Natural Field Infestation of Mangifera casturi and Mangifera lalijiwa by Oriental Fruit Fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

McQuate, Grant T; Sylva, Charmaine D; Liquido, Nicanor J

2017-01-01

Mango, Mangifera indica (Anacardiaceae), is a crop cultivated pantropically. There are, however, many other Mangifera spp (“mango relatives”) which have much more restricted distributions and are poorly known but have potential to produce mango-like fruits in areas where mangoes do not grow well or could be tapped in mango breeding programs. Because of the restricted distribution of many of the Mangifera spp, there has also been limited data collected on susceptibility of their fruits to infestation by tephritid fruit flies which is important to know for concerns both for quality of production and for quarantine security of fruit exports. Here, we report on natural field infestation by the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae), of two mango relatives native to Indonesia: Mangifera casturi and Mangifera lalijiwa. Rates of infestation of fruits of these two Mangifera spp by tephritid fruit flies have not previously been reported. PMID:28890657

Biological Control of Olive Fruit Fly

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Domestication of olive fruit, Olea europaea L., produced a better host for olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Gmelin), than wild olives, but fruit domestication reduced natural enemy efficiency. Important factors for selection of natural enemies for control of olive fruit fly include climate matchi...

The melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae: A review of its biology and management

PubMed Central

Dhillon, M.K.; Singh, Ram; Naresh, J.S.; Sharma, H.C.

2005-01-01

The melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is distributed widely in temperate, tropical, and sub-tropical regions of the world. It has been reported to damage 81 host plants and is a major pest of cucurbitaceous vegetables, particularly the bitter gourd (Momordica charantia), muskmelon (Cucumis melo), snap melon (C. melo var. momordica), and snake gourd (Trichosanthes anguina). The extent of losses vary between 30 to 100%, depending on the cucurbit species and the season. Its abundance increases when the temperatures fall below 32° C, and the relative humidity ranges between 60 to 70%. It prefers to infest young, green, soft-skinned fruits. It inserts the eggs 2 to 4 mm deep in the fruit tissues, and the maggots feed inside the fruit. Pupation occurs in the soil at 0.5 to 15 cm below the soil surface. Keeping in view the importance of the pest and crop, melon fruit fly management could be done using local area management and wide area management. The melon fruit fly can successfully be managed over a local area by bagging fruits, field sanitation, protein baits, cue-lure traps, growing fruit fly-resistant genotypes, augmentation of biocontrol agents, and soft insecticides. The wide area management program involves the coordination of different characteristics of an insect eradication program (including local area options) over an entire area within a defensible perimeter, and subsequently protected against reinvasion by quarantine controls. Although, the sterile insect technique has been successfully used in wide area approaches, this approach needs to use more sophisticated and powerful technologies in eradication programs such as insect transgenesis and geographical information systems, which could be deployed over a wide area. Various other options for the management of fruit fly are also discussed in relation to their bio-efficacy and economics for effective management of this pest. PMID:17119622

Germline transformation of the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi)(Diptera:Tephritidae) with a piggyBac transposon vector

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae, is a highly significant pest in olive growing countries whose control may be enhanced by the use of genetically-modified strains, especially for sterile insect technique programs. To improve and expand this technology, piggyBac-mediated germline transformation ...

Toxicity of flavor enhancers to the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Zheng, Chunyan; Yang, Dongyu; Li, Zhiqiang; Xu, Yijuan

2018-04-11

The objective of this study was to evaluate the toxicity of flavor enhancers to the oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel). The flavor enhancers glycine, disodium guanylate, succinic acid disodium salt, monosodium glutamate (MSG), disodium inosinate, and L-alanine significantly increased the mortality of B. dorsalis flies. The mortality of flies that fed on glycine, disodium guanylate, succinic acid disodium salt, and MSG was greater than 90%. Additionally, fruit fly mortality increased with increases in both time and concentration. Glycine not only reduced the climbing ability of B. dorsalis but also affected the duration and frequency of its behavioral patterns (flight, walking, grooming and inactivity). Compared with adult flies in the control group, adult B. dorsalis flies that fed on glycine exhibited a significantly increased duration and frequency of inactivity and a decreased duration and frequency of both flight and walking. However, the effect of glycine on grooming activity was not significant. These findings demonstrate the toxic effects of flavor enhancers on B. dorsalis. Glycine also affected the behavior of adult flies at a low dose. Therefore, glycine has potentially toxic to insects and also likely to have a negative impact at sublethal concentrations.

Assessment of Navel Oranges, Clementine Tangerines, and Rutaceous Fruits as Hosts of Bactrocera cucurbitae and Bactrocera latifrons (Diptera: Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

McQuate, Grant T.; Follett, Peter A.; Liquido, Nicanor J.; Sylva, Charmaine D.

2015-01-01

Export of Citrus spp. fruits may require risk mitigation measures if grown in areas with established tephritid fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) populations capable of infesting the fruits. The host status of Citrus spp. fruits is unclear for two tephritid fruit fly species whose geographic ranges have expanded in recent years: melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Cocquillett), and Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel). In no choice cage infestation studies, B. latifrons oviposited into intact and punctured Washington navel oranges (Citrus sinensis [L.] Osbeck) and Clementine tangerines (C. reticulata L. var. Clementine), but eggs rarely developed to the adult stage. B. cucurbitae readily infested intact and punctured tangerines, and to a lesser extent punctured oranges, but did not infest intact oranges. Limited cage infestation and only a single literature report of field Citrus spp. infestation suggest that risk mitigation of Citrus spp. for B. latifrons is not needed. Risk mitigation options of Citrus spp. for B. cucurbitae, including heat and cold treatments and systems approaches, are discussed. PMID:26816484

Impact of introduction of Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) and classical biological control releases of Fopius arisanus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) on economically important fruit flies in French Polynesia.

PubMed

Vargas, Roger I; Leblanc, Luc; Putoa, Rudolph; Eitam, Avi

2007-06-01

Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae), was discovered on Tahiti Island in July 1996. Eradication programs were conducted from 1997 to 2001, but failed. From 1998 to 2006, B. dorsalis was recovered from 29 different host fruit from the five Society Islands: Tahiti, Moorea, Raiatea, Tahaa, and Huahine. Analysis of coinfestation patterns by B. dorsalis, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt), and Bactrocera kirki (Froggatt) suggested B. dorsalis had displaced these two species and become the most abundant fruit fly in coastal areas. To suppress B. dorsalis populations, a classical biological control program was initiated to introduce the natural enemy Fopius arisanus (Sonan) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) into French Polynesia from Hawaii. Wasps were released and established on Tahiti, Moorea, Raiatea, Tahaa, and Huahine Islands. In guava, Psidium guajava L., collections for Tahiti, F. arisanus parasitism of fruit flies was 2.1, 31.8, 37.5, and 51.9% for fruit collected for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively. Based on guava collections in 2002 (before releases) and 2006 (after releases), there was a subsequent decrease in numbers of B. dorsalis, B. tryoni, and B. kirki fruit flies emerging (per kilogram of fruit) by 75.6, 79.3, and 97.9%, respectively. These increases in F. arisanus parasitism and decreases in infestation were similar for other host fruit. Establishment of F. arisanus is the most successful example of classical biological control of fruit flies in the Pacific area outside of Hawaii and serves as a model for introduction into South America, Africa, and China where species of the B. dorsalis complex are established.

Effectiveness of a sprayable male annihilation treatment with a biopesticide against fruit flies (Diptera:Tephritidae) attacking tropical fruits

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

SPLAT-MAT Spinosad ME(aka STATIC Spinosad ME),an "attract and kill" sprayable biopesticide, was evaluated as an area wide suppression treatment against Bactrocera carambolae(Drew & Hancock),carambola fruit fly, in Brazil and Bactrocera dorsalis(Hendel),oriental fruit fly, in Hawaii. In Brazil, a sin...

Parasitoids of Queensland Fruit Fly Bactrocera tryoni in Australia and Prospects for Improved Biological Control

PubMed Central

Zamek, Ashley L.; Spinner, Jennifer E.; Micallef, Jessica L.; Gurr, Geoff M.; Reynolds, Olivia L.

2012-01-01

This review draws together available information on the biology, methods for study, and culturing of hymenopteran parasitoids of the Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni, and assesses prospects for improving biological control of this serious pest. Augmentative release of the native and naturalised Australian parasitoids, especially the braconid Diachasmimorpha tryoni, may result in better management of B. tryoni in some parts of Australia. Mass releases are an especially attractive option for areas of inland eastern Australia around the Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone that produces B. tryoni-free fruits for export. Diachasmimorpha tryoni has been successful in other locations such as Hawaii for the biological control of other fruit fly species. Biological control could contribute to local eradication of isolated outbreaks and more general suppression and/or eradication of the B. tryoni population in endemic areas. Combining biological control with the use of sterile insect technique offers scope for synergy because the former is most effective at high pest densities and the latter most economical when the pest becomes scarce. Recommendations are made on methods for culturing and study of four B. tryoni parasitoids present in Australia along with research priorities for optimising augmentative biological control of B. tryoni. PMID:26466726

Gut symbiont enhances insecticide resistance in a significant pest, the oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel).

