The main blood sugar in insects, trehalose, differs from glucose in mammals. To incorporate trehalose into cells and utilize it, tissue cells possess the enzyme trehalase (EC3.2.1.28), which catalyses trehalose into glucose, in the organellar membrane or in the cytoplasm. Soluble and membrane-bound trehalase proteins have been isolated from insects. To date, however, only genes encoding the soluble trehalase have been reported in insects. Soluble trehalase is therefore believed to become localized on the cell surface via modification. In contrast, cDNAs encoding trehalase localized on the apical cell surface via the glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchor have been isolated from mammalian small intestines. The amino acid sequence contains a specific hydrophobic region and an upstream omega site, which is cleaved for glycosylphosphatidylinositol-attachment, at the C-terminus. Here, we describe a cDNA from the silkworm Bombyx mori that encodes a novel trehalase (type-2) with one transmembrane domain and lacking the omega site. Immunoblotting and immunohistochemical analyses demonstrated that in the midgut tissue of Bombyx larvae, soluble trehalase-1 is present mainly in goblet cell cavities, but membrane-bound trehalase-2 is predominantly seen on the visceral muscle surrounding the midgut. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a cDNA encoding trehalase that penetrates the cell membrane in insects and its cellular localization.

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RESUMOO tipo, modo de ação e época em que o dessecante é aplicado na cultura da soja, são fatores que podem afetar a qualidade fisiológica das sementes. Porém, se a aplicação for realizada de maneira adequada, poderá ocorrer antecipação da colheita em alguns dias, obtendo sementes de maior qualidade. Assim, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo verificar o efeito da dessecação em pré-colheita no desempenho fisiológico de sementes de soja. O delineamento experimental foi de blocos ao acaso em esquema fatorial 3 x 4 (dessecantes x épocas) com quatro repetições. Os dessecantes foram Diquat e Paraquat, ambos na dose de 400 g i.a. ha -1 , + testemunha (sem dessecação). As épocas de aplicação foram nos estádios R6.0, R7.1, R7.2 e R7.3. As sementes foram submetidas ao teste de germinação, primeira contagem da germinação, índice de velocidade de germinação, envelhecimento acelerado, teste de frio e condutividade elétrica. Todos os testes foram realizados no Laboratório de Análise e Tecnologia de Sementes da Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso. A análise de variância foi realizada, sendo os dessecantes comparados pelo teste de Tukey (p<0,05). Apesar de terem proporcionado antecipação da colheita em apenas dois dias em relação à testemunha, a época mais favorável à dessecação, tanto com Diquat quanto Paraquat, é no estádio R7.3, sendo que os lotes dessecados com Paraquat apresentou melhor desempenho em alguns dos testes de qualidade avaliados. Palavras-chave:Glycine max (L.) Merrill; dessecantes; germinação; vigor. ABSTRACTThe type, mode of action and time when the desiccant is applied on soybean, are factors that can affect the physiological quality seeds. But if the operation is performed adequately, it may occur in anticipation of the harvest a few days, getting seeds of higher quality. This work aimed at evaluating the desiccant effect of pre-harvest in the physiological performance of soybean seed. The design was blocks at randomized in a factorial 3 x 4 (desiccants x time) with four replications. The desiccants were Diquat and Paraquat, both in the dose of 400 g.i.a. ha -1 , + control (without desicantion). The times of application were in stages R6.0, R7.1, R7.2 and R7.3. Seeds were subjected to fermenation test, first count of germination, the germination speed rate, accelerated aging, cold testing and electrical conductivity. All tests were carried out at analysis seed laboratory analysis and technology of the University of the State of Mato Grosso. The desiccants were compared by Tukey (p<0.05). In spite of have provided anticipation of crop in only two days in relation to the control, the most favorable time to disecation, so much with Diquat as Paraquat, is at the stage R7.3, and disecateds lots with Paraquat presented better performance in some of the appraised quality tests.

To elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the tremendous diversity of insect wing colour patterns, it is imperative to identify and functionally characterize the genes involved in this developmental process. Here we report the first successful germ-line transformation using the transposable element vector piggyBac in the ladybird beetle Harmonia axyridis, which demonstrates typical genetic polymorphism in its wing colour patterns. The transformation efficiency by piggyBac was 3.7% per fertile G(0). We investigated the effectiveness of RNAi in Harmonia by injecting EGFP (enhanced green fluorescent protein) dsRNA into early transgenic EGFP-expressing embryos and observed substantial reduction of EGFP fluorescence in 87.2% of hatched larvae. Application of these new genetic tools to non-model insects such as Harmonia will facilitate the broad understanding of developmental mechanisms and evolutionary processes that are inaccessible using established model systems.

