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Pseudomonas Protegens And Products Thereof To Control Bacterial Panicle Blight Of Rice, Clemencia M. Rojas, J. Alejandro Rojas, Jackson Oliver Lay Jr

Patents Granted

The present invention provides biosynthetic products that may be useful for controlling bacterial panicle blight of rice. These products are encoded by four biosynthetic operons found within the genome of a Pseudomonas protegens strain designated as PBL3 and deposited as ATCC #, which has been shown to inhibit the growth of Burkholderia glumae on rice plants. Also provided are vectors encoding these biosynthetic products, and methods of using the biosynthetic products to inhibit the growth of microorganisms.

Burkholderia Cenocepacia And Pseudomonas Fluorescens Compositions And Methods Of Using The Same, Clemencia M. Rojas, Ruben O. Morawicki, Ines Pinto, Alejandro Rojas

Patents Granted

The present invention provides compositions comprising new strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Burkholderia cenocepacia. Secreted fraction compositions produced by these bacterial strains, and the methods for producing these compositions are also provided. Herein, the inventors demonstrate that these bacterial strains and compositions may be used to inhibit the growth of a broad spectrum of plant pathogens.

Phylogenomics Reveals The History Of Host Use In Mosquitoes, John Soghigian, Charles Sither, Silvia Andrade Justi, Gen Morinaga, Brian K. Cassel, Christopher J. Vitek, Todd Livdahl, Siyang Xia, Andrea Gloria-Soria, Jeffrey R. Powell

School of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mosquitoes have profoundly affected human history and continue to threaten human health through the transmission of a diverse array of pathogens. The phylogeny of mosquitoes has remained poorly characterized due to difficulty in taxonomic sampling and limited availability of genomic data beyond the most important vector species. Here, we used phylogenomic analysis of 709 single copy ortholog groups from 256 mosquito species to produce a strongly supported phylogeny that resolves the position of the major disease vector species and the major mosquito lineages. Our analyses support an origin of mosquitoes in the early Triassic (217 MYA [highest posterior density region: …

Catalog Of The World Species Of Trichodesma Leconte, 1861 (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) And Associated Genera, Kyle E. Schnepp

Insecta Mundi

A catalog of the species of Trichodesma LeConte (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) for the world is provided, including synonyms and misspellings. Six additional genera, Anobiopsis Fall, Belemia Español, Nanodesma Zahradník, Nicobium LeConte, Trichobiopsis White, and Trichodesmina Español, are also cataloged for com­pleteness. The species name, author, year, and page number of description are given for each species, as well as references for combinations by different authors. The type depository is given when known, and followed by a “?” when unknown but suspected, and a general distribution is given by region of the world followed by country. Authorship of the genus Trichodesma in …

Peptides That Block Transmission Of Orthotospoviruses And Methods Of Using The Same, Ioannis Tzanetakis, Jing Zhou

Patents Granted

Orthotospovirus virions travel through the thrips foregut and enter midgut epithelial cells through the interaction between virus glycoproteins and cellular receptors with several protein motifs thought to be involved in the interaction. Single, double and triple mutant polypeptides in the soybean vein necrosis virus (SVNV)/Neohydatothrips variabilis system are provided herein and several are shown to block viral transmission from the thrips to the soybean plants. Methods for inhibiting viral transmission using these polypeptides or constructs comprising polynucleotides encoding peptides are also provided herein.

Evaluating Molecular Xenomonitoring As A Tool For Lymphatic Filariasis Surveillance In Samoa, 2018–2019, Brady Mcpherson, Helen J. Mayfield, Angus Mclure, Katherine Gass, Take Naseri, Robert Thomsen, Steven A. Williams, Nils Pilotte, Therese Kearns, Patricia M. Graves, Colleen L. Lau

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Molecular xenomonitoring (MX), the detection of filarial DNA in mosquitoes using molecular methods (PCR), is a potentially useful surveillance strategy for lymphatic filariasis (LF) elimination programs. Delay in filarial antigen (Ag) clearance post-treatment is a limitation of using human surveys to provide an early indicator of the impact of mass drug administration (MDA), and MX may be more useful in this setting. We compared prevalence of infected mosquitoes pre- and post-MDA (2018 and 2019) in 35 primary sampling units (PSUs) in Samoa, and investigated associations between the presence of PCR-positive mosquitoes and Ag-positive humans. We observed a statistically significant decline …

Description, Diversity, And Phylogeography Of The North American Spider Beetle (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) Genus Coleotestudo, Robert Chambliss

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A new genus, Coleotestudo, is proposed for the American species currently placed in the genus Niptus LeConte and are transferred herein. Two new species from Mexico are also described as C. potosi n. sp. and C. nahua n. sp. Distinguishing morphological characteristics for the North American Coleotestudo species are given. The combined set of morphological evidence, DNA sequence data, and a Western New World distribution strongly support the hypothesis that Coleotestudo does not share a recent common ancestor with N. hololeucus and both represent unrelated clades of spider beetles.