PubMed

Cheng, Daifeng; Guo, Zijun; Riegler, Markus; Xi, Zhiyong; Liang, Guangwen; Xu, Yijuan

2017-02-01

Symbiotic bacteria affect insect physiology and ecology. They may also mediate insecticide resistance within their hosts and thereby impact pest and vector control practices. Here, we document a novel mechanism of insecticide resistance in which a gut symbiont of the tephritid pest fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis enhances resistance to the organophosphate insecticide trichlorphon. We demonstrated that the gut symbiont Citrobacter sp. (CF-BD) plays a key role in the degradation of trichlorphon. Based on a comparative genomics analysis with other Citrobacter species, phosphatase hydrolase genes were identified in CF-BD. These CF-BD genes had higher expression when trichlorphon was present. Bactrocera dorsalis inoculated with isolated CF-BD obtained higher trichlorphon resistance, while antibiotic-treated flies were less resistant confirming the key role of CF-BD in insecticide resistance. Our findings suggest that symbiont-mediated insecticide resistance can readily develop in B. dorsalis and may represent a more widely relevant insecticide resistance mechanism than previously recognized.

Characterizing the developmental transcriptome of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) through comparative genomic analysis with Drosophila melanogaster utilizing modENCODE datasets

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Background The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, is an important pest of fruit and vegetable crops throughout Asia, and is considered a high risk pest for establishment in the mainland United States. It is a member of the family Tephritidae, which are the most agriculturally important family ...

Field trappping Bactrocera latifrons (Diptera: Tephritidae) with select eugenol analogs that have been found to attract other "nonresponsive" fruit fly species

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a pest fruit fly species native to Oriental Asia which has invaded and established in Hawaii and Tanzania and has been recovered in detection trapping in California. It is largely non-responsive to the male lures cuelure and methyl eugenol. Alp...

Classical biological control of the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera olea (Diptera: Tephritidae), using the exotic parasitoie, Psyttalia lounsburyi (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in France.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is an important pest of olives which is worldwide distributed and responsible for economic losses of approximately US$800 million per year. Since the 2000s both economical and environmental concerns have raised interested in clas...

Host status of Vaccinium reticulatum (Ericaceae) to invasive tephritid fruit flies in Hawaii.

PubMed

Follett, Peter A; Zee, Francis T

2011-04-01

Ohelo (Vaccicinium reticulatum Small) (Ericaceae) is a native Hawaiian plant that has commercial potential in Hawaii as a nursery crop to be transplanted for berry production or for sale as a potted ornamental. No-choice infestation studies were conducted to determine whether ohelo fruit are hosts for four invasive tephritid fruit fly species. Ohelo berries were exposed to gravid female flies ofBactrocera dorsalis Hendel (oriental fruit fly), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Mediterranean fruit fly), Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillet (melon fly),or Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel) in screen cages outdoors for 24 h and then held on sand in the laboratory for 2 wk for pupal development and adult emergence. Only B. dorsalis successfully attacked and developed in ohelo berries. In total, 1570 berries produced 10 puparia, all of which emerged as adults, for a fruit infestation rate of 0.0064% and an average of 0.0053 puparia per gram of fruit. By comparison, papaya fruit used as controls produced an average of 1.44 B. dorsalis puparia per g of fruit. Ohelo berry is a marginal host for B. dorsalis and apparently a nonhost for C. capitata, B. cucurbitae, and B. latifrons. Commercial plantings of ohelo will rarely be attacked by fruit flies in Hawaii.

Regional Suppression of Bactrocera Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in the Pacific through Biological Control and Prospects for Future Introductions into Other Areas of the World

PubMed Central

Vargas, Roger I.; Leblanc, Luc; Harris, Ernest J.; Manoukis, Nicholas C.

2012-01-01

Bactrocera fruit fly species are economically important throughout the Pacific. The USDA, ARS U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center has been a world leader in promoting biological control of Bactrocera spp. that includes classical, augmentative, conservation and IPM approaches. In Hawaii, establishment of Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) in 1895 resulted in the introduction of the most successful parasitoid, Psyttalia fletcheri (Silvestri); similarly, establishment of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) in 1945 resulted in the introduction of 32 natural enemies of which Fopius arisanus (Sonan), Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead) and Fopius vandenboschi (Fullaway) were most successful. Hawaii has also been a source of parasitoids for fruit fly control throughout the Pacific region including Australia, Pacific Island Nations, Central and South America, not only for Bactrocera spp. but also for Ceratitis and Anastrepha spp. Most recently, in 2002, F. arisanus was introduced into French Polynesia where B. dorsalis had invaded in 1996. Establishment of D. longicaudata into the new world has been important to augmentative biological control releases against Anastrepha spp. With the rapid expansion of airline travel and global trade there has been an alarming spread of Bactrocera spp. into new areas of the world (i.e., South America and Africa). Results of studies in Hawaii and French Polynesia, support parasitoid introductions into South America and Africa, where B. carambolae and B. invadens, respectively, have become established. In addition, P. fletcheri is a candidate for biological control of B. cucurbitae in Africa. We review past and more recent successes against Bactrocera spp. and related tephritids, and outline simple rearing and release methods to facilitate this goal. PMID:26466626

The Oriental Fruit Fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, in China: Origin and Gradual Inland Range Expansion Associated with Population Growth

PubMed Central

Wan, Xuanwu; Nardi, Francesco; Zhang, Bin; Liu, Yinghong

2011-01-01

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, expanded throughout mainland China in the last century to become one of the most serious pests in the area, yet information on this process are fragmentary. Three mitochondrial genes (nad1, cytb and nad5) were used to infer the genetic diversity, population structure and demographic history of the oriental fruit fly from its entire distribution range in China. High levels of genetic diversity, as well as a significant correspondence between genetic and geographic distances, suggest that the invasion process might have been gradual, with no associated genetic bottlenecks. Three population groups could be identified, nevertheless the overall genetic structure was weak. The effective number of migrants between populations, estimated using the coalescent method, suggested asymmetric gene flow from the costal region of Guangdong to most inland regions. The demographic analysis indicates the oriental fruit fly underwent a recent population expansion in the Central China. We suggest the species originated in the costal region facing the South China Sea and gradually expanded to colonize mainland China, expanding here to high population numbers. PMID:21984907

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, in China: origin and gradual inland range expansion associated with population growth.

PubMed

Wan, Xuanwu; Nardi, Francesco; Zhang, Bin; Liu, Yinghong

2011-01-01

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, expanded throughout mainland China in the last century to become one of the most serious pests in the area, yet information on this process are fragmentary. Three mitochondrial genes (nad1, cytb and nad5) were used to infer the genetic diversity, population structure and demographic history of the oriental fruit fly from its entire distribution range in China. High levels of genetic diversity, as well as a significant correspondence between genetic and geographic distances, suggest that the invasion process might have been gradual, with no associated genetic bottlenecks. Three population groups could be identified, nevertheless the overall genetic structure was weak. The effective number of migrants between populations, estimated using the coalescent method, suggested asymmetric gene flow from the costal region of Guangdong to most inland regions. The demographic analysis indicates the oriental fruit fly underwent a recent population expansion in the Central China. We suggest the species originated in the costal region facing the South China Sea and gradually expanded to colonize mainland China, expanding here to high population numbers.

Germ-line transformation of the Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni, using a piggyBac vector in the presence of endogenous piggyBac elements

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We report the stable genetic transformation of the Queensland fruit fly Bactrocera tryoni using a piggyBac vector marked with either the fluorescent protein DsRed or EGFP.A transformation frequency of 5–10% was obtained.Inheritance of the transgenes has remained stable over eight generations despite...

Host status of blueberry to invasive tephritid fruit flies in Hawaii.

PubMed

Follett, Peter A; Armstrong, John W; Zee, Francis T

2009-10-01

Forced infestation studies were conducted to determine whether northern or southern highbush blueberries, Vaccinium corymbosum L., are hosts for the invasive tephritid fruit flies in Hawaii. Fruit were exposed to gravid female flies of Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel (oriental fruit fly), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Mediterranean fruit fly), or Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillet (melon fly) in screen cages outdoors for 6 h and then held on sand in the laboratory for 2 wk for pupal and adult emergence. The number of puparia, number of puparia per gram, and percentage of adult emergence on 'Bluecrop' blueberry were significantly higher for B. dorsalis and C. capitata than B. cucurbitae; B. dorsalis, C. capitata, and B. cucurbitae produced an average of 1.06, 0.60, and 0.09 pupae per g fruit and had 5.8, 54.1, and 12.7% adult emergence, respectively. 'Berkeley' blueberries produced an average of only 0.06, 0.02, and 0.0 pupae per g fruit for B. dorsalis, C. capitata, and B. cucurbitae, respectively. Similarly, six blueberry cultivars were harvested weekly for 10 wk, exposed to Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel) in cages, and held for pupal and adult emergence on either sand or artificial diet. In total, 2,677 blueberries were exposed to 2681 B. latifons and held on sand, and no pupariation or adult emergence was observed. Small numbers of B. latifrons puparia and adults emerged from the artificial diet treatment in all cultivars. Results from rearing on sand and diet indicate that blueberry is an acceptable oviposition host for B. latifrons but not an adequate developmental host. These data suggest blueberry is potentially a good host for B. dorsalis and C. capitata, and an adequate host for Bactrocera cucurbitae, but that there may be significant variation in resistance among cultivars. Blueberry seems to be a nonhost for B. latifrons.

Revised Distribution of Bactrocera tryoni in Eastern Australia and Effect on Possible Incursions of Mediterranean Fruit Fly: Development of Australia's Eastern Trading Block.

