Search

International audience; The age ofTrichogrammaparasitoids could influence biological traits which are of great importance for effectiveness of mass rearing systems. Recent studies demonstrated thatTrichogramma ostriniae(TO) could parasitizeAntheraea pernyieggs through multiparasitism along with other Trichogrammaspecies, although few adults could emerge successfully. It is important to characterize the factors modulating the performance of TO onA. pernyieggs, notably in order to try enhancing its quantitative emergence through multiparasitism for further use in biological control. In this context, irrespective of host age, we tested different ages of TO females (from 0.5-day- to 6-day-old postemergence) in multiparasitism withTrichogramma chilonis(TC) onA. pernyieggs. The results of the present study confirmed that TO parasitism onA. pernyieggs was largely age dependent. Higher percentage of multiparasitism and higher number of emerged TO adults were recorded in the treatment where 3-day-old TO females were used for parasitization with TC onA. pernyihost. In addition, we also tested different female ratios of bothTrichogramma species to find out an optimal ratio for use in mass production. The highest percentage of multiparasitism, emergence and optimum emerged number of TO (perA. pernyiegg) was observed with the ratio 3:2 (TO:TC) per 1 host egg. This study demonstrated that the age of TO females can significantly affect their performance in multiparasitism of largeA. pernyieggs. These results prompt for more research in order to develop an effective multiparasitism-based production of TO at the industrial scale.

International audience; Patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive tumors breast cancer usually experience a relatively low pathological complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Here, we derived a 10-microRNA risk score (10-miRNA RS)-based model with better performance in the prediction of pCR and validated its relation with the disease-free survival (DFS) in 755 HR-positive breast cancer patients (273, 265, and 217 in the training, internal, and external validation sets, respectively). This model, presented as a nomogram, included four parameters: the 10-miRNA RS found in our previous study, progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status, and volume transfer constant (K-trans). Favorable calibration and discrimination of 10-miRNA RS-based model with areas under the curve (AUC) of 0.865, 0.811, and 0.804 were shown in the training, internal, and external validation sets, respectively. Patients who have higher nomogram score (>92.2) with NAC treatment would have longer DFS (hazard ratio=0.57; 95%CI: 0.39-0.83; P=0.004). In summary, our data showed the 10-miRNA RS-based model could precisely identify more patients who can attain pCR to NAC, which may help clinicians formulate the personalized initial treatment strategy and consequently achieves better clinical prognosis for patients with HR-positive breast cancer.

International audience; The loss and fragmentation of natural habitats because of anthropogenic activities are major threats to biodiversity worldwide. In recent decades, vast mosaics of natural and seminatural habitats have been transformed into fragmented agricultural landscapes in Inner Mongolia, China, with potential negative effects on avian diversity. We quantified the effect of local and landscape habitat attributes on the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of bird communities in Inner Mongolian grasslands. We considered eight independent habitat variables obtained by variance inflation factor analysis. We used canonical correspondence analysis to determine how these habitat factors of multiple scales explained variance in species composition. We then fitted Bayesian generalized additive models to analyze the habitat-biodiversity relationships and included a smooth effect of land cover richness to test the intermediate disturbance hypothesis in each model. Our results provided evidence that differences in bird assemblages can be explained, in part, by differences in local and landscape-scale habitat features. The responses of the four diversity indices to these predictors were diverse and scale-dependent. We found species richness and Shannon diversity exhibited similar response, with both being negatively related to bare land percentage while being positively related to plant canopy and impervious surface percentage. Phylogenetic diversity was positively associated with plant richness while negatively associated with forest percentage and impervious surface percentage. We found no statistical evidence for a relationship between functional diversity and any of the variables examined here. Additionally, for the four measures of bird diversity, we did not find any evidence that they peaked at intermediate levels of habitat disturbance. We propose that assessments of regional grassland bird communities should be conducted at multiple scales and that a range of biodiversity metrics are required to better evaluate and inform conservation decision making, especially when the target is preserving not only species but also their evolutionary history and ecological functions.; La perte et la fragmentation des habitats naturels causées par les activités anthropiques représentent des menaces importantes pour la biodiversité dans le monde entier. Au cours des dernières décennies, de vastes mosaïques d'habitats naturels et semi-naturels ont été transformées en paysages agricoles fragmentés en Mongolie-Intérieure (Chine), entrainant possiblement des effets négatifs sur la diversité aviaire. Nous avons quantifié l'effet des caractéristiques d'habitat aux échelles locale et du paysage sur la diversité taxonomique, fonctionnelle et phylogénétique des communautés d'oiseaux dans les prairies de la Mongolie-Intérieure. Nous avons considéré huit variables indépendantes d'habitat obtenues par l'analyse des facteurs d'inflation de la variance. Nous avons réalisé une analyse canonique des correspondances pour déterminer de quelle façon ces variables d'habitat expliquaient la variance de la composition des espèces à plusieurs échelles. Nous avons ensuite bâti des modèles additifs généralisés bayésiens pour analyser les relations habitat-biodiversité et avons utilisé un lissage de la richesse de l'occupation du sol pour tester l'hypothèse de la perturbation intermédiaire pour chaque modèle. Nos résultats ont montré que les différences dans les assemblages d'oiseaux peuvent être expliquées, en partie, par les différences dans les caractéristiques d'habitat aux échelles locale et du paysage. La réponse des quatre indices de diversité à ces variables explicatives était variée et dépendait de l'échelle. Nous avons constaté que la richesse des espèces et la diversité de Shannon présentaient des réponses similaires, les deux étant négativement reliées au pourcentage de sol dénudé tout en étant positivement reliées au pourcentage de couvert végétal et de surface imperméable. La diversité phylogénétique était positivement associée à la richesse des plantes, mais négativement associée au pourcentage de forêts et de surface imperméable. Nous n'avons trouvé aucun lien statistique attestant d'une relation entre la diversité fonctionnelle et l'une des variables examinées. De plus, nous n'avons pas observé que les quatre mesures de la diversité d'oiseaux atteignaient un sommet à des niveaux intermédiaires de perturbation d'habitat. Nous pensons que les évaluations des communautés régionales d'oiseaux de prairie devraient être menées à des échelles multiples et qu'il serait nécessaire d'établir une série de mesures de la biodiversité pour mieux orienter la prise de décision en matière de conservation, en particulier lorsque l'objectif est de non seulement de préserver les espèces, mais aussi leur histoire évolutive et leurs fonctions écologiques.