During the summer of 2021, Coleotestudo was collected mainly from …

Conservation And Variation In Agricultural Landscapes: A Survey Of Insect Populations Across Naranjilla Cultivation Methods In The Eastern Andean Cloud Forest, Ian Zakelj

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study compared insect biodiversity among five sites in agricultural landscapes and natural forest in the El Placer community in the valley of the Rio Pastaza in the eastern Andean cloud forest. The area is of vital importance to conservation, as it falls in the ecological corridor between the Sangay and Llanganates national parks. The primary crop produced by the residents of El Placer is naranjilla, and it is cultivated in a variety of manners, mostly with intensive chemical use. The goal of the study was to find out which types of practices were the least harmful to the insect …

Method Of Improving Tolerance Of Plants To Herbicides Using Seed Insecticide Treatments, Gus Lorenz, Robert Scott, Jarrod Hardke, Jason K. Norsworthy

Patents Granted

Methods of increasing the tolerance of a plant to an herbicide and seeds for carrying out these methods are provided herein. The methods include treating the seeds of the plant with an insecticide prior to planting. The insecticide treatment makes the resulting plant more resistant to herbicides and in particular to post-emergence herbicides as compared to untreated seeds. The plants suitably do not have complete natural or complete engineered resistance to the herbicide. The treated seeds are then planted in a field and the herbicide is applied to the field. The resulting plants growing from the treated seeds have increased …

A Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly Of The Parasitoid Wasp, Cotesia Glomerata (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), Brendan J. Pinto, Jerome J. Weis, Tony Gamble, Paul J. Ode, Ryan Paul, Jennifer M. Zaspel

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Hymenopterans make up about 20% of all animal species, but most are poorly known and lack high-quality genomic resources. One group of important, yet understudied hymenopterans are parasitoid wasps in the family Braconidae. Among this understudied group is the genus Cotesia, a clade of ~1,000 species routinely used in studies of physiology, ecology, biological control, and genetics. However, our ability to understand these organisms has been hindered by a lack of genomic resources. We helped bridge this gap by generating a high-quality genome assembly for the parasitoid wasp, Cotesia glomerata (Braconidae; Microgastrinae). We generated this assembly using multiple sequencing …

Making Space For Social And Emotional Learning In Science Education, Erin Ingram, Kristie Reddick, Jessica M. Honaker, Gwen A. Pearson

Department of Biological Systems Engineering: Papers and Publications

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is known to improve student outcomes but is rarely combined with STEM. In this paper we present an action research study to examine the impact of a STEM + SEL curriculum intervention to address a real-world school conflict. One hundred sixth–eighth graders and four teachers participated in an in-person facilitation of a SEL Arthropod curriculum, DIFFERENT. After the intervention, students completed open-ended couplet statements about arthropod behavior, tarantulas, and humans designed to measure sentiment change. Answers were manually coded using inductive coding on a scale of negative (1) to positive (5). Statement sentiments significantly shifted from negative …

Predictive Distributional Modeling Of Rare And Uncommon Stoneflies (Insecta: Plecoptera) Of The Central Appalachian Mountains Using Maximum Entropy, Phillip Nathaniel Hogan

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Predicting where rare species may be found is important in addressing and directing conservation efforts. Knowledge of the distribution for many of these taxa is often lacking or unknown altogether. The use of species distributional modeling fills gaps in this knowledge by predicting where a species may be present by taking a correlative approach between presence/pseudoabsences and environmental data. The aim of this study was to describe the distribution of several rare and uncommon aquatic insects using Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) modeling as human influences within the central Appalachian Mountains are increasing and isolating pockets of biodiversity. Species distribution modeling of …

Intragenic Dna Methylation Regulates Insect Gene Expression And Reproduction Through The Mbd/Tip60 Complex, Guanfeng Xu, Hao Lyu, Yangqin Yi, Yuling Peng, Qili Feng, Qisheng Song, Chengcheng Gong, Xuezhen Peng, Subba Reddy Palli, Sichun Zheng