PubMed

Dominiak, Bernard C; Mapson, Richard

2017-12-05

Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae), commonly called 'Queensland fruit fly' in Australia, and Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) are the two most economically important fruit fly in Australia with B. tryoni in the east and Mediterranean fruit fly in the west. The two species coexisted for several decades, but it is believed that B. tryoni displaced Mediterranean fruit fly. In southeastern Australia, this was deemed inadequate for export market access, and a large fruit fly free zone (fruit fly exclusion zone) was developed in 1996 where B. tryoni was eradicated by each state department in their portion of the zone. This zone caused an artificial restricted distribution of B. tryoni. When the fruit fly exclusion zone was withdrawn in Victoria and New South Wales in 2013, B. tryoni became endemic once again in this area and the national distribution of B. tryoni changed. For export markets, B. tryoni is now deemed endemic to all eastern Australian states, except for the Greater Sunraysia Pest-Free Area. All regulatory controls have been removed between eastern states, except for some small zones, subject to domestic market access requirements. The eastern Australian states now form a B. tryoni endemic trading group or block. All Australian states and territories maintain legislation to regulate the movement of potentially infested host fruit into their states. In particular, eastern states remain active and regulate the entry of commodities possibly infested with Mediterranean fruit fly. The combination of regulatory controls limits the chances of Mediterranean fruit fly entering eastern states, and if it did, Mediterranean fruit fly is unlikely to establish in the opposition to a well-established B. tryoni population. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Rearing Fopius arisanus (Sonan) (Hymenoptera:Braconidae) on Mediterranean fruit fly and its introduction into Senegal against Oriental fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis(Hendel)(aka B.invadens Drew, Tsuruta, and White) was first reported in Africa in 2003 and has since spread to over 27 countries. It has become a serious tree fruit pest, particularly in mango (Mangifera indica L.). Because of uncertainty as to the exact status...

Insecticidal activity of basil oil, trans-anethole, estragole, and linalool to adult fruit flies of Ceratitis capitata, Bactrocera dorsalis, and Bactrocera cucurbitae.

PubMed

Chang, Chiou Ling; Cho, Il Kyu; Li, Qing X

2009-02-01

Basil oil and its three major active constituents (trans-anethole, estragole, and linalool) obtained from basil (Oscimum basilicum L.) were tested on three tephritid fruit fly species [Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), and Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett)] for insecticidal activity. All test chemicals acted fast and showed a steep dose-response relationship. The lethal times for 90% mortality/knockdown (LT90) of the three fly species to 10% of the test chemicals were between 8 and 38 min. The toxic action of basil oil in C. capitata occurred significantly faster than in B. cucurbitae but slightly faster than in B. dorsalis. Estragole acted faster in B. dorsalis than in C. capitata and B. cucurbitae. Linalool action was faster in B. dorsalis and C. capitata than in B. cucurbitae. trans-Anethole action was similar to all three species. Methyl eugenol acted faster in C. capitata and B. cucurbitae than in B. dorsalis. When linalool was mixed with cuelure (attractant to B. cucurbitae male), its potency to the three fly species decreased as the concentration of cuelure increased. This was due to linalool hydrolysis catalyzed by acetic acid from cuelure degradation, which was confirmed by chemical analysis. When methyl eugenol (B. dorsalis male attractant) was mixed with basil oil, trans-anethole, estragole, or linalool, it did not affect the toxicity of basil oil and linalool to B. dorsalis, but it did significantly decrease the toxicity of trans-anethole and estragole. Structural similarity between methyl eugenol and trans-anethole and estragole suggests that methyl eugenol might act at a site similar to that of trans-anethole and estragole and serve as an antagonist if an action site exists. Methyl eugenol also may play a physiological role on the toxicity reduction.

Molecular interactions between the olive and the fruit fly Bactrocera oleae

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The fruit fly Bactrocera oleae is the primary biotic stressor of cultivated olives, causing direct and indirect damages that significantly reduce both the yield and the quality of olive oil. To study the olive-B. oleae interaction, we conducted transcriptomic and proteomic investigations of the molecular response of the drupe. The identifications of genes and proteins involved in the fruit response were performed using a Suppression Subtractive Hybridisation technique and a combined bi-dimensional electrophoresis/nanoLC-ESI-LIT-MS/MS approach, respectively. Results We identified 196 ESTs and 26 protein spots as differentially expressed in olives with larval feeding tunnels. A bioinformatic analysis of the identified non-redundant EST and protein collection indicated that different molecular processes were affected, such as stress response, phytohormone signalling, transcriptional control and primary metabolism, and that a considerable proportion of the ESTs could not be classified. The altered expression of 20 transcripts was also analysed by real-time PCR, and the most striking differences were further confirmed in the fruit of a different olive variety. We also cloned the full-length coding sequences of two genes, Oe-chitinase I and Oe-PR27, and showed that these are wound-inducible genes and activated by B. oleae punctures. Conclusions This study represents the first report that reveals the molecular players and signalling pathways involved in the interaction between the olive fruit and its most damaging biotic stressor. Drupe response is complex, involving genes and proteins involved in photosynthesis as well as in the production of ROS, the activation of different stress response pathways and the production of compounds involved in direct defence against phytophagous larvae. Among the latter, trypsin inhibitors should play a major role in drupe resistance reaction. PMID:22694925

Recent progress in a classical biological control program for olive fruit fly in California

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae), causes severe damage to olive production worldwide. Control of olive fruit fly typically relies on pesticides, and under such conditions the impact of natural enemies is relatively low. About 15 years ago, the USDA-ARS European Biologic...

Analysis of the Olive Fruit Fly Bactrocera oleae Transcriptome and Phylogenetic Classification of the Major Detoxification Gene Families

PubMed Central

Rombauts, Stephane; Chrisargiris, Antonis; Van Leeuwen, Thomas; Vontas, John

2013-01-01

The olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae has a unique ability to cope with olive flesh, and is the most destructive pest of olives worldwide. Its control has been largely based on the use of chemical insecticides, however, the selection of insecticide resistance against several insecticides has evolved. The study of detoxification mechanisms, which allow the olive fruit fly to defend against insecticides, and/or phytotoxins possibly present in the mesocarp, has been hampered by the lack of genomic information in this species. In the NCBI database less than 1,000 nucleotide sequences have been deposited, with less than 10 detoxification gene homologues in total. We used 454 pyrosequencing to produce, for the first time, a large transcriptome dataset for B. oleae. A total of 482,790 reads were assembled into 14,204 contigs. More than 60% of those contigs (8,630) were larger than 500 base pairs, and almost half of them matched with genes of the order of the Diptera. Analysis of the Gene Ontology (GO) distribution of unique contigs, suggests that, compared to other insects, the assembly is broadly representative for the B. oleae transcriptome. Furthermore, the transcriptome was found to contain 55 P450, 43 GST-, 15 CCE- and 18 ABC transporter-genes. Several of those detoxification genes, may putatively be involved in the ability of the olive fruit fly to deal with xenobiotics, such as plant phytotoxins and insecticides. In summary, our study has generated new data and genomic resources, which will substantially facilitate molecular studies in B. oleae, including elucidation of detoxification mechanisms of xenobiotic, as well as other important aspects of olive fruit fly biology. PMID:23824998

Nonhost status of mangosteen to Bactrocera dorsalis and Bactrocera carambolae (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Thailand.

PubMed

Unahawutti, Udorn; Intarakumheng, Rachada; Oonthonglang, Pitawat; Phankum, Salukjit; Follett, Peter A

2014-08-01

Postharvest quarantine treatments (irradiation or vapor heat) are used to control fruit flies and other pests in mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L) exported to the United States and Japan from Thailand. No-choice tests were conducted in the laboratory to determine whether Thai mangosteen is a host for Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (oriental fruit fly) and Bactrocera carambolae Drew & Hancock (carambola fruit fly). Ripe commercial quality fruit (1 wk after harvest) that were either undamaged or damaged by puncturing or peeling the pericarp were exposed to a high density of gravid flies in screen cages and then held for 10 d and dissected to inspect for immature life stages. Undamaged mangosteen fruit were not infested by B. dorsalis and B. carambolae. Partially damaged fruit with shallow punctures in the pericarp that did not extend to the aril also were not infested. Both fruit flies could infest damaged fruit if the pericarp damage allowed oviposition in the aril. Results suggest that natural infestation of mangosteen by B. dorsalis and B. carambolae can only occur if fruit exhibit physical cracks or mechanical injury. Resistance appears to be due to the pericarp hardness and thickness as well as latex secretion. Nonhost status could be used without additional quarantine measures to achieve quarantine security against B. dorsalis and B. carambolae in mangosteen exported from Thailand.

Salicylic Acid Induces Changes in Mango Fruit that Affect Oviposition Behavior and Development of the Oriental Fruit Fly, Bactrocera dorsalis

PubMed Central

Roy, Tapas Kumar; Shivashankara, Kodthalu Seetharamaiah; Verghese, Abraham

2015-01-01

The Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) is an important quarantine pest around the globe. Although measures for its control are implemented worldwide through IPM and male annihilation, there is little effect on their population. Hence, there is a need for new strategies to control this minacious pest. A strategy that has received negligible attention is the induction of ‘natural plant defenses’ by phytohormones. In this study, we investigated the effect of salicylic acid (SA) treatment of mango fruit (cv. Totapuri) on oviposition and larval development of B. dorsalis. In oviposition choice assays, gravid females laid significantly less eggs in SA treated compared to untreated fruit. Headspace volatiles collected from SA treated fruit were less attractive to gravid females compared to volatiles from untreated fruit. GC-MS analysis of the headspace volatiles from SA treated and untreated fruit showed noticeable changes in their chemical compositions. Cis-ocimene and 3-carene (attractants to B. dorsalis) were reduced in the headspace volatiles of treated fruit. Further, reduced pupae formation and adult emergence was observed in treated fruit compared to control. Increased phenol and flavonoid content was recorded in treated fruit. We also observed differential expression of anti-oxidative enzymes namely catalase (CAT), polyphenoloxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD). In summary, the results indicate that SA treatment reduced oviposition, larval development and adult emergence of B. dorsalis and suggest a role of SA in enhancing mango tolerance to B. dorsalis. PMID:26422203

