Comparative Transcriptomics Analysis Reveals Rusty Grain Beetle's Aggregation Pheromone Biosynthesis Mechanism in Response to Starvation.

Pheromones are the basis of insect aggregation, mating, and other behaviors. Cucujoid grain beetles produce macrocyclic lactones as aggregation pheromones, yet research on their biosynthesis at the molecular level remains limited. The rusty grain beetle, C. ferrugineus, is an important economic species in China. Although two aggregation pheromone components have been identified, their suspected biosynthesis via the MVA pathway and the FAS pathway lacks molecular elucidation. Previous evidence supports that starvation affects the production of aggregation pheromones. Therefore, we constructed comparative transcriptome libraries of pheromone production sites in C. ferrugineus under starvation stress and identified genes related to pheromone biosynthesis and hormone regulation. A total of 2665 genes were significantly differentially expressed, of which 2029 genes were down-regulated in starved beetles. Putative C. ferrugineus genes directly involved in pheromone biosynthesis were identified, as well as some genes related to the juvenile hormone (JH) pathway and the insulin pathway, both of which were depressed in the starved beetles, suggesting possible functions in pheromone biosynthesis and regulation. The identification of genes involved in macrolide lactone biosynthesis in vivo holds great significance, aiding in the elucidation of the synthesis and regulatory mechanisms of cucujoid grain beetle pheromones.

A Heat and Mass Transfer Model of Peanut Convective Drying Based on a Two-Component Structure.

In order to optimize the convective drying process parameters of peanuts and to provide a theoretical basis for the scientific use of energy in the drying process, this study took single-particle peanuts as the research object and analyzed the heat and mass transfer process during convective drying. In addition, a 3D two-component moisture heat transfer model for peanuts was constructed based on the mass balance and heat balance theorem. Moreover, the changes in the internal temperature and concentration fields of peanut pods during the whole drying process were investigated by simulations using COMSOL Multiphysics. The model was validated by thin-layer drying experiments, compared with the one-component model, and combined with low-field NMR technology to further analyze the internal moisture distribution state of peanut kernel drying process. The results show that both models can effectively simulate the peanut thin-layer drying process, and consistency is found between the experimental and simulated values, with the maximum errors of 10.25%, 9.10%, and 7.60% between the simulated moisture content and the experimental values for the two-component model, peanut shell, and peanut kernel models, respectively. Free water and part of the weakly bound water was the main water lost by peanuts during the drying process, the change in oil content was small, and the bound water content was basically unchanged. The results of the study provide a theoretical basis to accurately predict the moisture content within different components of peanuts and reveal the mechanism of moisture and heat migration during the drying process of peanut pods.

Survival of Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) larvae treated with 98% N2 and the life history of their next generation.

Understanding the development and reproduction of insects surviving controlled atmosphere treatment may help in developing sound pest management strategies. The developmental duration, survival percentage, and oviposition of Plodia interpunctella and its F1 generation were determined after the fifth instar larvae (the last-stage larvae) were exposed to 98% N2 for different exposure times. The survival percentage of the last-stage larvae treated with 98% N2 for 6, 4, 1.5, and 0 day was 70, 80, 91, and 100%, respectively when measured 24 h after treatment. The survival percentage of the last-stage larvae that developed to pupae was 37, 55, 73, and 96%, corresponding to the different exposure times. The developmental time needed to pass from pupa to adult emergence of specimens treated as the last-stage larvae were 8, 7, 6, and 6 days corresponding respectively to high N2 treatment after 6, 4, 1.5, and 0 day of exposure. The mean number of eggs laid by the subsequent females developed from the treated last-stage larvae was 35, 66, 81, and 123, respectively. The oviposition inhibition ratio of the F1 generation decreased by more than 33% compared with that of the parental generation. When the last-stage larvae were exposed to 98% N2 for longer than 4 days, the immature developmental time of surviving individuals in the F1 generation was delayed more than 6 days due to slower egg hatching and longer development of the first and second instar larvae stages. The population trend index of the F1 generation was lower when raised from the treated last-stage larvae than those from untreated controls.