Entomology Faculty Publications

DNA methylation is an important epigenetic modification. However, the regulations and functions of insect intragenic DNA methylation remain unknown. Here, we demonstrate that a regulatory mechanism involving intragenic DNA methylation controls ovarian and embryonic developmental processes in Bombyx mori. In B. mori, DNA methylation is found near the transcription start site (TSS) of ovarian genes. By promoter activity analysis, we observed that 5′ UTR methylation enhances gene expression. Moreover, methyl-DNA-binding domain protein 2/3 (MBD2/3) binds to the intragenic methyl-CpG fragment and recruits acetyltransferase Tip60 to promote histone H3K27 acetylation and gene expression. Additionally, genome-wide analyses showed that the peak …

Tick Extracellular Vesicles Enable Arthropod Feeding And Promote Distinct Outcomes Of Bacterial Infection, Adela S. Oliva Chávez, Xiaowei Wang, Liron Marnin, Nathan K. Archer, Holly L. Hammond, Erin E. Mcclure Carroll, Dana K. Shaw, Brenden G. Tully, Amanda D. Buskirk, Shelby L. Ford, L. Rainer Butler, Preeti Shahi, Kateryna Morozova, Cristina C. Clement, Lauren Lawres, Anya J. O'Neal, Choukri Ben Mamoun, Kathleen L. Mason, Brandi E. Hobbs, Glen A. Scoles, Eileen M. Barry, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Utpal Pal, Jesus G. Valenzuela, Marcelo B. Sztein, Marcela F. Pasetti, Michael L. Levin, Michail Kotsyfakis, Steven M. Jay, Jason F. Huntley, Lloyd S. Miller, Laura Santambrogio, Joao H.F. Pedra

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Extracellular vesicles are thought to facilitate pathogen transmission from arthropods to humans and other animals. Here, we reveal that pathogen spreading from arthropods to the mammalian host is multifaceted. Extracellular vesicles from Ixodes scapularis enable tick feeding and promote infection of the mildly virulent rickettsial agent Anaplasma phagocytophilum through the SNARE proteins Vamp33 and Synaptobrevin 2 and dendritic epidermal T cells. However, extracellular vesicles from the tick Dermacentor andersoni mitigate microbial spreading caused by the lethal pathogen Francisella tularensis. Collectively, we establish that tick extracellular vesicles foster distinct outcomes of bacterial infection and assist in vector feeding by acting …

Scoping Review Of Distribution Models For Selected Amblyomma Ticks And Rickettsial Group Pathogens, Catherine A. Lippi, Holly D. Gaff, Alexis L. White, Sadie J. Ryan

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The rising prevalence of tick-borne diseases in humans in recent decades has called attention to the need for more information on geographic risk for public health planning. Species distribution models (SDMs) are an increasingly utilized method of constructing potential geographic ranges. There are many knowledge gaps in our understanding of risk of exposure to tick-borne pathogens, particularly for those in the rickettsial group. Here, we conducted a systematic scoping review of the SDM literature for rickettsial pathogens and tick vectors in the genus Amblyomma. Of the 174 reviewed articles, only 24 studies used SDMs to estimate the potential extent …

Suitability Of Native Milkweed (Asclepias) Species Versus Cultivars For Supporting Monarch Butterflies And Bees In Urban Gardens, Adam M. Baker, Carl T. Redmond, Stephen B. Malcolm, Daniel A. Potter

Entomology Faculty Publications

Public interest in ecological landscaping and gardening is fueling a robust market for native plants. Most plants available to consumers through the horticulture trade are cultivated forms that have been selected for modified flowers or foliage, compactness, or other ornamental characteristics. Depending on their traits, some native plant cultivars seem to support pollinators, specialist insect folivores, and insect-based vertebrate food webs as effectively as native plant species, whereas others do not. There is particular need for information on whether native cultivars can be as effective as true or “wild-type” native species for supporting specialist native insects of conservation concern. Herein …

Wireworms, Ryan Davis, Jay B. Karren, Alan H. Roe

All Current Publications

Wireworms are the larvae (immatures) of click beetles. Adults are elongate, slender, hardshelled beetles that take their name from their habit of flipping into the air (sometimes with an audible clicking sound) when they are placed on their backs. This fact sheet reviews the management of wireworms.