Melon Fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae), Infestation in Host Fruits in the Southwestern Islands of Japan Before the Initiation of Island-wide Population Suppression, as Recorded in Publications of Japanese Public Institutions

PubMed Central

McQuate, Grant T.; Teruya, Tadashi

2015-01-01

Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) is a tephritid fruit fly native to the Indo-Malayan region. Its distribution, though, has extended to include Africa, temperate Asia, and a number of Pacific islands. It became established in Japan in 1919 in the Yaeyama Islands and spread north in the Southwestern Islands of Japan. It was subsequently eradicated from these islands by an eradication program that extended from 1972 to 1993. As part of an effort to develop a worldwide database on the status of fruits as hosts of melon fly, the infestation data gathered from host fruits collected in this eradication program, before the initiation of suppression activities, are summarized here. Bactrocera cucurbitae infestation was documented in 24 plant taxa of four plant families (Caricaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Moraceae, and Solanaceae), with the following four new hosts identified: Ficus erecta Thunb., F. pumila L. (Moraceae), Solanum erianthum D. Don (Solanaceae), and Zehneria liukiuensis Jeffrey ex Walker (Cucurbitaceae). PMID:26816487

Whole genome sequencing of the Braconid parasitoid wasp Fopius arisanus, an important biocontrol agent of pest Tepritid fruit flies

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The braconid wasp Fopius arisanus (Sonan) is an important biological control agent of tropical and subtropical pest fruit flies including two important global pests, the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata), and the oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis}). The goal of this study was to dev...

Population genetic structure of the melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae), from China and Southeast Asia.

PubMed

Hu, Jian; Zhang, Jun L; Nardi, Francesco; Zhang, Run J

2008-11-01

The melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillett, is a species of fruit flies of significant agricultural interest. Of supposed Indian origin, the melon fly is now widely distributed throughout South East Asia up to China, while it has been recently eradicated from Japan. The population structure of seven geographic populations from coastal China, as well as samples from other regions of South East Asia and Japan, including lab colonies, have been studied using a 782 bp fragment of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene sequence. The observed genetic diversity was exceedingly low, considering the geographic scale of the sampling, and one single haplotype was found to be predominant from Sri Lanka to China. We confirm that Bactrocera cucurbitae exists in South East Asia as a single phyletic lineage, that Chinese populations are genetically uniform, and that no apparent genetic differentiation exists between these and three available Japanese melon fly sequences.

Comparison of Rain-Fast Bait Stations Versus Foliar Bait Sprays for Control of Oriental Fruit Fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, in Papaya Orchards in Hawaii

PubMed Central

Piñero, Jaime C.; Mau, Ronald F. L.; Vargas, Roger I.

2010-01-01

Bait stations represent an environmentally friendly attract-and-kill approach to fruit fly population suppression. Recently a novel, visually attractive, rain-fast bait station was developed in Hawaii for potential use against multiple species of pestiferous fruit flies. Here, we compared the efficacy of GF-120 NF Naturalyte Fruit Fly Bait applied either as foliar sprays or onto bait stations in reducing female oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae), population density and level of fruit infestation in commercial papaya orchards in Hawaii. Trapping and infestation data were used as indicators of the effectiveness of the two bait application methods. For the first 10 weeks of the study, captures of female B. dorsalis in monitoring traps were significantly greater in control plots than in plots treated with foliar sprays or bait stations. Six weeks after the first bait spray, incidence of infestation (i.e. number of fruit with one or more B. dorsalis larvae) of quarter to half-ripe papaya fruit was reduced by 71.4% and 63.1% for plots with bait stations and foliar sprays, respectively, as compared to control plots. Twelve weeks after first spray, incidence of infestation was reduced by only 54.5% and 45.4% for plots with bait stations and foliar sprays, respectively, as compared to control plots. About 42% less GF-120 was used in orchard plots with bait stations compared to those subject to foliar sprays. The impact of field sanitation on the outcome is also discussed. The results indicate that bait stations can provide a simple, efficient, and economical method of applying insecticidal baits to control fruit flies and a safer alternative to foliar sprays. PMID:21067423

2008 Field Releases of Psyttalia cf. concolor for Biological Control of Olive Fruit Fly in California

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The parasitoid Psytallia cf. concolor (Szépligeti) was reared on sterile Mediterranean fruit fly larvae at the USDA-APHIS-PPQ, Petapa Quarantine Laboratory in Guatemala and shipped to the USDA-ARS, Parlier for biological control of olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Gmelin), in California. Improved ...

Female-biased attraction of Oriental fruit fly, bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), to a blend of host fruit volatiles from Terminalia catappa L.

PubMed

Siderhurst, Matthew S; Jang, Eric B

2006-11-01

Coupled gas chromatography-electroantennogram detection (GC-EAD) analysis of volatiles from tropical almond fruit, Terminalia catappa L., revealed 22 compounds that were detected by antennae of oriental fruit fly females, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel). Both solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and Porapak Q were used for sampling odors in fruit headspace, with SPME collections producing larger EAD responses from a greater number of compounds. Geranyl acetate and methyl eugenol elicited the largest EAD responses. A synthetic blend containing SPME collected, EAD stimulatory compounds showed female-biased attraction in laboratory wind tunnel bioassays, but heavily male-biased trap captures in a larger olfactometer arena. A nine-component subset of compounds eliciting relatively small EAD responses (EAD minor) and consisting of equal parts ethanol, ethyl acetate, ethyl hexanoate, hexyl acetate, linalyl acetate, ethyl nonanate, nonyl acetate, ethyl cinnamate, and (E)-beta-farnesene, attracted mainly females. This EAD minor blend was as attractive to females and much less attractive to males when compared to torula yeast in field cage experiments using glass McPhail traps. Similar results were obtained with outdoor rotating olfactometer tests in which the EAD minor blend was almost completely inactive for males.

Raspberry Ketone Analogs: Vapour Pressure Measurements and Attractiveness to Queensland Fruit Fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Hanssen, Benjamin L.; Jamie, Joanne F.; Jamie, Ian M.; Siderhurst, Matthew S.; Taylor, Phillip W.

2016-01-01

The Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Q-fly), is a major horticultural pest in Eastern Australia. Effective monitoring, male annihilation technique (MAT) and mass trapping (MT) are all important for control and require strong lures to attract flies to traps or toxicants. Lure strength is thought to be related in part to volatility, but little vapour pressure data are available for most Q-fly lures. Raspberry ketone (4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butanone) and analogs that had esters (acetyl, difluoroacetyl, trifluoroacetyl, formyl, propionyl) and ethers (methyl ether, trimethylsilyl ether) in replacement of the phenolic group, and in one case also had modification of the 2-butanone side chain, were measured for their vapour pressures by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and their attractiveness to Q-fly was assessed in small cage environmentally controlled laboratory bioassays. Maximum response of one category of compounds, containing both 2-butanone side chain and ester group was found to be higher than that of the other group of compounds, of which either of 2-butanone or ester functionality was modified. However, linear relationship between vapour pressure and maximum response was not significant. The results of this study indicate that, while volatility may be a factor in lure effectiveness, molecular structure is the dominating factor for the series of molecules investigated. PMID:27196605

Hot-water immersion quarantine treatment against Mediterranean fruit fly and Oriental fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) eggs and larvae in litchi and longan fruit exported from Hawaii.

PubMed

Armstrong, John W; Follett, Peter A

2007-08-01

Immersion of litchi fruit in 49 degrees C water for 20 min followed by hydrocooling in ambient (24 +/- 4 degrees C) temperature water for 20 min was tested as a quarantine treatment against potential infestations of Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann); and oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel, eggs or larvae in Hawaiian litchi, Litchi chinensis Sonnerat. The 49 degrees C hot-water immersion of litchi provided probit 9 (99.9968% mortality with >95% confidence) quarantine security against eggs and first instars. There were no survivors from 15,000 each feeding and nonfeeding Mediterranean fruit fly or oriental fruit fly third instars immersed in a computer-controlled water bath that simulated the litchi seed-surface temperature profile during the 49 degrees C hot-water immersion treatment. Litchi served as the model for longan, Dimocarpus longan Lour., a closely related fruit that is smaller and also has commercial potential for Hawaii. Modified fruit infestation and holding techniques used to obtain adequate estimated treated populations from poor host fruit, such as litchi and longan, are described. Data from these experiments were used to obtain approval of a hot-water immersion quarantine treatment against fruit flies for litchi and longan exported from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland.

Response of Psyttalia humilis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) to olive fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) and conditions in California olive orchards

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The larval parasitoid, Psyttalia cf. concolor (Szépligeti), reared on Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Weidemann), by the USDA-APHIS, PPQ, Guatemala City, Guatemala, was imported into California for biological control of olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Gmelin), in olives, Olea europae...

Response of Ceratitis capitata, Bactrocera dorsalis, and Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae) to metabolic stress disinfection and disinfestation treatment.