Effect of Drying Methods on Peanut Quality during Storage.

Storage is an important step after peanut harvest and drying. Many factors could affect the peanut quality during storage. The quality change differences of peanut after being dried by solar radiation and at 35°C, 40°C, 45°C, 50°C during later storage were investigated, including moisture content (MC) and germination percentage (GP) of peanut kernels, acid value (AV), peroxide value (PV), iodine value (IV), vitamin E (VE) content and fatty acid composition (FAC) of extracted peanut oil. And the impact of four storage conditions, air-room temperature (A-RT), air-low temperature (A-LT), vacuum-room temperature (V-RT) and nitrogen-room temperature (N-RT) on peanut quality after 10 months' storage were also studied in this paper. The results revealed that drying conditions had only a little influence on peanut quality during later storage. Peanut dried by solar radiation was more easily oxidized than that dried under other drying conditions. The effects of storage time were much greater. The GP, AV, PV, VE content and FAC, showed significantly changes along with storage. GP and VE content decreased, AV and PV increased, and some linoleic acid was oxidized to oleic acid after 10 months' storage. In addition, A-LT exhibited best performance in keeping peanut quality than A-RT, V-RT and N-RT, which demonstrated that low temperature was more advantageous for peanut storage than controlled atmosphere. These results above would provide useful information and reference for the peanut storage to apply in food industry.

RNA-seq Analysis Reveals Mitochondrial and Cuticular Protein Genes Are Associated with Phosphine Resistance in the Rusty Grain Beetle (Coleoptera:Laemophloeidae).

The rusty grain beetle, Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens), is a serious pest of stored grain, which has developed high levels of resistance to phosphine. In this study, five geographically distant populations of C. ferrugineus had been collected in China, specifically in granaries where phosphine fumigant is used for pest control, and they showed a high resistance ratio up to 1,907 (LC50 = 21.0 mg/liter). Then, a reference transcriptome was constructed to use as a basis for investigating the molecular mechanisms of phosphine resistance in this species, which consisted of 47,006 unigenes with a mean length of 1,090. Subsequently, the RNA-Seq analysis of individuals from the most susceptible and resistant populations led to the identification of 54 genes that are differentially expressed. GO and KEGG analysis demonstrated that genes associated with mitochondrial and respiration functions were significantly enriched. Also, the 'structural constituent of cuticle' term was annotated in the GO enrichment analysis and further qRT-PCR confirmed that the expression levels of nine cuticular protein genes were significantly increased in the resistant population. In conclusion, we present here a transcriptome-wide overview of gene expression changes between resistant and susceptible populations of C. ferrugineus, and this in turn documents that mitochondria and cuticular protein genes may play together a crucial role in phosphine resistance. Further gene function analysis should enable the provision of advice to expedite resistance management decisions.

Effect of Drying Temperatures on the Peanut Quality during Hot Air Drying.

Peanuts are usually with high moisture after harvest and must be dried to prevent mildew. Hot air drying is the most commonly used method for peanut drying. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the drying temperatures on the peanut qualities. In this paper, fresh peanuts were dried with solar radiation (control group) and hot air at 35-60°C until the moisture content of peanut reduced below 10%. The physical (texture, damaged percentage of red testa and breakage percentage of peanut kernel), physiological (germination) and biochemical (the contents of vitamin E and aflatoxin B1; acidity values, iodine values, peroxide values and fatty acid composition of peanut oil; solubility, emulsifying, foaming, water-holding capacity and oil-binding capacity of peanut protein) properties of peanut kernel were determined under different drying conditions (solar radiation, 35°C, 40°C, 45°C, 50°C, 55°C, 60°C). The results showed that hot air temperatures had obvious influences on peanut qualities. The damaged percentage of red testa and breakage percentage of peanut kernel increased remarkably when the drying temperatures were above 45°C. Meanwhile, when drying temperatures were more than 45°C, the acid value and peroxide value of the extracted oil increased significantly. Furthermore, some properties exhibited prominent changes when the temperatures were higher than 50°C, such as hardness, brittleness, germination percentage, and the Vitamin E content of peanut kernel. In addition, the research results revealed that hot air can increase hydrophobicity of peanut protein and affect the functional properties of peanut protein. Therefore, it could be concluded that peanut should be dried by hot air below 45°C for quality maintenance. It also provided reference to choose suitable drying temperatures based on the final use of peanut.