The Japanese giant silkworm Caligula japonica Moore is an emerging defoliator pest of forest and fruit trees, causing severe economic losses in East Asia. To identify biological control agents for this pest, we comparatively evaluated six indigenous eupelmid egg parasitoids (Anastatus fulloi, A. gansuensis, A. japonicus, A. meilingensis, Mesocomys albitarsis and M. trabalae) from China, in terms of their performances (number of parasitized eggs, developmental time, offspring emergence and sex ratio) on C. japonica eggs of four different ages (0, 10, 20 and 30-d old). Results showed that all six parasitoids readily parasitized C. japonica eggs of all tested ages, but A. japonicus was the most efficient species based on the number of parasitized eggs, followed by M. albitarsis and M. trabalae, and the other three parasitoid species. All four Anastatus species parasitized more old than young eggs, while M. albitarsis did not show a strong host age preference and M. trabalae parasitized the oldest less than young eggs. For all host ages, developmental time was longest in A. gansuensis and shortest in M. albitarsis, offspring emergence was high (> 90%), and progeny was strongly female biased (> 70%) among all parasitoids except for A. gansuensis which produced all female progeny. Portions of A. japonicus offspring (

BackgroundThe most prolific duck genetic resource in the world is located in Southeast/South Asia but little is known about the domestication and complex histories of these duck populations.ResultsBased on whole-genome resequencing data of 78 ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) and 31 published whole-genome duck sequences, we detected three geographic distinct genetic groups, including local Chinese, wild, and local Southeast/South Asian populations. We inferred the demographic history of these duck populations with different geographical distributions and found that the Chinese and Southeast/South Asian ducks shared similar demographic features. The Chinese domestic ducks experienced the strongest population bottleneck caused by domestication and the last glacial maximum (LGM) period, whereas the Chinese wild ducks experienced a relatively weak bottleneck caused by domestication only. Furthermore, the bottleneck was more severe in the local Southeast/South Asian populations than in the local Chinese populations, which resulted in a smaller effective population size for the former (7100–11,900). We show that extensive gene flow has occurred between the Southeast/South Asian and Chinese populations, and between the Southeast Asian and South Asian populations. Prolonged gene flow was detected between the Guangxi population from China and its neighboring Southeast/South Asian populations. In addition, based on multiple statistical approaches, we identified a genomic region that included three genes (PNPLA8,THAP5, andDNAJB9) on duck chromosome 1 with a high probability of gene flow between the Guangxi and Southeast/South Asian populations. Finally, we detected strong signatures of selection in genes that are involved in signaling pathways of the nervous system development (e.g.,ADCYAP1R1andPDC) and in genes that are associated with morphological traits such as cell growth (e.g.,IGF1R).ConclusionsOur findings provide valuable information for a better understanding of the domestication and demographic history of the duck, and of the gene flow between local duck populations from Southeast/South Asia and China.

Ce rapport est disponible dans : BioRxiv. This article has been peer-reviewed and recommended by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology; Experiments comparing native to introduced populations or distinct introduced populations to each other show that phenotypic evolution is common and often involves a suit of interacting phenotypic traits. We define such sets of traits that evolve in concert and contribute to the success of invasive populations as an ‘invasion syndrome’. The invasive Harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis displays such an invasion syndrome with, for instance, females from invasive populations being larger and heavier than individuals from native populations, allocating more resources to reproduction, and spreading reproduction over a longer lifespan. Invasion syndromes could emerge due to selection acting jointly and directly on a multitude of traits, or due to selection on one or a few key traits that drive correlated indirect responses in other traits. Here, we investigated the degree to which the H. axyridis invasion syndrome would emerge in response to artificial selection on either female body mass or on age at first reproduction, two traits involved in their invasion syndrome. To further explore the interaction between environmental context and evolutionary change in molding the phenotypic response, we phenotyped the individuals from the selection experiments in two environments, one with abundant food resources and one with limited resources. The two artificial selection experiments show that the number of traits showing a correlated response depends upon the trait undergoing direct selection. Artificial selection on female body mass resulted in few correlated responses and hence poorly reproduced the invasion syndrome. In contrast, artificial selection on age at first reproduction resulted in more widespread phenotypic changes, which nevertheless corresponded only partly to the invasion syndrome. The artificial selection experiments also revealed a large impact of diet on the traits, with effects dependent on the trait considered and the selection regime. Overall, our results indicate that direct selection on multiple traits was likely necessary in the evolution of the H. axyridis invasion syndrome. Furthermore, they show the strength of using artificial selection to identify the traits that are correlated in different selective contexts, which represents a crucial first step in understanding the evolution of complex phenotypic patterns, including invasion syndromes.

