A set of six polymorphic microsatellite markers was developed for the highly invasive horse chestnut leaf-mining moth, Cameraria ohridella. For 96 positive clones, six polymorphic microsatellites with conserved flanking regions were identified. The average number of alleles per locus was eight (range from three to 12). Two of these loci showed significant heterozygosity deficits due to null alleles. The remaining four loci did not depart from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. In addition, all six loci were amplified for 20 other gracillariid species belonging to eight different genera, including another invasive species Phyllonorycter platani. These are the first microsatellite markers described for a species within the lepidopteran family Gracillariidae.
During the years 1996–2001 phytosociological relevés were made of stands containing Senecio inaequidens in the city of Berlin and its surrounding. Data on the structure of the stands were recorded, life form spectra and ecological indicator values were calculated. This species, previously not known in the region before 1993, was found in 9 different phytosociological units (allliances). Growth parameters of S. inaequidens differed widely between these units and were positively correlated with cover and height of the surrounding vegetation. The conclusion drawn was that this species is one of the driving forces in the development from annual to perennial vegetation and has a role similar to that of other dominant species. From the indicator values of the stands surrounding S. inaequidens the following Ellenberg indicator values for the species were derived: Light L 8, temperature T 6, continentality K 4, moisture F 4, soil reaction R 7, nitrogen N 0 (= vague), and hemeroby values H α- and β- euhemerobic. Comparisons with data in literature from W and NW Germany show a broader sociological and ecological amplitude of S. inaequidens in this area, which was colonized by this species in the 1970s. The geographical expansion of this species is not yet finished, and further colonization within its area of distribution is likely to occur in plant communities with low degrees of hemeroby and growing in moister habitats.
Adjuvant therapy and radiotherapy improves the survival of patients with metastatic and locally advanced gastric cancer (GC). However, the resistance to radiotherapy limits its clinical usage. Rhotekin 2 (RTKN2) functions as an oncogene and confers resistance to ultraviolet B-radiation and apoptosis- inducing agents. Here, the role of RTKN2 in radiosensitivity of GC cell lines was investigated. RTKN2 was found to be elevated in GC tissues and cells. A series of functional assays revealed that overexpression of RTKN2 induced GC cell proliferation, promoted GC cell migration and invasion, while inhibiting GC cell apoptosis. However, silence of RTKN2 promoted GC cell apoptosis, while repressing GC cell proliferation, invasion and migration. GC cells were exposed to irradiation, and data from cell survival and apoptotic assays showed that knock-down of RTKN2 enhanced radiosensitivity of GC through up-regulation of apoptosis and down-regulation of proliferation in irradiation-exposed GC cells. Moreover, the protein expression of β-catenin and c-Myc in GC cells was enhanced by RTKN2 over-expression, but reduced by RTKN2 silence. Interference of RTKN2 down-regulated nuclear β-catenin expression, while up-regulating cytoplasmic β-catenin in GC. In conclusion, RTKN2 contributed to cell growth and radioresistance in GC through activation of Wnt/β-catenin signalling.
The abandonment of less productive agricultural land and the intensification of agricultural land use are the main features of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that Croatia will enforce now as new member of the EU. Due to
demographic changes and the economic transition in Croatia resulting from
war in the 1990s, substantial tracts of agricultural land were abandoned. We investigated two habitat types in the protected floodplain landscape of Lonjsko polje in the continental part of the country: arable land and pastures.
