Saturday, February 9, 2013

Jack Werren on Using Parasitic Wasps “Smart Bombs" - ScienceWatch.com - Thomson Reuters

ARTICLE TITLE: FUNCTIONAL AND EVOLUTIONARY INSIGHTS FROM THE GENOMES OF THREE PARASITOID NASONIA SPECIES

Authors: Werren, JH, et al.
Journal: SCIENCE, Volume: 327, Issue: 5963, Page: 343-348, Year: JAN 15 2010
Addresses:* Univ Rochester, Dept Biol, Rochester, NY 14627 USA.
* Baylor Coll Med, Human Genome Sequencing Ctr, Houston, TX 77030 USA.
* Arizona State Univ, Sch Life Sci, Tempe, AZ 85287 USA.
* Indiana Univ, Ctr Genom & Bioinformat, Bloomington, IN 47405 USA. .
(Addresses have been truncated)
(COMMENTARY FOR JULY 2010, [LATE ENTRY])

Jack Werren talks with ScienceWatch.com and answers a few questions about this month's New Hot Papers paper in the field of Plant & Animal Science.

Why do you think your paper is highly cited?

Parasitic wasps are important insects that are used in biological control of pests and that are emerging as genetic models. The paper presents the first sequenced genomes for three parasitic wasps in the genus Nasonia, and combines both functional and evolutionary analyses. Therefore, the work is of interest to a broad audience of biologists. Like other genome projects, this one has provided a wealth of information for diverse research endeavors, which has resulted in additional recent publications.

Does it describe a new discovery, methodology, or synthesis of knowledge?

The genome study has revealed that the wasp have picked up new functional genes from Pox viruses and bacteria, have a complex repertoire of venom proteins of potential pharmacological use, lost genes involved in amino acid synthesis presumably due to their carnivorous diet, like mammals utilize DNA methylation, and that co-evolving mitochondria and interacting nuclear genes (e.g. in the electron transport chain and mitochondrial ribosome) result in incompatibilities that contribute to reproductive isolation among the species.

Would you summarize the significance of your paper in layman’s terms?

"Parasitic wasps can be thought of as “smart bombs” that seek out and kill pest insects. Improvements in the use of parasitic wasps in biological pest control can provide a number of societal benefits, including reduction in our dependence on chemical pesticides."Parasitic wasps are extremely important insects that play a major role in controlling pests in nature, but because many of them are very small (e.g. smaller than the head of a pin), most people are unaware of their existence. This project has opened up new opportunities to use these insects in basic and medical research, for drug discovery, and in biological control of pests.

How did you become involved in this research, and how would you describe the particular challenges, setbacks, and successes that you've encountered along the way?

I originally became interested in Nasonia and parasitoids in general as a graduate student, due to their amazing ability to control the sex of their offspring. One thing has led to another, and now I am immersed in genetic, genomic, and evolutionary studies using these insects.

Their amazing biology has yielded a number of gems, from discovery of adaptive control of offspring sex, to extremely selfish genetic elements, a potential role of symbiotic bacteria in animal speciation, and lateral gene transfers from bacteria to animals. With the genome project and new genetic tools, Nasonia are also emerging as a useful genetic model, which is quite exciting.

Where do you see your research leading in the future?

Due to their haplo-diploidy (males develop from unfertilized haploid eggs), short generation time and development of genetic and genomic tools from this project, Nasonia show potential as an emerging genetic system, particularly for complex genetic trait analysis, evolutionary, and developmental genetics.

The discovery of DNA methylation in Nasonia, which is absent in the standard insect model Drosophila but used in mammals for gene regulation, opens up the possibility of Nasonia becoming an insect model for epigenetic gene regulation by DNA methylation.

Do you foresee any social or political implications for your research?

Parasitic wasps can be thought of as "smart bombs" that seek out and kill pest insects. Improvements in the use of parasitic wasps in biological pest control can provide a number of societal benefits, including reduction in our dependence on chemical pesticides. The genetic information from Nasonia can inform efforts to improve parasitoid wasps in biological pest control.