DNA Pol α transfers parental histones to lagging strands., How parental histones, the carriers of epigenetic modifications, are deposited onto replicating DNA remains poorly understood. Here, we describe the eSPAN method (enrichment and sequencing of protein-associated nascent DNA) in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells and use it to detect histone deposition onto replicating DNA strands with a relatively small number of cells. We show that DNA polymerase α (Pol α), which synthesizes short primers for DNA synthesis, binds histone H3-H4 preferentially. A Pol α mutant defective in histone binding in vitro impairs the transfer of parental H3-H4 to lagging strands in both yeast and mouse ES cells. Last, dysregulation of both coding genes and noncoding endogenous retroviruses is detected in mutant ES cells defective in parental histone transfer. Together, we report an efficient eSPAN method for analysis of DNA replication–linked processes in mouse ES cells and reveal the mechanism of Pol α in parental histone transfer.

Introduction hERG block potency is widely used to calculate a drug's safety margin against its torsadogenic potential. Previous studies are confounded by use of different patch clamp electrophysiology protocols and a lack of statistical quantification of experimental variability. Since the new cardiac safety paradigm being discussed by the International Council for Harmonisation promotes a tighter integration of nonclinical and clinical data for torsadogenic risk assessment, a more systematic approach to estimate the hERG block potency and safety margin is needed. Methods A cross-industry study was performed to collect hERG data on 28 drugs with known torsadogenic risk using a standardized experimental protocol. A Bayesian hierarchical modeling (BHM) approach was used to assess the hERG block potency of these drugs by quantifying both the inter-site and intra-site variability. A modeling and simulation study was also done to evaluate protocol-dependent changes in hERG potency estimates. Results A systematic approach to estimate hERG block potency is established. The impact of choosing a safety margin threshold on torsadogenic risk evaluation is explored based on the posterior distributions of hERG potency estimated by this method. The modeling and simulation results suggest any potency estimate is specific to the protocol used. Discussion This methodology can estimate hERG block potency specific to a given voltage protocol. The relationship between safety margin thresholds and torsadogenic risk predictivity suggests the threshold should be tailored to each specific context of use, and safety margin evaluation may need to be integrated with other information to form a more comprehensive risk assessment., Highlights • hERG potency/safety margin is a widely used nonclinical cardiac safety strategy. • A new regulatory paradigm promotes the integration of nonclinical and clinical data. • Lack of uncertainty quantification hindered using hERG potency in the new paradigm. • A systematic method was established to address this limitation. • Analysis supports using different safety margin thresholds in different context.

International audience; We report nine cases of brood parasitism in the endangered Jankowski’s Bunting Emberiza jankowskii by cuckoos in Inner Mongolia Province, China in 2018 and 2019. DNA-based and morphological evidence suggested that five chicks and four eggs of brood parasites were all Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus, for which the Jankowski’s Bunting is a regular host.

International audience; Radial graded structures in biological materials, e.g. bones, are lightweight and exhibit good mechanical properties. This paper developed a novel method to fabricate a functionally radial graded aluminum foam. In this method, a sequential solidification was applied from the periphery to the inner on the foaming aluminum melt to obtain a radial gradient. The graded foams were then served as fillers for thin-walled tubes. Quasi-static compressive tests were conducted on the foams and foam-filled tubes. The results indicated that the graded foam-filled tubes exhibited improved crushing resistance and specific energy absorption, compared to the uniform foam-filled tube with similar weight.

International audience; Trichogramma parasitoids are important biological control agents for insect pest management. However, efficient means for mass production of Trichogramma parasitoids are needed, particularly for T. ostriniae, which often fail to form emergence holes on host eggs of Chinese oak silkworm, Antheraea pernyi, because of the hard chorion. In the present study, we evaluated the possibilities to enhance adult emergence of T. ostriniae by utilizing emergence holes made by T. dendrolimi during multiparasitism on host eggs of A. pernyi and other biological parameters such as pre-emergence time, parasitism rate, and emergence rate of the two parasitoids, which were also evaluated between the two parasitism regimes of multi- and monoparasitism. Our data showed that multiparasitism on host eggs of A. pernyi significantly facilitated the emergence of adult T. ostriniae. Generally, both Trichogramma species favored parasitizing A. pernyi eggs, with multiple parasitoid adults emerged per host egg. The overall performance of T. dendrolimi was similar between the two parasitism regimes, although a significantly higher number of unemerged adults were found in the multiparasitized eggs than in the monoparasitized. For T. ostriniae, significantly more adults emerged, and a higher emergence rate was recorded on host eggs multiparasitized with T. dendrolimi than that on monoparasitized. Furthermore, significantly fewer unemerged adults were found in multi- than monoparasitized host eggs. The results of this study provided useful information on the feasibility of mass production of T. ostriniae via multiparasitism with T. dendrolimi on large eggs of A. pernyi.