Mortality of Different Stages of Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) at Three Temperatures in Controlled Atmosphere of High Nitrogen.

The lethal exposure time to controlled atmospheres of high nitrogen at stored grain temperatures is an important information for control of stored-product insects. The mortality of 1-d-old egg, 1-wk-old (first or second instar) larva, 3-wk-old (fourth or fifth instar) larva, and 1-d-old pupa of Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) was determined at 18 ± 1, 23 ± 1, and 28 ± 1°C in 98% N2 mixed with air. At 18°C, the lethal exposure times to achieve 100% mortality were 12.7 ± 0.7, 16.3 ± 0.3, 19.7 ± 0.7, and 14.7 ± 0.7 d for 1-d-old egg, 1-wk-old larva, 3-wk-old larva, and 1-d-old pupa, respectively. Temperature had significant effect on the lethal exposure time, and increase of the temperature significantly decreased the lethal exposure time. The order of the insect stages from the highest to lowest for LT50 values was follows: 3-wk-old larva > 1-wk-old larva > 1-d-old pupa ≥ 1-d-old egg. The minimum lethal exposure times required to kill all stages of P. interpunctella were about 20, 16, and 12 d at 18, 23, and 28°C, respectively.

Antimicrobial, plant growth-promoting and genomic properties of the peanut endophyte Bacillus velezensis LDO2.

Peanut suffer from a number of fungal and bacterial pathogens, while plant endophytes were considered excellent candidates as biocontrol agents. In this study, the peanut endophytic bacterium LDO2 was evaluated for the potential of peanut pathogens inhibition and growth-promotion, and the genetic mechanisms were explored by genome mining. Strain LDO2 significantly inhibited the growth of peanut pathogenic fungi and pathogenic bacteria, and specifically, it showed pronounced inhibition on mycelia growth of Aspergillus flavus mycelia and caused mycelial deformity. Gene clusters responsible for antifungal metabolites (fengycin, surfactin, bacilysin) and antibacterial metabolites (butirosin, bacillaene, difficidin, macrolactin, surfactin, bacilysin) were identified. Strain LDO2 also exhibited several growth-promoting related features including phosphate solubilization, siderophore production and growth promotion of peanut root. Genes associated with plant growth promotion were also identified and analyzed, as well as genes related to secreted proteins. These findings suggested that this peanut endophyte could be a potential biocontrol agent in peanut production and a source of antimicrobial compounds for further exploitation.

Identification of a novel functional nuclear localization signal in the protein encoded by open reading frame 47 of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus.

BM47 is encoded by open reading frame 47 of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV). BM47 was localized in the nucleus of BmNPV-infected cells. In the present study, we investigated a novel nuclear localization signal (NLS) for BM47 transport and accumulation in the nucleus. By expressing various regions of BM47 fused to enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), we demonstrated that residues 117-148 are necessary for mediating nuclear localization of BM47. Site-directed mutation analysis showed that the two basic residue clusters at positions 117-120 (¹¹7RKRR) and 144-148 (¹44RKR-K) constitute an authentic NLS for BM47 localization. Finally, we observed that two clusters of basic residues were conserved in BM47 homologues of group-I nucleopolyhedroviruses.