Artificial diets can manipulate the reproductive development status of predatory ladybird beetles and hold promise for their shelf-life management.

With the development of biological control methods, the predatory ladybird beetle Harmonia axyridis Pallas (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) has been widely used for pest control in agricultural production. Appropriate shelf-life management strategies could synchronize H. axyridis production with pest outbreaks, finally improving the effectiveness of biological control. Herein, we preliminarily explored whether an artificial diet could optimize the shelf-life management of H. axyridis. We compared the survival rate, nutrition accumulation, reproductive development, juvenile hormone (JH) related-gene expression levels, and stress resistance gene expression levels between aphid-fed and artificial diet-fed H. axyridis females. The results revealed that H. axyridis females maintained a high survival rate after being fed an artificial diet for 60 days, whereas the survival rate of aphid-fed females decreased. Continuous feeding of the artificial diet caused H. axyridis females to enter a diapause-like state, which was characterized by low JH levels, high triglycerides and trehalose accumulation, ovarian development inhibition, decreased Vgs expression levels, and increased stress resistance gene expression levels. This diapause-like state could be promptly recovered upon transferring to an aphid diet. These results indicate that the artificial diet could manipulate the reproductive development status of H. axyridis and lay the foundation for its shelf-life management.

Effects of mancozeb on citrus rhizosphere bacterial community.

Multiple and consecutive application of fungicide might damage the rhizosphere bacterial community of citrus. In order to evaluated effect of mancozeb on the chemical properties of citrus-cultivated soil and the richness and diversity of rhizosphere bacterial community. The abundance response of rhizosphere bacterial groups without application or with application of 1.333 g mg-1 mancozeb for 2, 4, 6 and 8 times were investigated, and further studied the relationship between the rhizosphere bacterial community and chemical properties of citrus-cultivated soil. We found the rhizosphere bacterial composition and diversity were distinct between soil planted with citrus and without citrus, in addition, the abundance of rhizosphere-associated bacterial species in the soil planted with citrus increased significantly. Meanwhile, the chemical properties and the richness and diversity of rhizosphere bacterial community of the soil planted with citrus did not significantly change among different application frequence of mancozeb. Moreover, with the increased applying times of mancozeb, the relative abundance of Candidatus, Saccharibacteria, Parcubacteria, and Proteobacteria increased but the abundance of Nitrospirae decreased. In our one-year trial, there were less adverse effects of mancozeb on the citrus-cultivated rhizosphere by the repeated application of mancozeb. Therefore, mancozeb, as a fungicide, could be used multiple times to control citrus disease.

Multiple mycoviruses identified in Pestalotiopsis spp. from Chinese bayberry.

BACKGROUND: Chinese bayberry (Myrica rubra) is a subtropical fruit crop widely grown in southern China. Twig dieback is a disease of Chinese bayberry caused by Pestalotiopsis spp. and results in great economic losses to Chinese bayberry production. A virus survey was conducted in the population of Pestalotiopsis spp. infecting M. rubra in China. We explored the viral diversity in Pestalotiopsis spp., which may provide resources for further development as biocontrol agents of twig dieback. METHODS: Strains of Pestalotiopsis spp. were isolated from diseased twigs of M. rubra, and cultured on potato dextrose agar for RNA extraction. The total RNA of each strain was extracted, mixed, and used for RNA sequencing. The resulting sequences were deduplicated, annotated, and then used for phylogenetic analysis. RESULTS: Seven novel viruses were characterized from 59 isolates of M. rubra collected from 14 localities in China. Based on the phylogenetic analysis, these viruses were classified into five viral families/orders, Botourmiaviridae, Mitoviridae, Partitiviridae, Tymovirales and Bunyavirales, and one virus, Pestalotiopsis negative-stranded RNA virus 1, which likely belongs to a new viral family. CONCLUSIONS: Metatranscriptomics analysis showed the presence of various mycoviruses in Pestalotiopsis spp. isolated from M. rubra in China. The genomes of eight putative viruses were identified, seven of which were nearly full-length. Some of these viruses of Pestalotiopsis spp. may have the potential for the biological control of twig dieback of M. rubra.

Dietary Effects on Biological Parameters and Gut Microbiota of Harmonia axyridis.

The multicolored Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis, H. axyridis, Coleoptera, and Coccinellidae) is an effective biocontrol agent against agricultural pests. Previous studies have suggested that amount, type, and the quality of food can directly affect the biological aspects of H. axyridis. In this study, we investigated the influence of the food sources (Acyrthosiphon pisum Harris, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, and artificial diets) on the gut microbiota diversity and the biology, reproductive variables, and population growth indicators of H. axyridis. Three kinds of diets were considered in this study: (1) HY: the adult of A. pisum Harris (HY group); (2) HM: the adult of D. citri Kuwayama (HM group); (3) HR: artificial diets prepared by blending a portion of fresh homogenized pork liver (15 g), honey (3 g), distilled water (35 ml) (HR group). We found that gut microbiota composition and diversity and the biological parameters differed when H. axyridis was fed with different diets. The abundance of Enterobacteriaceae was the highest in the HM group, followed by HY group, and was the lowest in the HR group. The abundance of Staphylococcaceae was highest in the HR group. Among the gut fungi, Davidiellaceae and Wallemiaceae were the highest and lowest in the HY group; Incertae_sedis were the major gut fungi in the HR group. Meanwhile, the changes of biological parameters may be correlated with the changes of Streptococcaceae abundance, Micrococcaceae abundance, Staphylococcaceae abundance, and Enterobacteriaceae abundance in responds to diet changes. To sum up, these data suggest that different diets can influence the changes in adult H. axyridis gut microbiota, consequently affecting the biological parameters.

Morphological, molecular and virulence characterization of three Lencanicillium species infecting Asian citrus psyllids in Huangyan citrus groves.

Citrus greening or Huanglongbing (HLB) is caused by the infection of Candidatus Liberibacter spp. in citrus plants. Since Asian citrus psyllid is the primary vector of this bacterial pathogen, the spread of HLB can be mitigated by suppressing Asian citrus psyllid populations in citrus groves using entomopathogens. To expand the current data on entomopathogens infecting Asian citrus psyllids, we isolated and characterized three different entomopathogens. Strains ZJLSP07, ZJLA08, and ZJLP09 infected the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, in Huangyan citrus groves. Based on molecular and morphological analyses, two were identified as Lecanicillium attenuatum and Lecanicillium psalliotae, and the third was recognized as an unidentified species of the genus, Lecanicillium. The corrected mortalities caused by strains ZJLSP07, ZJLA08 were 100% at 7days post-inoculation, while by ZJLP09 complete mortality occurred at 6days after inoculation, with 1.0×10(8)conidia/ml at 25°C and a relative humidity of 90% in the laboratory. Under the same condition, the corrected mortalities caused by strains ZJLSP07, ZJLA08 and ZJLP09 were 100%, 92.55% and 100%, respectively at 9days post-inoculation in the greenhouse. Our findings also revealed that these fungal strains infected D. citri using hyphae that penetrated deep into the insect tissues. Further, all three strains secreted the enzymes proteinases, chitinases and lipases with a potential to destroy insect tissues. Interestingly, strain ZJLP09 had an earlier invasion time and the highest levels of enzyme activities when compared to the other two strains. These findings have expanded the existing pool of entomopathogenic fungi that infect D. citri and can be potentially used for the management of D. citri populations.