International audience; Geospatial object detection (GOD) of remote sensing imagery has been attracting increasing interest in recent years, due to the rapid development in spaceborne imaging. Most of the previously proposed object detectors are very sensitive to object deformations, such as scaling and rotation. To this end, we propose a novel and efficient framework for GOD in this letter, called Fourier-based rotation-invariant feature boosting (FRIFB). A Fourier-based rotation-invariant feature is first generated in polar coordinate. Then, the extracted features can be further structurally refined using aggregate channel features. This leads to a faster feature computation and more robust feature representation, which is good fitting for the coming boosting learning. Finally, in the test phase, we achieve a fast pyramid feature extraction by estimating a scale factor instead of directly collecting all features from the image pyramid. Extensive experiments are conducted on two subsets of NWPU VHR-10 data set, demonstrating the superiority and effectiveness of the FRIFB compared to the previous state-of-the-art methods.

Polymorphic melanism in insects is a conspicuous phenotype which is derived from specific genotypes, and might be central to speciation processes via assortative sexual selection. At the molecular level, melanism in insects is attributed to the melanin pathway. DOPA decarboxylase (DDC) protein encoded by the DDC gene plays a central role in dopamine-melanin synthesis, the main component of melanin in insects. Although the mechanism of melanism has been elucidated in holometabolous insects, other physiological processes coupled with melanin synthesis are unknown. Herein, we identified DDC from the Asian multi-colored ladybird (Harmonia axyridis), an ideal holometabolous insect for studies of melanization due to highly variable color on their elytra. Analyses revealed that HaDDC (the DDC gene of H. axyridis) was constitutively expressed throughout all developmental stages. We performed RNAi technique to examine the melanin synthesis pathway of elytra in H. axyridis. The transcript levels of HaDDC were significantly suppressed after the injection of double-strand RNA of HaDDC (dsHaDDC) at 300 ng/individual in third instar larvae. Silencing HaDDC in third instar larvae did not result in mortality nor significantly affect pupation and eclosion. We further demonstrated that all adults of H. axyridis (forms succinea, spectabilis, and conspicua) with HaDDC silenced in third larvae showed abnormal phenotype which emerged as decreased elytra melanin. However, melanin was still observed in other parts of the adults such as head or pronotum. These results demonstrate for the first time that dopamine-derived melanin is the main contributor in elytra melanization in H. axyridis. Additionally, we provide evidence for DDC in regulating fecundity by showing that silencing of HaDDC in third instar larvae significantly reduced female egg-laying and egg hatching. As such, DDC is likely pleiotropic in respect of its role in melanin production and fecundity processes. These findings bring novel insights into melanin production in holometabolous insects, and contribute to the framework on which further studies may be conducted on the mechanism of pigment production and patterning in various types of insect coloration.

International audience; Seldom have natural enemies been quantified in their ability to control fungivorous arthropods, despite the severe losses they can cause in production of edible fungus. Here, we evaluated the omnivorous predator Orius sauteri (Poppius) when preying on eggs and larvae of the fungivorous sciarid fly Lycoriella pleuroti (Yang et Zhang) and compared against a microencapsulated artificial diet. We also estimated the predation ability of O. sauteri feeding on different densities of L. pleuroti larvae and eggs. The results indicated that O. sauteri successfully oviposit on a mushroom substrate. Moreover, both L. pleuroti eggs and larvae were capable of supporting O. sauteri populations. A type II functional response was observed for both males and females of the predator. Further, moderate values for parameter a (instantaneous attack rate) and greatly reduced T-h (handling time) revealed a high potential for O. sauteri in suppressing outbreaks of L. pleuroti. This is the first report of a generalist predator feeding and developing within an edible mushroom-pest system. O. sauteri is a prime candidate for testing as a biological control agent, either in inoculative or in inundative release, for targeted suppression of the fungivorous sciarid L. pleuroti.

International audience; Trichogramma parasitoids are biological control agents of a large number of lepidopterous pests. Mass production of these Trichogramma parasitoids is carried out on different factitious host eggs where the cost for mass rearing is high and the production efficiency is low. Therefore, efficient means and techniques for mass production of these parasitoids are needed. Host eggs of Chinese oak silkworm, Antheraea pernyi, not only proved effective for the mass production of a single Trichogramma species but also showed great potential for simultaneously producing two different Trichogramma species through multiparasitism. Here, we evaluated the outcomes of multiparasitism between Trichogramma chilonis and T. leucaniae reared on the eggs of two factitious hosts, Antheraea pernyi and Corcyra cephalonica. Our study indicated that parental wasps of both Trichogramma species reared on A. pernyi performed outstandingly in all aspects of multiparasitism on A. pernyi eggs. In contrast, significantly low parasitism rates for parental wasps reared on C. cephalonica and subsequently low emergence rates for their offspring were recorded for multiparasitism on A. pernyi eggs. Parental wasps reared on different host eggs significantly affected the emerged offspring numbers for both Trichogramma species per A. pernyi egg. Significantly high numbers of offspring for specific species of Trichogramma emerged per A. pernyi egg when the parental wasps of that species were reared on A. pernyi eggs compared to the other species reared on C. cephalonica eggs. The present study concluded that rearing host species had a great impact on the performance of parental wasps in the multiparasitism of Trichogramma parasitoids on A. pernyi eggs and clearly confirmed that T. chilonis and T. leucaniae parasitoids can be massively produced on A. pernyi eggs through multiparasitism. Our results provide useful information about rearing hosts, which could provide two different Trichogramma species in the field at a time for the suppression of pest populations.