PubMed

Arévalo-Galarza, Lourdes; Follett, Peter A

2011-02-01

Metabolic stress disinfection and disinfestation (MSDD) is a postharvest treatment designed to control pathogens and arthropod pests on commodities that combines short cycles of low pressure/vacuum and high CO2 with ethanol vapor. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of MSDD treatment on various life stages of Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), Mediterranean fruit fly; Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel, oriental fruit fly; and Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillett, melon fly, in petri dishes and in papaya, Carica papaya L., fruit. In some experiments, the ethanol vapor phase was withheld to separate the effects of the physical (low pressure/ambient pressure cycles) and chemical (ethanol vapor plus low pressure) phases of treatment. In the experiments with tephritid fruit fly larvae and adults in petri dishes, mortality was generally high when insects were exposed to ethanol and low when ethanol was withheld during MSDD treatment, suggesting that ethanol vapor is highly lethal but that fruit flies are quite tolerant of short periods of low pressure treatment alone. When papaya fruit infested with fruit fly eggs or larvae were treated by MSDD, they produced fewer pupae than untreated control fruit, but a substantial number of individuals developed nonetheless. This suggests that internally feeding insects in fruit may be partially protected from the toxic effects of the ethanol because the vapor does not easily penetrate the fruit pericarp and pulp. MSDD treatment using the atmospheric conditions tested has limited potential as a disinfestation treatment for internal-feeding quarantine pests such as fruit flies infesting perishable commodities.

Field Trapping Bactrocera latifrons (Diptera: Tephritidae) with Select Eugenol Analogs That Have Been Found to Attract Other 'Non-Responsive' Fruit Fly Species.

PubMed

McQuate, Grant T; Royer, Jane E; Sylva, Charmaine D

2018-05-01

Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a pest fruit fly species native to Oriental Asia which has invaded and established in Hawaii and Tanzania and has been recovered in detection trapping in California. It is largely non-responsive to the male lures cuelure and methyl eugenol. Alpha-ionol + cade oil is a moderately effective male B. latifrons attractant, but is not as attractive as cuelure or methyl eugenol are to other fruit fly species. An improved attractant is therefore desired. With the recent success in finding other non-responsive fruit fly species attracted to isoeugenol, methyl-isoeugenol, or dihydroeugenol in Australia and other countries, we wanted to assess whether B. latifrons might also respond to these “eugenol analogs.” Working with wild B. latifrons populations in Hawaii, we assessed the relative catch of B. latifrons in traps baited with the eugenol analogs with catch in traps baited with alpha-ionol, alpha-ionol + cade oil, or alpha-ionol + eugenol. Catch was significantly higher in traps baited with alpha-ionol + cade oil relative to traps with any of the other baits. There was, though, some male B. latifrons catch in traps baited with dihydroeugenol or isoeugenol but none in traps baited with methyl-isoeugenol.

Olive Fruit Fly (Bactrocera oleae) Population Dynamics in the Eastern Mediterranean: Influence of Exogenous Uncertainty on a Monophagous Frugivorous Insect

PubMed Central

Ordano, Mariano; Engelhard, Izhar; Rempoulakis, Polychronis; Nemny-Lavy, Esther; Blum, Moshe; Yasin, Sami; Lensky, Itamar M.; Papadopoulos, Nikos T.; Nestel, David

2015-01-01

Despite of the economic importance of the olive fly (Bactrocera oleae) and the large amount of biological and ecological studies on the insect, the factors driving its population dynamics (i.e., population persistence and regulation) had not been analytically investigated until the present study. Specifically, our study investigated the autoregressive process of the olive fly populations, and the joint role of intrinsic and extrinsic factors molding the population dynamics of the insect. Accounting for endogenous dynamics and the influences of exogenous factors such as olive grove temperature, the North Atlantic Oscillation and the presence of potential host fruit, we modeled olive fly populations in five locations in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Our models indicate that the rate of population change is mainly shaped by first and higher order non-monotonic, endogenous dynamics (i.e., density-dependent population feedback). The olive grove temperature was the main exogenous driver, while the North Atlantic Oscillation and fruit availability acted as significant exogenous factors in one of the five populations. Seasonal influences were also relevant for three of the populations. In spite of exogenous effects, the rate of population change was fairly stable along time. We propose that a special reproductive mechanism, such as reproductive quiescence, allows populations of monophagous fruit flies such as the olive fly to remain stable. Further, we discuss how weather factors could impinge constraints on the population dynamics at the local level. Particularly, local temperature dynamics could provide forecasting cues for management guidelines. Jointly, our results advocate for establishing monitoring programs and for a major focus of research on the relationship between life history traits and populations dynamics. PMID:26010332

Taxonomic Identity of the Invasive Fruit Fly Pest, Bactrocera invadens: Concordance in Morphometry and DNA Barcoding

PubMed Central

Khamis, Fathiya M.; Masiga, Daniel K.; Mohamed, Samira A.; Salifu, Daisy; de Meyer, Marc; Ekesi, Sunday

2012-01-01

In 2003, a new fruit fly pest species was recorded for the first time in Kenya and has subsequently been found in 28 countries across tropical Africa. The insect was described as Bactrocera invadens, due to its rapid invasion of the African continent. In this study, the morphometry and DNA Barcoding of different populations of B. invadens distributed across the species range of tropical Africa and a sample from the pest's putative aboriginal home of Sri Lanka was investigated. Morphometry using wing veins and tibia length was used to separate B. invadens populations from other closely related Bactrocera species. The Principal component analysis yielded 15 components which correspond to the 15 morphometric measurements. The first two principal axes contributed to 90.7% of the total variance and showed partial separation of these populations. Canonical discriminant analysis indicated that only the first five canonical variates were statistically significant. The first two canonical variates contributed a total of 80.9% of the total variance clustering B. invadens with other members of the B. dorsalis complex while distinctly separating B. correcta, B. cucurbitae, B. oleae and B. zonata. The largest Mahalanobis squared distance (D2 = 122.9) was found to be between B. cucurbitae and B. zonata, while the lowest was observed between B. invadens populations against B. kandiensis (8.1) and against B. dorsalis s.s (11.4). Evolutionary history inferred by the Neighbor-Joining method clustered the Bactrocera species populations into four clusters. First cluster consisted of the B. dorsalis complex (B. invadens, B. kandiensis and B. dorsalis s. s.), branching from the same node while the second group was paraphyletic clades of B. correcta and B. zonata. The last two are monophyletic clades, consisting of B. cucurbitae and B. oleae, respectively. Principal component analysis using the genetic distances confirmed the clustering inferred by the NJ tree. PMID:23028649

Temperature Effects on Olive Fruit Fly Infestation in the FlySim Cellular Automata Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bruno, Vincenzo; Baldacchini, Valerio; di Gregorio, Salvatore

FlySim is a Cellular Automata model developed for simulating infestation of olive fruit flies (Bactrocera Oleae) on olive (Olea europaea) groves. The flies move into the groves looking for mature olives where eggs are spawn. This serious agricultural problem is mainly tackled by using chemical agents at the first signs of the infestation, but organic productions with no or few chemicals are strongly requested by the market. Oil made with infested olives is poor in quality, nor olives are suitable for selling in stores. The FlySim model simulates the diffusion of flies looking for mature olives and the growing of flies due to atmospheric conditions. Foreseeing an infestation is the best way to prevent it and to reduce the need of chemicals in agriculture. In this work we investigated the effects of temperature on olive fruit flies and resulting infestation during late spring and summer.

Terminalia larval host fruit reduces the response of Bactrocera dorsalis adults to the male lure methyl eugenol

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Methyl eugenol(ME) is a powerful semiochemical attractant to males of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, and is the keystone of detection, control, and eradication programs against this polyphagous and highly invasive tephritid pest. Despite its status as a model lure against B.dorsalis, v...

The utility of microsatellite DNA markers for the evaluation of area-wide integrated pest management using SIT for the fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), control programs in Thailand.

PubMed

Aketarawong, Nidchaya; Chinvinijkul, Suksom; Orankanok, Watchreeporn; Guglielmino, Carmela Rosalba; Franz, Gerald; Malacrida, Anna Rodolfa; Thanaphum, Sujinda

2011-01-01

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), is a key pest that causes reduction of the crop yield within the international fruit market. Fruit flies have been suppressed by two Area-Wide Integrated Pest Management programs in Thailand using Sterile Insect Technique (AW-IPM-SIT) since the late 1980s and the early 2000s. The projects' planning and evaluation usually rely on information from pest status, distribution, and fruit infestation. However, the collected data sometimes does not provide enough detail to answer management queries and public concerns, such as the long term sterilization efficacy of the released fruit fly, skepticism about insect migration or gene flow across the buffer zone, and the re-colonisation possibility of the fruit fly population within the core area. Established microsatellite DNA markers were used to generate population genetic data for the analysis of the fruit fly sampling from several control areas, and non-target areas, as well as the mass-rearing facility. The results suggested limited gene flow (m < 0.100) across the buffer zones between the flies in the control areas and flies captured outside. In addition, no genetic admixture was revealed from the mass-reared colony flies from the flies within the control area, which supports the effectiveness of SIT. The control pests were suppressed to low density and showed weak bottleneck footprints although they still acquired a high degree of genetic variation. Potential pest resurgence from fragmented micro-habitats in mixed fruit orchards rather than pest incursion across the buffer zone has been proposed. Therefore, a suitable pest control effort, such as the SIT program, should concentrate on the hidden refuges within the target area.

Biological Control of Olive Fruit Fly in California with a Parasitoid Imported from Guatemala

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The parasitoid, Psyttalia cf. concolor (Szépligeti), was imported into California from the USDA-APHIS-PPQ, Moscamed, San Miguel Petapa, Guatemala for biological control of olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Gmelin), in olives, Olea europaea L. The parasitoid did not develop in the seedhead fly, Cha...

Resveratrol modifies tephritid fruit fly response to nutritional and radiation stress

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Resveratrol is a recently discovered compound. Three concentrations (50, 100, 200 µM) of resveratrol were evaluated against Bactrocera dorsalis and B. cucurbitae by incorporating resveratrol into fruit fly liquid larval diet under the following conditions: 1) with or without wheat germ oil (WGO) in ...