Recent Hybrids Recapitulate Ancient Hybrid Outcomes, Samridhi Chaturvedi, Lauren K. Lucas, C. Alex Buerkle, James A. Fordyce, Matthew L. Forister, Chris C. Nice, Zachariah Gompert

Ecology Center Publications

Genomic outcomes of hybridization depend on selection and recombination in hybrids. Whether these processes have similar effects on hybrid genome composition in contemporary hybrid zones versus ancient hybrid lineages is unknown. Here we show that patterns of introgression in a contemporary hybrid zone in Lycaeides butterflies predict patterns of ancestry in geographically adjacent, older hybrid populations. We find a particularly striking lack of ancestry from one of the hybridizing taxa, Lycaeides melissa, on the Z chromosome in both the old and contemporary hybrids. The same pattern of reduced L. melissa ancestry on the Z chromosome is seen in two …

An Overview Of Hypotheses And Supporting Evidence Regarding Drivers Of Insect Gigantism In The Permo-Carboniferous, Ryssa Parks

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Insects provide powerful examples of the responses of organisms to environmental change. For example, insect body size gives us insight into the consequences of climate change due to shifts in atmospheric composition, both in the present and in the past. Indeed, one common hypothesis behind the enormous sizes of insects during the late Carboniferous to early Permian (323.2 to 265.0 million years ago) is that such sizes were enabled by elevated oxygen levels (hyperoxia) during the Permo-Carboniferous, when atmospheric oxygen was as high as 60% greater than its present-day concentration. To examine whether the giant body sizes of insects were …

Effects Of A Neonicotinoid Insecticide On The Growth Of Honey Bee Gut Microbes, Macee Mitchell, Daniel Franzese, Taylor Morales, Shane Lucht, Jesse Steele, Jenifer Walke

2020 Symposium Posters

The gut microbiome plays an essential role in the overall health of organisms. However, the presence and abundance of these microbes may be altered by environmental factors, such as exposure to pesticides. The goals of this project were to understand 1) the prevalence of pesticide residues in honey bees in eastern Washington, and 2) the impact of pesticides to the honey bee gut microbiome. Accordingly, we tested bees from 24 hives among six sites across eastern Washington. High-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) was used to detect the presence and concentration of six commonly used agricultural pesticides: Carbaryl, Chlorpyrifos, Coumaphos, Cypermethrin, …

Establishment Of Wildflower Islands To Enhance Roadside Health And Aesthetics, Walter Schacht, Judy Wu-Smart

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

Wildflowers are crucial in the ecological function of the low-input roadside plant communities in terms of water andnutrient cycling, nutrient inputs such as nitrogen, total plant canopy cover, stand longevity, and provision of habitat for numerous small animals. Further, wildflowers provide critical foraging and nesting resources for birds, insects, and other wildlife. Unfortunately, habitat loss from agricultural and urban development has led to rapid population declines in wild bees and other pollinators across the US, thereby jeopardizing not only food production but also the sustainability of our natural landscapes (Kearns & Inouye, 1997). One way to mitigate wild bee decline …

Effectiveness Of Different Agricultural Management Styles As Insect Biological Corridors: A Comparison Of Insect Populations In Fragmented Chocó Cloud Forest, Ecuador, Tara M. Krantz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Insects are part of the most diverse class of animals on the planet and are essential to various ecological functions such as pollination, nutrient cycling, providing a food source for other taxa, and more. The diversity and ecological services of insects are necessary to the operation of agriculture because of pest control and pollination of crops. However, the diversity of insects is severely reduced due to fragmentation. It is currently not well understood if certain types of agriculture can lessen the impact of fragmentation on natural and crop-based insect communities. In this study, insect populations in four different agricultural management …

Development Of Cs-Tpp-Dsrna Nanoparticles To Enhance Rnai Efficiency In The Yellow Fever Mosquito, Aedes Aegypti, Ramesh Kumar Dhandapani, Dhandapani Gurusamy, Jeffrey L. Howell, Subba Reddy Palli

Entomology Faculty Publications

Mosquito-borne diseases are a major threat to human health and are responsible for millions of deaths globally each year. Vector control is one of the most important approaches used in reducing the incidence of these diseases. However, increasing mosquito resistance to chemical insecticides presents challenges to this approach. Therefore, new strategies are necessary to develop the next generation vector control methods. Because of the target specificity of dsRNA, RNAi-based control measures are an attractive alternative to current insecticides used to control disease vectors. In this study, Chitosan (CS) was cross-linked to sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) to produce nano-sized polyelectrolyte complexes with …

Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of The Forensically Significant Blow Flies Of Los Angeles County, California, United States (Diptera: Calliphoridae), Royce T. Cumming

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Forensic entomology although not a commonly used discipline in the forensic sciences, does have its niche and when used by investigators is respected in crinimolegal investigations (Greenberg and Kunich, 2005). With many species of forensically significant insects being regionally specific, it is often difficult for forensic entomologists to as confidently translate regionally specific studies across drastically differing geographic regions (Brundage, et al., 2011).