Chouioia cunea Yang (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) has been widely used for biological control of the fall webworm, Hyphantria cunea (Drury) (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae), in China. The yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor L. (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), an important resource insect species distributed worldwide, is considered to be a potential alternative host for mass rearing of C. cunea to the Chinese oak silkworm, Antheraea pernyi (Guerin-Meneville) (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), which is currently used. In this study, we investigated the effects of host age on C. cunea mass rearing by measuring parasitism, development and adult fertility of C. cunea on T. molitor pupae of different ages. The results showed no significant differences in the percentage of parasitized hosts and developmental time of C. cunea in pupae of different ages. However, the number of C. cunea adults (137.2–154.7 adults per host) that emerged from 0, 1, and 2-day-old pupae was significantly higher than that from 4-day-old pupae. The lowest percentages of unemerged adults were found in 2-day-old (1.2%) and 3-day-old (1.4%) pupae, which were significantly lower than that of 4-day-old pupae (10.3%). The emergence of adult females from 0 to 2-day-old pupae (120.2–142.3 per pupa) was significantly higher than that from 4-day-old hosts (64.6). Adult females emerging from 2-day-old pupae carried significantly more eggs (258.2 eggs/female) than those from 0 and 1-day-old pupae (178.4–178.9 eggs/female). Our findings indicated that 2-day-old pupae of T. molitor were most suitable to rear C. cunea. Overall, this research provided valuable information to optimize pupae for the mass rearing of C. cunea on host T. molitor.

Background Encarsia formosa Gahan is the most important parasitoid exploited for the control of whitefly pests of vegetable crops. However, the non-target effects of recently developed insecticides for controlling whiteflies toward this biocontrol agent is little documented. Here we evaluated the susceptibility of E. formosa adults and juveniles to eight commonly used insecticides against whiteflies. Results Residual toxicity tests on glass showed that E. formosa adults were susceptible (over 98% mortality after 6 h treated) to field concentrations of the tested neonicotinoids (imidacloprid, acetamiprid, nitenpyram and thiamethoxam), abamectin, cyantraniliprole, and sulfoxaflor at their field concentrations. Pyriproxyfen was harmless to both adult and pupae of E. formosa. A risk quotient analysis showed that toxicity of pyriproxyfen to E. formosa adults was the lowest, followed by acetamiprid and cyantraniliprole. In the leaf residues test, mortality of E. formosa adults under all insecticides decreased when the residue age increased. Interestingly, E. formosa experiencing contact with the residues of most insecticides, except pyriproxyfen and abamectin, parasitized significantly more hosts 5-days after treatment, suggesting a hormetic effect on parasitism. Conclusion The risk assessment of insecticides indicated that pyriproxyfen and cyantraniliprole were the least toxic to E. formosa. Our results suggest that the inclusion of the insecticides in sustainable integrated pest management programs of whiteflies should be carefully evaluated on a case-by-case basis. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

Many animal species are comprised of discrete phenotypic forms. Understanding the genetic mechanisms generating and maintaining such phenotypic variation within species is essential to comprehending morphological diversity. A common and conspicuous example of discrete phenotypic variation in natural populations of insects is the occurrence of different colour patterns, which has motivated a rich body of ecological and genetic research1–6. The occurrence of dark, i.e. melanic, forms, displaying discrete colour patterns, is found across multiple taxa, but the underlying genomic basis remains poorly characterized. In numerous ladybird species (Coccinellidae), the spatial arrangement of black and orange patches on adult elytra varies wildly within species, forming strikingly different complex colour patterns7,8. In the harlequin ladybirdHarmonia axyridis, more than 200 distinct colour forms have been described, which classic genetic studies suggest result from allelic variation at a single, unknown, locus9,10. Here, we combined whole-genome sequencing, population genomics, gene expression and functional analyses, to establish that the genepanniercontrols melanic pattern polymorphism inH. axyridis. We show thatpannier, which encodes an evolutionary conserved transcription factor, is necessary for the formation of melanic elements on the elytra. Allelic variation inpannierleads to protein expression in distinct domains on the elytra, and thus determines the distinct colour patterns inH. axyridis. Recombination betweenpannieralleles may be reduced by a highly divergent sequence of ca. 170 kb in thecis-regulatory regions ofpannierwith a 50 kb inversion between colour forms. This likely helps maintaining the distinct alleles found in natural populations. Thus we propose that highly variable discrete colour forms can arise in natural populations throughcis-regulatory allelic variation of a single gene.

International audience; The oriental armyworm Mythimna separata (Walker) is a major cereal crop pest, causing severe economic losses worldwide every year. Yet, few studies documented the biological control of M. separata using natural enemies such as egg parasitoids of the genus Trichogramma. To evaluate the possibility of biological control of M. separata eggs at various ages (0-, 1-, 2-, and 3-day old), we compared under laboratory conditions the parasitism, emergence, development, and female progeny (sex ratio) of five Trichogramma species indigenous in China: Trichogramma dendrolimi Matsumura, T. chilonis Ishii, T. ostriniae Pang & Chen, T. leucaniae Pang & Chen, and T. japonicum Ashmend. All five Trichogramma species parasitized M. separata at all egg ages but showed a preference for younger eggs. T. dendrolimi parasitized 55.1, 36.6, 19.3, and 14.3 hosts in 24 h on 0-, 1-, 2-, and 3-day-old eggs, respectively, and it exhibited the highest parasitism and suitability on all egg ages. T. japonicum showed the lowest parasitism rate and the poorest host acceptance. T. ostriniae, T. leucaniae, and T. chilonis presented similar rates of adult emergence and sex ratio for all M. separata egg ages. T. ostriniae developed significantly slower on 2- and 3-day-old M. separata eggs. With the exception of T. leucaniae, all species showed no difference in adult emergence at all egg ages. T. dendrolimi was identified as the best for biological control of M. separata. The present study provides valuable information for future development of Trichogramma species in biological control programs targeting M. separata as pest.