Jack Werren
Biology Department
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY, USA

CITATION: http://archive.sciencewatch.com/dr/nhp/2010/10sepnhp/10sepnhpWerrLE/

Aphids are nasty little buggers that have wrecked my lupines in the past!

Biological control of the lupin aphid, Macrosiphum albifrons

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The lupin aphid and how to control it in an environmenally friendly way

The lupin aphid, Macrosiphum albifrons (Order: Homoptera; Family

: Aphididae) lives, as its name suggests, on lupin (Lupinus sp), and is highly damaging. It has a bluish-green body covered with a white wax. Its large size of 3.5 - 4.5 mm, makes it easily distinguishable from other aphid species.

Lupin aphids
Whitney Crenshaw

It is widely distributed in the United States and is now spreading through Europe since its first occurrence in England in 1981.

CONTENTS AT A GLANCE

Biology of the lupin aphid

Macrosiphum albifrons spends its entire life cycle on lupin. The first wingless females appear in June. They reproduce parthenogenetically (i.e. the ova develops without fertilisation) and produce life, parthenogenetic daughters. In hot, dry weather, the population grows rapidly and in July the stems of lupin plants can be completely covered in closely packed aphid colonies.

Damage of the lupin aphid

A healthy

Lupinus albus Photographer Ghislain118

Severe aphid infestations are highly damaging to the plants. Their flowers wilt and die, and eventually the whole plant may succumb. In addition, the lupin aphid may help the spread of bean yellow mosaic virus, which has been foundin Lupinus albus.

Natural enemies of the lupin aphid

M. albifrons has a variety of natural enemies: coccinellids, larvae ofsyrphids and chrysopids, and parasitic wasps. However, these species have little or no impact on the aphids if they occur on bitter cultivars of lupin, as the high alkaloid content of these cultivars render the aphids poisonous to their enemies.

It was found, for example, that larvae of the ladybird Coccinella septempunctata fed on lupin aphids from bitter cultivars (L. albus, L. angustifolius and L. mutabilis) died after around three days. However, hoverfly and lacewing larvae appeared less sensitive and some developed to adulthood.

Coccinella septempunctata
Reytan

Such negative effects on the natural enemies were not found on the alkaloid-poor sweet cultivars (especially the sweet

cultivar of L. albus).

A Praon wasp parasitised an aphid

Photographer Sarefo

On our own lupin we found some lupin aphids that were parasitised by a parasitic wasp (Praon spp). The aphids were transformed into mummies from which later new wasps emerged.

Treatment of the lupin aphid

To give natural enemies a chance, it is advised to plant sweet cultivars of lupin.
Lure hoverflies to the garden, by growing flowers with flat flower heads, such as peony, daisy, dill and other crucifera.

A few important or interesting links

The Lupin Aphid (Macrosiphum albifrons Essig, 1911) (Hom., Aphididae) in West Germany: its occurrence, host plants and natural enemies - Gruppe - 2009 - Journal of Applied Entomology - Wiley Online Library: The North American Lupin Aphid Macrosiphum albifrons Essig, 1911 has been observed in Europe for the first time in 1981.
Lupin Aphid: This page contains links to the plant and gardening advice for gardeners.
Bean yellow mosaic virus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Bean yellow mosaic virus
ASP Net: First Report of Bean yellow mosaic virus from Diseased Lupinus luteus in Eastern Washington

Bonsai at Large

I had a question regarding the Bonsai technique and if it could be used with larger plants. For example, I live in a village home in Western New York with a small back yard. I am currently growing a Metasequoia
glyptostroboides which is about 4 feet tall and growing. This tree will quickly get too large for my property. I could lop it off at the top and grow an odd-looking/ shaped tree, though the trunk would no doubt continue to grow in diameter. However, I was wondering if I could grow the tree to approximately 6 feet tall or so and incorporate bonsai wiring techniques to keep a more natural shaped mature tree at a reasonable size for my property. Have never personally tried bonsai, so I asked Paul James, host of Gardening by the Yard and this is what he had to say:

Eric, your question intrigued me. So here goes. There is some logic to the approach you're considering, namely topping or wiring the tree, but it won't work. Topping the tree will indeed ruin it's shape, and wiring won't actually restrict its growth. What you'll have to do is prune the roots, which is the method used to keep the growth of bonsai trees in check. In late winter or early spring, you'll have to dig up the root-ball, remove up to one-third of the root mass, and replant. You should simultaneously remove up to one-third of the top growth. Only then will you be able to maintain the size of the tree at whatever size you determine. I hope that helps. Good luck.