Low-dose irradiation with modified atmosphere packaging for mango against the Oriental Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Irradiation and vapor–heating treatments are commonly used to disinfest the Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera:Tephritidae), and other pests on mango fruits before export from Thailand to foreign markets. Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) used during export of mangoes create...

Multiple glutathione S-transferase genes: identification and expression in oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis.

PubMed

Hu, Fei; Dou, Wei; Wang, Jing-Jing; Jia, Fu-Xian; Wang, Jin-Jun

2014-02-01

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), is widely distributed in Asia-Pacific regions, where it is a serious pest of a wide range of tropical and subtropical fruit and vegetable crops. In this study, 17 cDNA encoding glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) in B. dorsalis were sequenced and characterised. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that 16 GSTs belonged to five different cytosolic classes, including four in delta, eight in epsilon, two in omega, one in theta, and one in zeta. The remaining GST (BdGSTu1) was unclassified. RT-qPCR assay showed that the relative expression levels of five GST genes were significantly higher in larval stages than in adulthood. Tissue-specific expression analysis found that BdGSTe3, BdGSTe9 and BdGSTd5 were expressed highly in the midgut, BdGSTe4, BdGSTe6, BdGSTd6 and BdGSTz2 were higher in the fat body, and six GSTs were higher in Malpighian tubules. RT-qPCR confirmed that the expressions of nine GST genes were increased by malathion exposure at various times and doses, while BdGSTe4, BdGSTe9 and BdGSTt1 were increased by β-cypermethrin exposure. The increases in GST gene expression levels after malathion and β-cypermethrin exposure in B. dorsalis might increase the ability of this species to detoxify other insecticides and xenobiotics. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.

From eradication to containment: invasion of French Polynesia by Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) and releases of two natural enemies: a 17-year case study

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), was discovered on Tahiti Island, French Polynesia, in 1996. Two other economically important Bactrocera species were previously established: B. kirki (Froggatt) in 1928, and B. tryoni (Froggatt), Queensland fruit fly, in 1970. This situation provi...

The transcriptional response to the olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae) reveals extended differences between tolerant and susceptible olive (Olea europaea L.) varieties

PubMed Central

Grasso, Filomena; Coppola, Mariangela; Carbone, Fabrizio; Baldoni, Luciana; Alagna, Fiammetta; Perrotta, Gaetano; Pérez-Pulido, Antonio J.; Garonna, Antonio; Facella, Paolo; Daddiego, Loretta; Lopez, Loredana; Vitiello, Alessia; Rao, Rosa

2017-01-01

The olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae) is the most devastating pest of cultivated olive (Olea europaea L.). Intraspecific variation in plant resistance to B. oleae has been described only at phenotypic level. In this work, we used a transcriptomic approach to study the molecular response to the olive fruit fly in two olive cultivars with contrasting level of susceptibility. Using next-generation pyrosequencing, we first generated a catalogue of more than 80,000 sequences expressed in drupes from approximately 700k reads. The assembled sequences were used to develop a microarray layout with over 60,000 olive-specific probes. The differential gene expression analysis between infested (i.e. with II or III instar larvae) and control drupes indicated a significant intraspecific variation between the more tolerant and susceptible cultivar. Around 2500 genes were differentially regulated in infested drupes of the tolerant variety. The GO annotation of the differentially expressed genes implies that the inducible resistance to the olive fruit fly involves a number of biological functions, cellular processes and metabolic pathways, including those with a known role in defence, oxidative stress responses, cellular structure, hormone signalling, and primary and secondary metabolism. The difference in the induced transcriptional changes between the cultivars suggests a strong genetic role in the olive inducible defence, which can ultimately lead to the discovery of factors associated with a higher level of tolerance to B. oleae. PMID:28797083

The transcriptional response to the olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae) reveals extended differences between tolerant and susceptible olive (Olea europaea L.) varieties.

PubMed

Grasso, Filomena; Coppola, Mariangela; Carbone, Fabrizio; Baldoni, Luciana; Alagna, Fiammetta; Perrotta, Gaetano; Pérez-Pulido, Antonio J; Garonna, Antonio; Facella, Paolo; Daddiego, Loretta; Lopez, Loredana; Vitiello, Alessia; Rao, Rosa; Corrado, Giandomenico

2017-01-01

The olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae) is the most devastating pest of cultivated olive (Olea europaea L.). Intraspecific variation in plant resistance to B. oleae has been described only at phenotypic level. In this work, we used a transcriptomic approach to study the molecular response to the olive fruit fly in two olive cultivars with contrasting level of susceptibility. Using next-generation pyrosequencing, we first generated a catalogue of more than 80,000 sequences expressed in drupes from approximately 700k reads. The assembled sequences were used to develop a microarray layout with over 60,000 olive-specific probes. The differential gene expression analysis between infested (i.e. with II or III instar larvae) and control drupes indicated a significant intraspecific variation between the more tolerant and susceptible cultivar. Around 2500 genes were differentially regulated in infested drupes of the tolerant variety. The GO annotation of the differentially expressed genes implies that the inducible resistance to the olive fruit fly involves a number of biological functions, cellular processes and metabolic pathways, including those with a known role in defence, oxidative stress responses, cellular structure, hormone signalling, and primary and secondary metabolism. The difference in the induced transcriptional changes between the cultivars suggests a strong genetic role in the olive inducible defence, which can ultimately lead to the discovery of factors associated with a higher level of tolerance to B. oleae.

Vision-Mediated exploitation of a novel host plant by a tephritid fruit fly

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Shortly after its introduction into the Hawaiian Islands around 1895, the polyphagous, invasive fruit fly Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett)(Diptera:Tephritidae) was provided the opportunity to expand its host range to include a novel host, papaya (Carica papaya). It has been documented that female ...

Isolation and identification of host cues from mango, Mangifera indica, that attract gravid female oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis.

PubMed

Jayanthi, Pagadala D Kamala; Woodcock, Christine M; Caulfield, John; Birkett, Michael A; Bruce, Toby J A

2012-04-01

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, is an economically damaging, polyphagous pest of fruit crops in South-East Asia and Hawaii, and a quarantine pest in other parts of the world. The objective of our study was to identify new attractants for B. dorsalis from overripe mango fruits. Headspace samples of volatiles were collected from two cultivars of mango, 'Alphonso' and 'Chausa', and a strong positive behavioral response was observed when female B. dorsalis were exposed to these volatiles in olfactometer bioassays. Coupled GC-EAG with female B. dorsalis revealed 7 compounds from 'Alphonso' headspace and 15 compounds from 'Chausa' headspace that elicited an EAG response. The EAG-active compounds, from 'Alphonso', were identified, using GC-MS, as heptane, myrcene, (Z)-ocimene, (E)-ocimene, allo-ocimene, (Z)-myroxide, and γ-octalactone, with the two ocimene isomers being the dominant compounds. The EAG-active compounds from 'Chausa' were 3-hydroxy-2-butanone, 3-methyl-1-butanol, ethyl butanoate, ethyl methacrylate, ethyl crotonate, ethyl tiglate, 1-octen-3-ol, ethyl hexanoate, 3-carene, p-cymene, ethyl sorbate, α-terpinolene, phenyl ethyl alcohol, ethyl octanoate, and benzothiazole. Individual compounds were significantly attractive when a standard dose (1 μg on filter paper) was tested in the olfactometer. Furthermore, synthetic blends with the same concentration and ratio of compounds as in the natural headspace samples were highly attractive (P < 0.001), and in a choice test, fruit flies did not show any preference for the natural samples over the synthetic blends. Results are discussed in relation to developing a lure for female B. dorsalis to bait traps with.

Transcriptomic responses of the olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae and its symbiont Candidatus Erwinia dacicola to olive feeding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pavlidi, Nena; Gioti, Anastasia; Wybouw, Nicky; Dermauw, Wannes; Ben-Yosef, Michael; Yuval, Boaz; Jurkevich, Edouard; Kampouraki, Anastasia; van Leeuwen, Thomas; Vontas, John

2017-02-01

The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae, is the most destructive pest of olive orchards worldwide. The monophagous larva has the unique capability of feeding on olive mesocarp, coping with high levels of phenolic compounds and utilizing non-hydrolyzed proteins present, particularly in the unripe, green olives. On the molecular level, the interaction between B. oleae and olives has not been investigated as yet. Nevertheless, it has been associated with the gut obligate symbiotic bacterium Candidatus Erwinia dacicola. Here, we used a B.oleae microarray to analyze the gene expression of larvae during their development in artificial diet, unripe (green) and ripe (black) olives. The expression profiles of Ca. E. dacicola were analyzed in parallel, using the Illumina platform. Several genes were found overexpressed in the olive fly larvae when feeding in green olives. Among these, a number of genes encoding detoxification and digestive enzymes, indicating a potential association with the ability of B. oleae to cope with green olives. In addition, a number of biological processes seem to be activated in Ca. E. dacicola during the development of larvae in olives, with the most notable being the activation of amino-acid metabolism.

Mass-rearing optimization of the parasitoid Psyttalia lounsburyi for biological control of the olive fruit fly

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Tephritidae), discovered in 1998 in California, is a direct pest of olives that has invaded the Mediterranean Region and California (Rice et al. 2003; Zalom et al. 2009). The fly is believed to have originated from Africa (Hoelmer et al. 2011), and Psyttalia lo...