5RESUMO -O conhecimento de informações básicas sobre a biologia de plantas daninhas pode contribuir significativamente para o desenvolvimento de estratégias para seu manejo. Emilia sonchifolia é uma espécie de ampla disseminação em todo o território brasileiro e apresenta moderada agressividade, sendo encontrada em áreas agrícolas, terrenos baldios e áreas urbanas. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a germinação das sementes de E. sonchifolia em diferentes condições ambientais. Foram realizados quatro experimentos: combinação de quatro temperaturas (20, 25, 30 e 35 ºC) em duas condições de luz (ausência e presença); sete níveis de restrição hídrica proporcionada por PEG6000 (0,0; -0,1; -0,2; -0,4; -0,6; -0,8; e -1,0 MPa); seis níveis de estresse salino proporcionado pelo NaCl (0,0; -0,2; -0,4; -0,6; -0,8; e -1,0 MPa) e seis níveis de pH (3,0; 5,0; 6,0; 7,0; 9,0; e 11,0) em solução tamponada. A germinação das sementes de E. sonchifolia foi maximizada na presença de luz, em temperaturas constantes de 25 e 30 ºC. Houve redução da germinação em ambiente com restrição hídrica a partir de -0,1 MPa, e para estresse salino, a partir de 0,2 MPa. E. sonchifolia é sensível à variação de pH, ocorrendo maior germinação das sementes apenas em pH 6,0.Palavras-chave: falsa-serralha, temperatura, restrição hídrica, salinidade, pH.ABSTRACT -The knowledge of basic aspects of the biology of weeds can contribute significantly to the development of strategies for their handling. Emilia sonchifolia is a weed spread throughout the Brazilian territory; it presents moderate aggressiveness being found in agricultural and urban areas. This work aimed to evaluate germination of E. sonchifolia seeds in temperature conditions and brightness, stress osmotic, saline and pH of solution. Four experiments were accomplished: a) combination of four temperatures (20 ºC, 25 ºC, 30 ºC and 35 ºC) in two conditions of brightness (light absence and presence); b) seven levels of osmotic stress provided for PEG6000 (0; -0.1; -0.2; -0.4; -0.6; -0.8 and -1.0 MPa); c) six levels of saline stress provided for NaCl (0.0; -0.2; -0.4; -0.6; -0.8 and -1.0 MPa) and d) six pH levels (3.0; 5.0; 6.0; 7.0; 9.0 and 11.0) in buffer solutions. The germination of E. sonchifolia seeds was maximized in the presence of light , at constant temperatures of 25 and 30 ºC. There was reduction of germination in conditions with osmotic stress starting from -0.1 MPa and of -0.2 MPa for saline stress. E. sonchifolia is sensive to pH variation, with greater germination of seeds occurring only at pH 6.0.

In order to better understand the relationship between dopamine and the release of diapause hormone into the blood, we cloned and characterized cDNAs encoding Bombyx mori dopamine receptor-1 and -2 (BmDopR1 and 2) from the pupal brain-suboesophageal ganglion. BmDopR1 and 2 had high similarities to group 1 (Drosophila melanogaster DOP1 and Apis mellifera DOP1) and group 2 (D. melanogaster DopR99B, A. mellifera DOP2 and Papilio xuthus DOP1), respectively. When BmDopR1 and 2 were expressed in human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells, they responded to dopamine by increasing intracellular cAMP levels, thus indicating the presence of D1-like receptors. There were no clear differences in BmDopR1 and 2 mRNA levels between brain-suboesophageal ganglion complexes of diapause and nondiapause egg producers during pupal-adult development. BmDopR1 and 2 mRNAs were concentrated in the mushroom body calyx rather than in the suboesophageal ganglion. Taking into account the results of earlier experiments on excised regions corresponding to mushroom bodies, BmDopR1 and 2 in the mushroom body apparently play a role in the release of diapause hormone.

State-space modeling is a promising approach for current source reconstruction from magnetoencephalography (MEG) because it constrains the spatiotemporal behavior of inverse solutions in a flexible manner. However, state-space model-based source localization research remains underdeveloped; extraction of spatially focal current sources and handling of the high dimensionality of the distributed source model remain problematic. In this study, we propose a novel state-space model-based method that resolves these problems, extending our previous source localization method to include a temporal constraint by state-space modeling. To enable focal current reconstruction, we account for spatially inhomogeneous temporal dynamics by introducing dynamics model parameters that differ for each cortical position. The model parameters and the intensity of the current sources are jointly estimated according to a bayesian framework. We circumvent the high dimensionality of the problem by assuming prior distributions of the model parameters to reduce the sensitivity to unmodeled components, and by adopting variational bayesian inference to reduce the computational cost. Through simulation experiments and application to real MEG data, we have confirmed that our proposed method successfully reconstructs focal current activities, which evolve with their temporal dynamics.

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