RESUMEN

Historical pharmacies are valuable artistic, cultural, and scientific assets. In Italy, 482 historical pharmacies have been catalogued thus far, among which is the Navarra-Bragliani Pharmacy in Ferrara, whose wood furniture dates back to the 18th century. A study on insects causing biodeterioration was carried out for the first time on this valuable asset in order to monitor and preserve it. Insect samples were collected during surveys and examined by stereomicroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, using taxonomical keys for identification. The results revealed the presence of three species of Coleoptera-the first one specialised to attack wood materials, the second one polyphagous, and the third one feeding on materials of animal origin. The data obtained in this investigation may be useful for the preservation of the precious furnishing of the historical Navarra-Bragliani Pharmacy for performing similar studies on other ancient pharmacies aimed to protect these valuable cultural and scientific assets.

RESUMEN

While the majority of symbiosis research is focused on bacteria, microbial eukaryotes play important roles in the microbiota and as pathogens, especially the incredibly diverse Fungi kingdom. The recent emergence of widespread pathogens in wildlife (bats, amphibians, snakes) and multidrug-resistant opportunists in human populations (Candida auris) has highlighted the importance of better understanding animal-fungus interactions. Regardless of their prominence there are few animal-fungus symbiosis models, but modern technological advances are allowing researchers to utilize novel organisms and systems. Here, I review a forgotten system of animal-fungus interactions: the beetle-fungus symbioses of Drugstore and Cigarette beetles with their symbiont Symbiotaphrina. As pioneering systems for the study of mutualistic symbioses, they were heavily researched between 1920 and 1970, but have received only sporadic attention in the past 40 years. Several features make them unique research organisms, including (1) the symbiont is both extracellular and intracellular during the life cycle of the host, and (2) both beetle and fungus can be cultured in isolation. Specifically, fungal symbionts intracellularly infect cells in the larval and adult beetle gut, while accessory glands in adult females harbor extracellular fungi. In this way, research on the microbiota, pathogenesis/infection, and mutualism can be performed. Furthermore, these beetles are economically important stored-product pests found worldwide. In addition to providing a historical perspective of the research undertaken and an overview of beetle biology and their symbiosis with Symbiotaphrina, I performed two analyses on publicly available genomic data. First, in a preliminary comparative genomic analysis of the fungal symbionts, I found striking differences in the pathways for the biosynthesis of two B vitamins important for the host beetle, thiamine and biotin. Second, I estimated the most recent common ancestor for Drugstore and Cigarette beetles at 8.8-13.5 Mya using sequence divergence (CO1 gene). Together, these analyses demonstrate that modern methods and data (genomics, transcriptomes, etc.) have great potential to transform these beetle-fungus systems into model systems again.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Chitin deacetylases (CDAs) are chitin degradation enzymes that strictly regulate growth and development in insects. In this study, we identified and characterized a full-length cDNA of the CDA gene (SpCDA1) in the drugstore beetle, Stegobium paniceum. The open reading frame of SpCDA1 (1614 bp) encoded a 537 amino acid protein, which possessed typical domain structures of CDAs. Phylogenetic comparison to other insect CDAs revealed that SpCDA1 belongs to Group Ib CDAs. Quantitative real-time PCR analyses showed that SpCDA1 was highly expressed in late larval stages. Significant increase of SpCDA1 transcript level in the larvae was observed upon the exposure of 20-hydroxyecdysone. Injection of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) of SpCDA1 into the late larvae significantly reduced SpCDA1 transcript levels, resulted in larval-pupal molting difficulty and produced high larval mortality. After 15 days, the survival rate of S. paniceum in dsSpCDA1 group was significantly reduced by 72% compared to the control. The results demonstrated that SpCDA1 is essential for successful larval-pupal transition in S. paniceum and this gene may be a potential target for pest control.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Two species, the cigarette beetle Lasioderma serricorne (F.) and the drugstore beetle Stegobium paniceum (L.), are particularly important stored-product pests because they damage dry food. A previous study showed that L. serricorne adults are attracted more to ultraviolet (UV) and blue light wave ranges more than others such as turquoise, green, yellow, red, and warm white. However, the previous study did not equalize the amounts of light. The study also evaluated the attractiveness by the numbers of L. serricorne individuals that were lured to LED lights in a small box in the laboratory. In some storehouses, damage by S. paniceum is more serious and establishment of an effective monitoring tool is required. Therefore, in the present study, attractions of these beetles to UV and blue light traps were compared to develop a tool to monitor the beetle pests. First, adult L. serricorne and S. paniceum beetles were provided with UV- and blue-LED panels whose light intensities were equalized in the laboratory, and the walking and flying paths of each adult were recorded and measured. As a result, adults were clearly attracted to the side of UV-LED panel by walking compared to the blue one. Second, we compared the numbers of cigarette beetles collected by sticky sheets that were set in the back of UV or blue-light LED traps in a real storehouse. The results showed that these beetles were significantly more attracted to UV than blue-light LED traps, indicating the UV-LED trap is a powerful tool to monitor these two pest species.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The complete mitochondrial genome of Stegobium paniceum (Coleoptera: Anobiidae) is a circular DNA molecule of 15,271 bp (GenBank accession number XK819317), and its nucleotide composition is biased towards A + T nucleotides (78.32%). This genome comprises 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and an A + T-rich region. The gene order of S. paniceum was similar to those found in other known Coleoptera species. Sixteen reading frame overlaps and six intergenic regions were found in the mitochondrial genome of S. paniceum. All 22 tRNA genes have the typical cloverleaf secondary structure, with an exception for trnS1 (AGN). The phylogenetic relationships based on neighbour-joining method revealed that S. paniceum is closely related to Apatides fortis, which is consistent with the traditional morphological classification.