Isolation and characterization of microsatellite markers from the olive fly, Bactrocera oleae, and their cross-species amplification in the Tephritidae family

PubMed Central

Augustinos, Antonios A; Stratikopoulos, Elias E; Drosopoulou, Eleni; Kakani, Evdoxia G; Mavragani-Tsipidou, Penelope; Zacharopoulou, Antigone; Mathiopoulos, Kostas D

2008-01-01

Background The Tephritidae family of insects includes the most important agricultural pests of fruits and vegetables, belonging mainly to four genera (Bactrocera, Ceratitis, Anastrepha and Rhagoletis). The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae, is the major pest of the olive fruit. Currently, its control is based on chemical insecticides. Environmentally friendlier methods have been attempted in the past (Sterile Insect Technique), albeit with limited success. This was mainly attributed to the lack of knowledge on the insect's behaviour, ecology and genetic structure of natural populations. The development of molecular markers could facilitate the access in the genome and contribute to the solution of the aforementioned problems. We chose to focus on microsatellite markers due to their abundance in the genome, high degree of polymorphism and easiness of isolation. Results Fifty-eight microsatellite-containing clones were isolated from the olive fly, Bactrocera oleae, bearing a total of sixty-two discrete microsatellite motifs. Forty-two primer pairs were designed on the unique sequences flanking the microsatellite motif and thirty-one of them amplified a PCR product of the expected size. The level of polymorphism was evaluated against wild and laboratory flies and the majority of the markers (93.5%) proved highly polymorphic. Thirteen of them presented a unique position on the olive fly polytene chromosomes by in situ hybridization, which can serve as anchors to correlate future genetic and cytological maps of the species, as well as entry points to the genome. Cross-species amplification of these markers to eleven Tephritidae species and sequencing of thirty-one of the amplified products revealed a varying degree of conservation that declines outside the Bactrocera genus. Conclusion Microsatellite markers are very powerful tools for genetic and population analyses, particularly in species deprived of any other means of genetic analysis. The presented set of

Biological control of olive fruit fly in California - release, establishment and impact of Psyttalia lounsburyi and Psyttalia humilis

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Geographic strains of the African endoparasitoids Psyttalia lounsburyi and Psyttalia humilis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) were released to suppress the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae, in California from 2006 – 2016. Both parasitoid species were recovered post-release within the same fruit season; ho...

Virulence of selected entomopathogenic fungi against the olive fruit fly and their potential for biocontrol

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae), is the most serious pest of cultivated olives worldwide. Its recent invasion into North America, specifically California, has initiated renewed interest in management strategies for this pest. Research into classical biological control ha...

Characterizing the developmental transcriptome of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) through comparative genomic analysis with Drosophila melanogaster utilizing modENCODE datasets.

PubMed

Geib, Scott M; Calla, Bernarda; Hall, Brian; Hou, Shaobin; Manoukis, Nicholas C

2014-10-28

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, is an important pest of fruit and vegetable crops throughout Asia, and is considered a high risk pest for establishment in the mainland United States. It is a member of the family Tephritidae, which are the most agriculturally important family of flies, and can be considered an out-group to well-studied members of the family Drosophilidae. Despite their importance as pests and their relatedness to Drosophila, little information is present on B. dorsalis transcripts and proteins. The objective of this paper is to comprehensively characterize the transcripts present throughout the life history of B. dorsalis and functionally annotate and analyse these transcripts relative to the presence, expression, and function of orthologous sequences present in Drosophila melanogaster. We present a detailed transcriptome assembly of B. dorsalis from egg through adult stages containing 20,666 transcripts across 10,799 unigene components. Utilizing data available through Flybase and the modENCODE project, we compared expression patterns of these transcripts to putative orthologs in D. melanogaster in terms of timing, abundance, and function. In addition, temporal expression patterns in B. dorsalis were characterized between stages, to establish the constitutive or stage-specific expression patterns of particular transcripts. A fully annotated transcriptome assembly is made available through NCBI, in addition to corresponding expression data. Through characterizing the transcriptome of B. dorsalis through its life history and comparing the transcriptome of B. dorsalis to the model organism D. melanogaster, a database has been developed that can be used as the foundation to functional genomic research in Bactrocera flies and help identify orthologous genes between B. dorsalis and D. melanogaster. This data provides the foundation for future functional genomic research that will focus on improving our understanding of the physiology and

Corazonin Signaling Is Required in the Male for Sperm Transfer in the Oriental Fruit Fly Bactrocera dorsalis

PubMed Central

Hou, Qiu-Li; Chen, Er-Hu; Jiang, Hong-Bo; Yu, Shuai-Feng; Yang, Pei-Jin; Liu, Xiao-Qiang; Park, Yoonseong; Wang, Jin-Jun; Smagghe, Guy

2018-01-01

Corazonin (Crz) is a widely distributed neuropeptide (or neurohormone) in insects with diverse physiological functions. The present study aimed to reveal the functions of Crz and its receptor (CrzR) in the regulation of sexual behavior and fertility in male Bactrocera dorsalis. Tissue-specific expression analyses showed that the BdCrz transcript was most abundant in the central nervous system (CNS), and the BdCrzR transcript was most abundant in both the fat body and CNS. Immunochemical localization confirmed that three pairs of Crz-immunoreactive neurons are located in the dorsolateral protocerebrum region of male adult brain. Importantly, RNAi-mediated Crz knockdown lengthened mating duration in males, and knockdown of Crz or CrzR strongly decreased male fertility in the following 3 days, while the courtship behavior and mating efficiency were not affected. The reduced number of sperm in the reproductive organs of mated females indicated that Crz knockdown in males reduced sperm transfer. The findings of this study indicate that Crz contributes to the reproductive physiology of the oriental fruit fly B. dorsalis by regulating sperm transfer in male adults.

Corazonin Signaling Is Required in the Male for Sperm Transfer in the Oriental Fruit Fly Bactrocera dorsalis.

PubMed

Hou, Qiu-Li; Chen, Er-Hu; Jiang, Hong-Bo; Yu, Shuai-Feng; Yang, Pei-Jin; Liu, Xiao-Qiang; Park, Yoonseong; Wang, Jin-Jun; Smagghe, Guy

2018-01-01

Corazonin (Crz) is a widely distributed neuropeptide (or neurohormone) in insects with diverse physiological functions. The present study aimed to reveal the functions of Crz and its receptor (CrzR) in the regulation of sexual behavior and fertility in male Bactrocera dorsalis . Tissue-specific expression analyses showed that the BdCrz transcript was most abundant in the central nervous system (CNS), and the BdCrzR transcript was most abundant in both the fat body and CNS. Immunochemical localization confirmed that three pairs of Crz-immunoreactive neurons are located in the dorsolateral protocerebrum region of male adult brain. Importantly, RNAi-mediated Crz knockdown lengthened mating duration in males, and knockdown of Crz or CrzR strongly decreased male fertility in the following 3 days, while the courtship behavior and mating efficiency were not affected. The reduced number of sperm in the reproductive organs of mated females indicated that Crz knockdown in males reduced sperm transfer. The findings of this study indicate that Crz contributes to the reproductive physiology of the oriental fruit fly B. dorsalis by regulating sperm transfer in male adults.

Quarantine security of bananas at harvest maturity against Mediterranean and Oriental fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Hawaii.

PubMed

Armstrong, J W

2001-02-01

Culled bananas (dwarf 'Brazilian', 'Grand Nain', 'Valery', and 'Williams') sampled from packing houses on the islands of Hawaii, Kauai, Maui, Molokai, and Oahu identified specific "faults" that were at risk from oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), infestation. Faults at risk included bunches with precociously ripened bananas, or bananas with tip rot, fused fingers, or damage that compromised skin integrity to permit fruit fly oviposition into fruit flesh. No Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), or melon fly, B. cucurbitae (Coquillett), infestations were found in culled banana samples. Field infestation tests indicated that mature green bananas were not susceptible to fruit fly infestation for up to 1 wk past the scheduled harvest date when attached to the plant or within 24 h after harvest. Recommendations for exporting mature green bananas from Hawaii without risk of fruit fly infestation are provided. The research reported herein resulted in a USDA-APHIS protocol for exporting mature green bananas from Hawaii.

Phytosanitary cold treatment for oranges infested with Bactrocera zonata (Diptera: Tephritidae)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The peach fruit fly, Bactrocera zonata (Saunders), attacks a wide range of tree fruits in countries from Egypt to Vietnam and is occasionally trapped in the US. Phytosanitary treatments are required to export fruit hosts of this insect from infested countries to non-infested countries where it might...

Global Potential Distribution of Bactrocera carambolae and the Risks for Fruit Production in Brazil

PubMed Central

Marchioro, Cesar A.

2016-01-01

The carambola fruit fly, Bactrocera carambolae, is a tephritid native to Asia that has invaded South America through small-scale trade of fruits from Indonesia. The economic losses associated with biological invasions of other fruit flies around the world and the polyphagous behaviour of B. carambolae have prompted much concern among government agencies and farmers with the potential spread of this pest. Here, ecological niche models were employed to identify suitable environments available to B. carambolae in a global scale and assess the extent of the fruit acreage that may be at risk of attack in Brazil. Overall, 30 MaxEnt models built with different combinations of environmental predictors and settings were evaluated for predicting the potential distribution of the carambola fruit fly. The best model was selected based on threshold-independent and threshold-dependent metrics. Climatically suitable areas were identified in tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, west and east coast of India and northern Australia. The suitability map of B. carambola was intersected against maps of fruit acreage in Brazil. The acreage under potential risk of attack varied widely among fruit species, which is expected because the production areas are concentrated in different regions of the country. The production of cashew is the one that is at higher risk, with almost 90% of its acreage within the suitable range of B. carambolae, followed by papaya (78%), tangerine (51%), guava (38%), lemon (30%), orange (29%), mango (24%) and avocado (20%). This study provides an important contribution to the knowledge of the ecology of B. carambolae, and the information generated here can be used by government agencies as a decision-making tool to prevent the carambola fruit fly spread across the world. PMID:27832144

Global Potential Distribution of Bactrocera carambolae and the Risks for Fruit Production in Brazil.