Both habitats were maintained by agricultural management and suffered from partial abandonment. Land abandonment increased the susceptibility to encroachment by the invasive plant species Amorpha fruticosa. Data on bird communities were obtained during the breeding season in 2010 while there were high water levels in the floodplain. Data were collected from 63 points, and a total of 1447 individuals from 70 species were recorded during
the study. We found that the bird community structure was primarily related to the presence/abandonment of agricultural land use and the habitat type. Further, we detected that the bird community structure in the same habitat type differed by management intensity. Open habitat specialists were most influenced by land abandonment. However, the conservation value (according to the Species of European Conservation Concern value, SPEC) of grazed pastures and abandoned pastures did not differ significantly, in part because the overgrown pastures with high water levels were found to be suitable for Acrocephalus species. The shift in bird community structure between abandoned and managed arable lands were smaller than those
detected in the pastoral communities. Because land abandonment is a widespread phenomenon in Croatia, we emphasize the urgent need
for a nationwide monitoring program for farmland birds to register the resulting changes in farmland bird communities and to develop appropriate agri-environment measures to mitigate the process.
The multicolored Asian ladybeetle, Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), was first reported in southern Canada in 1994. In this study, we examined the status of the ladybeetle in Quebec agroecosystems seven to ten years after its arrival. We integrated the findings from eight independent field studies carried out in pome fruit, grapes, medicinal crops, field corn, sweet corn, sweet pepper, lettuce, and soybean. Nine aphidophagous and 6 coccidophagous coccinellid species were sampled on these crops. Among these aphidophagous species, three invasive (H. axyridis, Coccinella septempunctata and Propylea quatuordecimpunctata) as well as one indigenous species (Coleomegilla maculata lengi) were consistently present. Higher richness was observed in perennial crops, where the 6 coccidophagous coccinellids were almost exclusively present. Higher abundance of aphidophagous coccinellids was observed in field and sweet corn. The multicolored Asian ladybeetle was a dominant species of the coccinellid assemblage in all crops monitored.
Ovipositing females from invasive (Krasnodar Territory of Russia) and native (Far East of Russia) populations of Harmonia axyridis were fed one of a set of diets ranging from 50 Myzus persicae aphids every day to 1 aphid every 10 days and all were also provided with a 10% sugar solution. The experiment was conducted at 20°C under short (12 h) and long (18 h) day conditions. Most of the females from the native population that consumed 50 or 10 aphids per day continued to oviposit under both long and short day conditions. Females that consumed 1 aphid per day or every 2 days practically stopped laying eggs but under long day conditions their ovaries were still active, whereas under short day conditions ca 50% of them were reproductively inactive (only germaria present) and had a well-developed fat body. Further reduction in diet resulted in an increase in the proportion of reproductively inactive females. However, about half of the females that terminated oogenesis under long day conditions had poorly developed fat bodies, which indicates that diapause was not induced. For the females from the invasive population, both photoperiodic and trophic effects were weak: under short day conditions, some females entered diapause when prey was abundant, whereas about 50% (independent of photoperiod) did not enter diapause when starved. This risk-spreading strategy, possibly, facilitates the adaptation of this invasive ladybird to unpredictable environmental conditions., Antonina A. Ovchinnikova, Andrey N. Ovchinnikov, Margarita Yu. Dolgovskaya, Sergey Ya. Reznik, Natalia A. Belyakova., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The tubenose goby has been reported to be the first non-native postglacial gobiid immigrant from the Lower Danube refuges. It is thus a pioneer species that was the forerunner of the extensive invasion of Ponto-Caspian gobies that ascended the River Danube and spread across Europe a century before other goby species. It appears that recently the tubenose goby invasion has accelerated. In this paper historical data on the distribution of the tubenose goby, together with data from extensive monitoring of fish communities in Slovakia are examined to evaluate both the temporal and spatial aspects of tubenose goby distribution dynamics. Until the 1990s, the species was recorded only in the River Danube and small water bodies in the Danubian Lowland (Slovakia). Since then the tubenose goby has spread upstream into tributaries of the River Danube. It was also recorded in several streams in eastern Slovakia after 2014, and the spatial data demonstrate that the tubenose goby has been colonising new water bodies, progressing to the north and ascending rivers, reaching higher altitudes than previously reported. These findings suggest that the tubenose goby deserves attention, even after two centuries following the onset of its invasion, and its further expansion across Europe should be carefully monitored.