Best,

Paul James

So there you have it. Even giants can do bonsai if they so choose and while I may not be a giant, I will certainly take on this giant gardening challenge to enjoy my Dinosaur Tree for years to come. Thanks Paul!

Friday, February 8, 2013

The Scarlet Lily Beetle; My Arch Enemy

This is one of the two bugs I hate the most; The Scarlet Lily Beetle!!! The other is aphids but that is for another blog posting.

These are nasty little creatures that can completely decimate your lilies, I've been a victim! Basically, you have to kill these nasty little foreigners when you see them.

Poop-covered larvae

What? It looks like the larvae are covered in bug poop? Yes, you are correct. I TOLD you these things are nasty. Unfortunately, the only sure-fire way of controlling these pests is to kill them when you see them. Squish the bright red adults, squish the poop-covered babies that hang out on the underside of the leaves.

However, as of late there have been a couple of regional universities that have identified additional means of control. The University of Massachusetts Cooperative Extension reports: Pyrethroid insecticides (Permethrin is one) kill adult beetles and are of relatively low toxicity when used as directed. Also, a variety of wasps have been imported from Europe and are being tested in the U.S. with success by the University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension. They are a natural predator from where the Scarlet Lily Beetle originates. Those are some wasps that I would be happy to see in my garden. Lilies are quite possibly my favorite flower.

Go Get 'Em Wasp!!!

Saturday, February 2, 2013

The Eclectic Scientist!: Boxelder Bugs vs. Lady bugs

Scientific Name and Nomenclature: Order Hemiptera, Family Rhopalidae,Boxelder Bug, Boisea trivittata (Say)

An adult and nymph on a tree leaf (Note the link where I found this picture has several other good pictures of Boxelders and other insects if you are interested in looking at "bug" pictures).

Pest Status: Boxelder bugs are often considered a "nuisance" pest since they enter homes and/or buildings (particularlly stone ones) in search of winter hibernation areas. They can be vacummed up to be removed from buildings. Remember that I have said before that if you use the vacumme method you MUST remove the bag from teh vacumme and throw it out immediately. Insects can survive in harsh conditions and your vacumme bag with lint, food, and air is a very nice home for them where they can reproduce.

Host Plants (places where they can be found): Boxelder,

Caddo (Florida) Maple,

Silver Maple (sometimes)

The life stages of the Boxelder bug

Overwinter as adults. Emerge in midspring, mate, and lay eggs. In the spring adults and nymphs will feed on seeds and maple trees. This first generation of nymphs may feed on dead insects including their siblings. These nymphs will emerge as adults in early summer.

In the summer and fall, the adults and numphs will suck sap from new tree (usually boxelder) growth and may feed on weeds and other plants. This type of plant feeding is usually non-damaging but when they feed on stawberries it can be very damaging. The second generation will occur in late summer and will have adult emergence in October. This generation is the one that will overwinter ater the first frost.

Whew!! Now I will answer the question

Photo Credit
Yes, I think it's possible. Coccinellidae (Ladybug Family) beetles will feed on ANY arthropod that they can handle. So if there are lots of adults and nymphs around during the first or second generation of nymphs then it is likely that they will feed on them and consequently reduce the population. You can increase the number of ladybugs in your yard by making sure that you have plants that produce pollen, nectar, and honey dew for the adult insect to feed on. Another aspect to think about is what other beneficials (such as song birds, rodents, and/or other insects) do you have in your area.

References Used:

Cranshaw, W. 2004. Garden Insects of North America: the Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs. Princeton University Press, Prenceton, New Jersey. Pgs. 230 and 544.

Pedigo, L.P., Rice, M. E. 2006. Entomology and Pest Management, 5th Ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Pg. 319.

Salsbury, G.A., White, S.C. 2000. Insects in Kansas. Kansas Department of Agriculture. Pg 100.