International audience; Host quality varies with size, age, and species, and influences the parasitism preference of parasitoids and the fitness of their offspring. However, it is still unclear whether parasitoids have the ability to recognize fertilized and unfertilized host eggs. We studied the performance of three Trichogramma species, T. japonicum, T. chilonis, and T. leucaniae, on both fertilized and unfertilized eggs of their host Corcyra cephalonica at different host ages. In no-choice tests, three Trichogramma species parasitized significantly more fertilized than unfertilized eggs when host age was 0 days old. In choice tests, all parasitoids parasitized significantly more fertilized than unfertilized eggs at all host ages. Furthermore, the frequency of fertilized eggs visited by Trichogramma parasitoids were significantly higher than those of unfertilized eggs. The number of unfertilized eggs visited by parasitoids without ovipositing was approximately 3.7 times greater than those of fertilized eggs. In addition, all Trichogramma parasitoids developed significantly faster on fertilized than unfertilized eggs at all host ages. In summary, we find that Trichogramma were able to recognize fertilized and unfertilized host eggs in parasitism, which is conducive to biological control programs, since unfertilized eggs enlarge the host reservoir for parasitoid augmentation.

International audience; As a promising solution for the next generation mobile networks (5G) deployment, long term evolution-unlicensed (LTE-U) is expected to improve spectrum utilization and channel capacity, which is beneficial for the industrial Internet of Things integrating many heterogeneous networks. However, such technology migration can potentially induce severe interference to the devices and networks originally operating on unlicensed bands, especially to the Wi-Fi network. In this paper, first of all, we emulate the coexistence of LTE-U networks and Wi-Fi networks, and experimentally evaluate their mutual interference relying on deploying time division duplex based OpenWrt wireless routers. Moreover, an LTE-U and Wi-Fi coexistence mechanism is proposed, where users with diverse traffic demands are capable of accessing either the public LTE-U network or its nearby Wi-Fi network. Finally, an access point selection algorithm with the aid of coalition formation game is developed for improving the system's throughput. Sufficient simulations based on Network Simulator 3 demonstrate that the overall throughput of the LTE-U and Wi-Fi hybrid cosystem outperforms that of the single LTE-U network as well as of the single Wi-Fi network.

International audience

International audience; BACKGROUNDTrichogramma dendrolimi Matsumura is widely used as a biological control agent for control of lepidopteran agricultural pests in China and can be successfully reared using the large eggs of the Chinese silkworm, Antheraea pernyi. In this study, biological parameters of diapaused, non-diapaused, and cold-stored T. dendrolimi were investigated for two generations on host eggs of A. pernyi under laboratory conditions. RESULTSThe cold-stored T. dendrolimi performed more poorly than diapaused and non-diapaused T. dendrolimi based on biological parameters. In the F1 generation, the non-diapaused T. dendrolimi had a higher emergence rate, longer longevity, and a lower proportion of deformed individuals than diapaused T. dendrolimi. In the F2 generation, the diapaused T. dendrolimi had a lower proportion of unemerged parasitoids than non-diapaused T. dendrolimi. However, the diapaused T. dendrolimi had a higher number of parasitized hosts than non-diapaused T. dendrolimi in both generations. In the F1 generation, the index of population trend (I) was found to be similar for diapaused (140.792) and non-diapaused (141.542) T. dendrolimi and was approximately 3.4 times that of cold-stored T. dendrolimi (41.698). In the F2 generation, the diapaused T. dendrolimi showed the largest I (146.791), followed by non-diapaused (136.859) and cold-stored T. dendrolimi (59.607). CONCLUSIONIn a 3-year augmentative field release from 2014 to 2016, diapaused T. dendrolimi showed effective parasitism on eggs of the Asian corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis. These results indicated that diapaused T. dendrolimi can be an efficient alternative method for mass rearing of T. dendrolimi for long-term cold storage.

International audience; We report in this contribution that while low molecular weight hemicellulosic building blocks are known not to interact with cellulosic materials, their multivalent presentation on a polymeric scaffold significantly enhanced the binding interactions that are remarkably in the same range as those usually observed for lectin-carbohydrate interactions. We developed a poly(propargyl methacrylate) scaffold on which we conjugated, by "post-click" reaction, a variety of azide reducing-end functionalized xyloglucan oligosaccharides with controlled enzymatic-mediated rate of degalactosylation. Bottlebrush-like xyloglucan oligosaccharide glycopolymers (poly(XGO n)) were obtained and their self-assemblies in aqueous solution were investigated using dynamic light scattering (DLS). We demonstrated that increasing the extent of degalactosylation promoted self-association of poly(XGO n), which we attribute to the appearance of hydrophobic domains. A sharp thermoresponsiveness, which corresponds to a decrease in aggregate size with increasing temperature, was observed when the extent of degalactosylation was 30% or greater. Importantly, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and polarized/depolarized DLS revealed that poly(XGO n) exhibit a significant capacity to interact with nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) surfaces particularly for the nondegalactosylated form, emphasizing the important role of galactosyl residues in the binding mechanism and in the 3-dimensional structures of glycopolymers.

