and the sister relationships between Bombycidae and the Saturniidae + Sphingidae group.

In this study, we tested the effect of a range of insect orders including Trichoptera as outgroups for lepidopteran phylogeny. Phylogenetic analyses performed with four different partitioning schemes using the maximum-likelihood method provided four different topologies (T1-T4) and topological test most supported T1 topology. When the means of first principle component for nucleotide frequency between A/T and G/C of PCGs was considered Trichoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, and Orthoptera tended to result in T1 topology more frequently in the given ingroup taxa and outgroups tested. This result contradicts to the general view that the sister taxon might be the best outgroup. The T1 topology was largely consistent with a recent large molecular dataset-based lepidopteran phylogeney, presenting the relationships ((((((((((Noctuoidea + Geometroidea) + (Bombycoidea + Lasiocampoidea)) + Drepanoidea) + Mimallonoidea) + Pyraloidea) + Gelechioidea) + Papilionoidea) + Tortricoidea) + (Gracillaroidea + Yponomeutoidea)) + Hepialoidea).

We present the nearly complete mitogenome sequences of the garden chafer, Polyphylla laticollis manchurica, which is listed as an endangered species in Korea. The P. l. manchurica mitogenome, which includes unfinished whole A+T-rich region and a partial srRNA was 14,473-bp long, possessing typical sets of genes (13 PCGs, 22 tRNA genes, and 2 rRNA genes). Gene arrangement of the P. l. manchurica mitogenome was identical to the common one found in the majority of insects. The 5 bp-long motif sequence (TAGTA) that has been suggested to be the possible binding site for the transcription termination peptide for the major-strand was also found in the P. l. manchurica mitogenome between tRNASer(UCN) and ND1. As has been previously determined, the high A/T content was unanimously observed in P. l. manchurica in terms of A/T bias in the third codon position (73.5%) compared with the first (66.4%) and second codon position (66.2%), and a high frequency of A/T-containing codons (a total of 28.22% for TTA, ATT, TTT, and ATA). The PCGs encoded in major-strands are slightly T-skewed, whereas those of the minor-strand are A-skewed, indicating strand asymmetry in nucleotide composition in the Coleoptera including P. l. manchurica.

The differences in the immune response between body lice, Pediculus humanus humanus, and head lice, Pediculus humanus capitis, were regarded as primary factors determining their differential vector competence. To find any differences in genetic components in immune system between body and head lice, whole genome sequences of head lice were determined by both SBS [sequencing by synthesis, Illumina Genome Analyzer (Illumina-GA)] and pyrosequencing (Roche GS FLX), and compared with the reference genome sequences of body lice. The short DNA reads from Illumina-GA (an average mapping depth of 50-fold) were aligned first to the body louse reference genome, to which Roche GS FLX DNA reads (an average depth of 2.5-fold) were subsequently assembled to make up gaps between mapped consensus. Total consensus showed a size of 114 Mb and a coverage of 96% of the published body louse genome sequences. From this head louse genome sequences, a total of 12,651 genes were predicted and used for comparing with the 10,775 genes previously reported from the body louse genome. The homolog analysis identified 873 head louse-specific genes and 422 body lice-specific genes. Comparison of immune response genes between both louse species showed head lice have more number of immune-related genes than body lice. Head lice were determined to possess all of the 107 immune-related genes reported in the previous study (Kim et al., 2011), suggesting that there is no difference in genetic make-up in terms of the 107 immune-related genes between body and head lice.

Mitochondria are essential organelles of eukaryotic cells and plant cells contain varying numbers of mitochondrial genome sequences. Sizes and shapes of mitochondria differ within a tissue or in the same cells. Previously sequenced complete mitochondrial genome (NC_016118) of Brassica oleracea size was 360,271 bp, where segmental duplication (repeat block) was 141,800 bp. In this study, we resequenced this whole mitochondrial genome by using WGS (whole genome sequencing) and assembled organelles genome method (unpublished). Newly sequenced mitochondrial genome length was 219,975 bp and circle form. A new sequence segment of approximately 4,800 bp was obtained compared to the previous genome sequence without any large repeat block. Newly obtained mitochondria genome sequence was compared with recently reported mitochondria genome sequences of various species (B. oleracea, B. juncea, B. rapa, B. napus and B. carinata) and subspecies (cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, broccoli and kale) by PCR using primers specifying different region of genome sequences. PCR analysis results have also confirmed the variation between previous and newly sequenced mitochondrial genome circles form. Thus, the results suggest new B. oleracea mitotype, including evolutionary events such as inheritance, rearrangement, genome compaction, and diversity