The purpose of this study is to help create a better temporal and geographic distributional understanding of the blow fly species present in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Twenty-five locations from four ecoregions (coastal mountains, urban, …

Density And Mass Effect On The Development Of Phormia Regina, Brandon H. Strauss

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Forensic entomology is the application of the study of arthropods to the criminal justice system. This is primarily done through the development of a post mortem interval (PMI) based the insect evidence present. A practitioner must be able to determine the age of the insect through temperature data. One factor influencing the temperature dependent development is gregarious behavior. Current literature describes a faster development rate due to an increase in feeding efficiency and temperatures produced by this aggregate. However, there is very little literature defining a minimum number needed to induce this effect and little to none on it for …

The Effects Of European Fire Ants On Blacklegged Ticks In Acadia National Park, Lucy Guarnieri

Honors College

The blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) and the European fire ant (Myrmica rubra) are notable invasive pests in Maine, especially across coastal and southern regions. I. scapularis is the primary vector of the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which is the causative agent of Lyme disease, and Maine currently has one of the highest Lyme disease incidence rates in the U.S. Ticks have many natural predators, including ants. This study investigates the effects of M. rubra on I. scapularis abundance and pathogen infection prevalence in Acadia National Park (ANP). I collected ticks by drag-sampling at eight ant-infested sites and …

Identification Of Target Genes For Rnai-Mediated Control Of The Twospotted Spider Mite, June-Sun Yoon, Dipak K. Sahoo, Indu B. Maiti, Subba Reddy Palli

Entomology Faculty Publications

RNA interference (RNAi) is being developed for the management of pests that destroy crops. The twospotted Spider Mite (TSSM), Tetranychus urticae is a worldwide pest due to its unique physiological and behavioral characteristics including extraordinary ability to detoxify a wide range of pesticides and feed on many host plants. In this study, we conducted experiments to identify target genes that could be used for the development of RNAi-based methods to control TSSM. Leaf disc feeding assays revealed that knockdown in the expression genes coding for proteins involved in the biosynthesis and action of juvenile hormone (JH) and action of ecdysteroids …

Clover Root Curculio (Sitona Hispidulus F.), Kaitlin Rim, Steven Price, Ricardo Ramirez

All Current Publications

The clover root curculio is an important agricultural pest in forage production systems. Adult beetles feed on the host plant leaves while the damaging larval stage feeds on the roots below ground. Heavy larval feeding has been associated with reduced stand establishment, disruption of nutrient and water uptake, increased secondary plant pathogen infection, decreased winter plant survival, delayed green-up, and reductions in forage quality and yield. Due to the hidden nature of eggs and larvae in the soil, CRC has been overlooked and damage is often misdiagnosed as nutrient deficiencies or pathogens. Historically, applications of chlorinated hydrocarbons, carbamates, and organophosphates …

Confirming World-Wide Distribution Of An Agriculturally Important Lacewing, Chrysoperla Zastrowi Sillemi, Using Songs, Morphology, Mitochondrial Gene Sequencing, And Phylogenetic Reconstruction, Zoe Mandese

Honors Scholar Theses

The Chrysoperla carnea-group of green lacewings is a cryptic species complex. Species within the group are morphologically similar, yet isolated from one another via reproductive mating song. Chrysoperla zastrowi, a species within the carnea-group, is currently described with a distribution ranging from South Africa to the Middle East and India. However, recent collections of carnea-group lacewings from Guatemala and California were preliminarily identified as Chrysoperla zastrowi based upon similarities in their vibrational courtship songs. This analysis aims to place six specimens, collected by collaborators in Guatemala, Armenia, Iran, and California, into a pre-existing phylogeny of the …

Global Research Trends In Entomology During 2012 – 2016: An Analytical Study, Radhakrishnan Natarajan, Priya Saravanan

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The present study explores the quantum of productivity in the field of Entomology. For this study, the data were downloaded from the ‘Web of Science Core Collection’ database and there were 1671 records contributed globally level over a period of five years i.e. 2012-2016. The study contributes to the different aspects of Entomology research, such as year wise distribution, country wise, authorship pattern, the degree of collaboration, and most prolific authors etc. The highest number of records was published in the year 2016, while lowest numbers of records was published in 2012. The doubling time for publications at the decreased …