Diapause variation is a key factor affecting the development and success of parasitoids employed as biological control agents. Trichogramma dendrolimi Matsumura is mass-reared for biocontrol purposes in several countries around the world. Here we investigated the rate of diapause induction in three populations of T. dendrolimi from different regions in China: Heilongjiang (44 degrees 55' N, 128 degrees 26' E; HLJ), Liaoning (40 degrees 18' N, 123 degrees 22' E; LN), and Jiangsu province (32 degrees 30' N, 120 degrees 09' E; JS). We measured the rates of diapause induction for populations from each region when exposed to temperatures of 8, 10, 12, and 14 degrees C, for periods ranging from 5 to 35 d. Results showed that both the temperature and exposure duration influenced diapause induction in the three populations of T. dendrolimi. The HLJ and LN populations showed the highest percentage of diapause under 12 and 10 degrees C, regardless of time period tested. After 20 d at 12 and 10 degrees C, 97.42% and 95.94% of individuals of HLJ and LN, respectively, entered diapause. After treatment for 20-35 d under 8 degrees C, or 15-25 d under 10 degrees C, the diapause rate of LN was higher than those of the other two populations. In contrast, the higher temperatures (1214 degrees C) induced diapause rapidly and steadily in HLJ. The diapause rate of JS was low for all temperatures and time periods. After 30 d at 12 degrees C, the JS population reached its highest diapause rate (29.56%). Our results showed significant variance in diapause rates among geographically distinct populations of T. dendrolimi in response to various abiotic conditions.

Integration of organic/inorganic hybrid perovskites with metallic or semiconducting phases of 2D MoS2 nanosheets via solution processing is demonstrated. The results show that the collection of charge carriers is strongly dependent on the electronic properties of the 2D MoS2 with metallic MoS2 showing high responsivity and the semiconducting phase exhibiting high on/off ratios.

International audience; Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is a key pest in cotton crops, notably owing to its increasing resistance to commonly used pesticides. Such resistance prompts for the development of integrated pest management (IPM) programs that include novel pesticides being effective against the aphid. In the present study, we assessed lethal and sublethal effects of cycloxaprid, a novel chiral neonicotinoid pesticide developed in China, on A. gossypii. The lethal concentration at 50% (LC50) value of cycloxaprid on A. gossypii was estimated, using the dipping method, at 7.73 mg/L. The impact of a sublethal concentration (LC10) and a lethal concentration (LC40) of cycloxaprid on A. gossypii population growth and feeding behavior (using electrical penetration graph technique [EPG]), and its transgenerational effect were further assessed. Adult longevity and fecundity significantly decreased after exposure to LC40 or LC10 of cycloxaprid. Cycloxaprid with sublethal concentrations (especially LC40) had negative effects on phloem ingestion by A. gossypii. Additionally, the offspring of the adults exposed to LC40 of cycloxaprid had shorter nymphal development duration and adult longevity than the control, and those from LC10 and LC40 treatments had lower adult fecundity and net productive rate. We demonstrated that cycloxaprid is a pesticide showing both lethal and sublethal activities, and transgenerational effects on A. gossypii; it may be useful for implementation in IPM programs against this aphid pest.

International audience; In modern agriculture, the temperature of the greenhouse is one of the main factors that affect the growth of crops, which plays an important role in the growth of crops. Based on 4G and virtual network technology, this paper designed greenhouse remote monitoring system, which can automatically collect, remotely transfer, automatically store, analyze and process temperature data of greenhouse.

Trichogramma spp. are egg parasitoids largely used worldwide for biological control of lepidopteran pests. Host quality (related to host size and age, host species, etc.) can influence parasitism preference and fitness of the parasitoid offspring. However, few studies have documented the performance of Trichogramma parasitoids when they parasitize nonfertilized eggs of their lepidopteran hosts. In the present study, we investigated the performance of three indigenous Trichogramma species ( Trichogramma japonicum Ashmead, Trichogramma dendrolimi Matsumura, and Trichogramma chilonis Ishii) on fertilized and nonfertilized eggs of their native host, Chilo suppressalis (Walker). The results showed that the three Trichogramma species tested could recognize fertilized and nonfertilized eggs of C. suppressalis . The different fertilization status eggs of C. suppressalis were all accepted by T. japonicum , T. chilonis , and T. dendrolimi with a clear tendency that they preferred to parasitize fertilized eggs whether under no-choice or choice conditions. All Trichogramma species successfully completed development in parasitized eggs of C. suppressalis regardless if the host eggs were fertilized or not. There was similar adult emergence rate, development time, and female progeny between fertilized and nonfertilized eggs for all Trichogramma species with an exception of development for T. chilonis . Trichogramma chilonis had shorter developmental time in fertilized eggs than in nonfertilized ones. Whether in fertilized or nonfertilized eggs, T. dendrolimi had longer development time than other two Trichogramma species. However, T. dendrolimi had the largest percentage of female progeny on fertilized eggs, followed by T. japonicum , and T. chilonis had the least percentage of female progeny. The present study indicates that Trichogramma parasitoids (i) can distinguish fertilized vs. nonfertilized host eggs, and (ii) could use nonfertilized host eggs for successful offspring development (despite showing lower preference for such eggs) [corrected].

International audience; With the development of agricultural informatization, agricultural environment information acquisition platform needs to collect more and more data. And with the increase of the number of data acquisition terminal, a large number of concurrent data traffic is generated on the server. This will lead to the phenomenon of excessive load which directly affects the validity of the data. Therefore, based on LVS technology, this paper designed a solution for the agricultural environment information acquisition platform. Through the experiment we know that the LVS technology can guarantee the validity of the data acquisition, which lays the foundation for the development of precision agriculture.

International audience; Experimental vegetable production is greatly influenced by many environmental factors. There is urgent need to supervise its air temperature and humidity, soil temperature and humidity in the facilities information such as real-time monitoring, and timely early warning and control, in case of irreparable damage. This paper adopts the IOT technology to design and develop mobile client system which is used to make warnings and protect vegetables in order to realize real-time monitoring in the process of vegetable production in the aspects of timely warning of environmental information and control.

International audience; Novel strong hydrogen-bond donor hydroxylated-poly(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorostyrene) (PPFSOH) copolymers were synthesized via a versatile and chemoselective thiol-para-fluoro coupling using an unprotected bis(trifluoromethyl)mercaptoalcohol as modifier. Their ability to form miscible blends or interpolymer complexes through H-bond with three different partners (poly(4-vinyl pyridine) (P4VP), poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and poly(butyl acrylate) (PBA)) is presented, and compared with the cases of PPFS-based copolymers modified with hydrogenated mercaptoalcohols bearing either one or two hydroxyl groups. For all three tested complementary partners, the extent of H-bond interactions and thus miscibility are enhanced with PPFSOH, as revealed by FTIR, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Differential scanning calorimetry and Atomic force microscopy. This work highlights the tremendous impact of the H-bond donation of the OH interacting groups imparted by the peculiar chemical structure of the grafted mercaptoalcohol, as predicted by comparing the relevant H-bond parameters of model molecules. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Part 1: GIS, GPS, RS and Precision Farming; International audience; Soil fertility is a comprehensive reflection of soil properties, and its variation has been a central issue in the field of soil science. Most of current research on Variation of the soil fertility are most for a single time and place, and using expertise, simple mathematical model approach that can not effectively simulate the temporal and spatial variation of soil nutrients law. Therefore, this paper presents a spatial fuzzy clustering mining algorithms based on visualization to investigate the law of spatial and temporal evolution of soil fertility mining.

Task scheduling and quality of service (QoS) are two curial problems in grid computing. Focusing on the meta-task with QoS requirements, this work presents an ant colony optimization for grid task scheduling with multiple QoS dimensions (QACO). The proposed algorithm considers five kinds of QoS dimensions: time, reliability, version, security and priority which are transformed to utility as the heuristic information of the algorithm. The objective of the algorithm is maximizing the total utility. Simulation studies compare the performance of QACO, QoS-Min-Min and the improved Min-Min. Simulation results shown that QACO finds the best results.

National audience; In an incubation experiment, dynamic change in amounts of soil organic matter (SOM), HA and FA were studied during corn stalk (CS) decomposition in dark-brown soil by δ13C method. The results showed that organic carbon from both new added CS and original soil decreased, but decomposition rate of the latter was slower than that of the former during incubation periods. The residual rate of CS was about 36% at 360th day and 24% at 720th day, whereas that of original SOM was above 90% at 360th day and about 76% at 720th day. In the initial stage of incubation (1hour), the formed rate of FA was faster than that of HA. Then, FA transformed into HA. After 15 th day, HA transformed into FA again. HA and FA from original SOM also transformed each other, and it was still the same trend that FA transformed into HA before 15 th day. But the transformed rate in original SOM was relatively slower than that in new-formed SOM. δ13C method can be used to study decomposition dynamics of SOM in short-term incubation experiment (several months～several years).

National audience; Alcohol compounds of humic acid (HA) hydrolyzed products were studied by using alkaline mild hydrolysis, thin layer chromatography (TLC) and GC—MC. The results showed that the alcohols content in HA hydrolyzed products were saturated alcohol＞sterol＞unsaturated linear alcohol. Saturated alcohols were mainly even-number carbon of C20～30 and C15; Unsaturated linear alcohols were mainly C20-1π, C20-2πand C19-4π. HAs from soils under C3 and C4 plant cultivation were different in some aspects. C3-HA contained more unsaturated alcohol, whereas C4-HA contained more saturated alcohol (especially C12 and C26).

International audience; Humic acids are complex, partly macromolecular, yellow-brownish substances occurring in soils, waters and sediments. In order to shed some light on their molecular structure, crop humic acids were cleaved by alkaline hydrolysis (KOH). The products were fractionated by thin layer chromatography to give mono-alcohols which were analysed as acetate derivatives by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Linear alcohols, sterols, stanols and plant-derived triterpenoid alcohols were identified by co-injection of pure standards and by comparison with literature data. These findings imply that alcohols could have been incorporated into the humic matrix by esterification with carboxylic acids. Furthermore, the presence of stanols as hydrogenated counterparts of sterols suggests that a process of hydrogenation is operating in soils.