PubMed

Marchioro, Cesar A

2016-01-01

The carambola fruit fly, Bactrocera carambolae, is a tephritid native to Asia that has invaded South America through small-scale trade of fruits from Indonesia. The economic losses associated with biological invasions of other fruit flies around the world and the polyphagous behaviour of B. carambolae have prompted much concern among government agencies and farmers with the potential spread of this pest. Here, ecological niche models were employed to identify suitable environments available to B. carambolae in a global scale and assess the extent of the fruit acreage that may be at risk of attack in Brazil. Overall, 30 MaxEnt models built with different combinations of environmental predictors and settings were evaluated for predicting the potential distribution of the carambola fruit fly. The best model was selected based on threshold-independent and threshold-dependent metrics. Climatically suitable areas were identified in tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, west and east coast of India and northern Australia. The suitability map of B. carambola was intersected against maps of fruit acreage in Brazil. The acreage under potential risk of attack varied widely among fruit species, which is expected because the production areas are concentrated in different regions of the country. The production of cashew is the one that is at higher risk, with almost 90% of its acreage within the suitable range of B. carambolae, followed by papaya (78%), tangerine (51%), guava (38%), lemon (30%), orange (29%), mango (24%) and avocado (20%). This study provides an important contribution to the knowledge of the ecology of B. carambolae, and the information generated here can be used by government agencies as a decision-making tool to prevent the carambola fruit fly spread across the world.

Comparative Transcriptome Analyses Uncover Key Candidate Genes Mediating Flight Capacity in Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) and Bactrocera correcta (Bezzi) (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Guo, Shaokun; Zhao, Zihua; Liu, Lijun; Li, Zhihong; Shen, Jie

2018-01-30

Flight capacity is important for invasive pests during entry, establishment and spreading. Both Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel and Bactrocera correcta Bezzi are invasive fruit flies but their flight capacities differ. Here, a tethered flight mill test demonstrated that B. dorsalis exhibits a greater flight capacity than B. correcta . RNA-Seq was used to determine the transcriptomic differences associated with the flight capacity of two Bactrocera species. Transcriptome data showed that 6392 unigenes were differentially expressed between the two species in the larval stage, whereas in the adult stage, 4104 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in females, and 3445 DEGs were observed in males. The flight capacity appeared to be correlated with changes in the transcriptional levels of genes involved in wing formation, flight muscle structure, energy metabolism, and hormonal control. Using RNA interference (RNAi) to verify the function of one DEG, the epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR ), we confirmed the role of this gene in regulating wing development, and thereby flight capacity, in both species. This work reveals the flight mechanism of fruit flies and provides insight into fundamental transcriptomics for further studies on the flight performance of insects.

Comparative Transcriptome Analyses Uncover Key Candidate Genes Mediating Flight Capacity in Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) and Bactrocera correcta (Bezzi) (Diptera: Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Zhao, Zihua; Liu, Lijun; Li, Zhihong; Shen, Jie

2018-01-01

Flight capacity is important for invasive pests during entry, establishment and spreading. Both Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel and Bactrocera correcta Bezzi are invasive fruit flies but their flight capacities differ. Here, a tethered flight mill test demonstrated that B. dorsalis exhibits a greater flight capacity than B. correcta. RNA-Seq was used to determine the transcriptomic differences associated with the flight capacity of two Bactrocera species. Transcriptome data showed that 6392 unigenes were differentially expressed between the two species in the larval stage, whereas in the adult stage, 4104 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in females, and 3445 DEGs were observed in males. The flight capacity appeared to be correlated with changes in the transcriptional levels of genes involved in wing formation, flight muscle structure, energy metabolism, and hormonal control. Using RNA interference (RNAi) to verify the function of one DEG, the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), we confirmed the role of this gene in regulating wing development, and thereby flight capacity, in both species. This work reveals the flight mechanism of fruit flies and provides insight into fundamental transcriptomics for further studies on the flight performance of insects. PMID:29385681

Improvement of mass-rearing procedures for an olive fruit fly parasitoid – duration of exposure to hosts affects production of Psyttalia lounsburyi

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae), causes severe economic damage in California. Control of this fly is currently limited to pesticides. The USDA-ARS European Biological Control Laboratory in Montpellier, France established a classical biological control program nearly 15 y...

Mobility of olive fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) late third instars and teneral adults in test arenas

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The mobility of olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), late third instars before pupation, teneral adults before flight, and mature adults restricted from flight was studied under mulches in greenhouse cage tests, in horizontal pipes, vertical bottles and pipes filled with sand, and by observati...

Populations of Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae) and Its Parasitoids in Himalayan Asia

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

For a biological control program against olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae Rossi, olives were collected in the Himalayan foothills (China, Nepal, India, and Pakistan) to discover new natural enemies. Wild olives, Olea europaea ssp. cuspidata (Wall ex. G. Don), were sparsely distributed and fly-infes...

Populations of Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae) and Its Parasitoids in Himalayan Asia

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

For a biological control program against olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae Rossi, olives were collected in the Himalayan foothills (China, Nepal, India, and Pakistan) to discover new natural enemies. Wild olives, Olea europaea ssp. cuspidata (Wall ex. G. Don), were sparsely distributed and fly-infe...

A global checklist of the 932 fruit fly species in the tribe Dacini (Diptera, Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Doorenweerd, Camiel; Leblanc, Luc; Norrbom, Allen L.; Jose, Michael San; Rubinoff, Daniel

2018-01-01

Abstract The correct application of the scientific names of species is neither easy nor trivial. Mistakes can lead to the wrong interpretation of research results or, when pest species are involved, inappropriate regulations and limits on trade, and possibly quarantine failures that permit the invasion of new pest species. Names are particularly challenging to manage when groups of organisms encompass a large number of species, when different workers employ different philosophical views, or when species are in a state of taxonomic flux. The fruit fly tribe Dacini is a species-rich taxon within Tephritidae and contains around a fifth of all known species in the family. About 10% of the 932 currently recognized species are pests of commercial fruits and vegetables, precipitating quarantines and trade embargos. Authoritative species lists consist largely of scattered regional treatments and outdated online resources. The checklist presented here is the first global overview of valid species names for the Dacini in almost two decades, and includes new lure records. By publishing this list both in paper and digitally, we aim to provide a resource for those studying fruit flies as well as researchers studying components of their impact on agriculture. The list is largely a consolidation of previous works, but following the results from recent phylogenetic work, we transfer one subgenus and eight species to different genera: members of the Bactrocera subgenus Javadacus Hardy, considered to belong to the Zeugodacus group of subgenera, are transferred to genus Zeugodacus; Bactrocera pseudocucurbitae White, 1999, stat. rev., is transferred back to Bactrocera from Zeugodacus; Zeugodacus arisanicus Shiraki, 1933, stat. rev., is transferred back to Zeugodacus from Bactrocera; and Z. brevipunctatus (David & Hancock, 2017), comb. n.; Z. javanensis (Perkins, 1938), comb. n.; Z. montanus (Hardy, 1983), comb. n.; Z. papuaensis (Malloch, 1939), comb. n.; Z. scutellarius (Bezzi, 1916

A global checklist of the 932 fruit fly species in the tribe Dacini (Diptera, Tephritidae).

PubMed

Doorenweerd, Camiel; Leblanc, Luc; Norrbom, Allen L; Jose, Michael San; Rubinoff, Daniel

2018-01-01

The correct application of the scientific names of species is neither easy nor trivial. Mistakes can lead to the wrong interpretation of research results or, when pest species are involved, inappropriate regulations and limits on trade, and possibly quarantine failures that permit the invasion of new pest species. Names are particularly challenging to manage when groups of organisms encompass a large number of species, when different workers employ different philosophical views, or when species are in a state of taxonomic flux. The fruit fly tribe Dacini is a species-rich taxon within Tephritidae and contains around a fifth of all known species in the family. About 10% of the 932 currently recognized species are pests of commercial fruits and vegetables, precipitating quarantines and trade embargos. Authoritative species lists consist largely of scattered regional treatments and outdated online resources. The checklist presented here is the first global overview of valid species names for the Dacini in almost two decades, and includes new lure records. By publishing this list both in paper and digitally, we aim to provide a resource for those studying fruit flies as well as researchers studying components of their impact on agriculture. The list is largely a consolidation of previous works, but following the results from recent phylogenetic work, we transfer one subgenus and eight species to different genera: members of the Bactrocera subgenus Javadacus Hardy, considered to belong to the Zeugodacus group of subgenera, are transferred to genus Zeugodacus ; Bactrocera pseudocucurbitae White, 1999, stat. rev. , is transferred back to Bactrocera from Zeugodacus ; Zeugodacus arisanicus Shiraki, 1933, stat. rev. , is transferred back to Zeugodacus from Bactrocera ; and Z. brevipunctatus (David & Hancock, 2017), comb. n. ; Z. javanensis (Perkins, 1938), comb. n. ; Z. montanus (Hardy, 1983), comb. n. ; Z. papuaensis (Malloch, 1939), comb. n. ; Z. scutellarius (Bezzi, 1916

Indigenous and Invasive Fruit Fly Diversity along an Altitudinal Transect in Eastern Central Tanzania

PubMed Central

Geurts, Katrien; Mwatawala, Maulid; De Meyer, Marc

2012-01-01

The relative abundance of indigenous and invasive frugivorous fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) was evaluated spatially and temporally along an altitudinal transect between 581–1650 m in the Uluguru Mountains near Morogoro, Tanzania. The polyphagous invasive fruit fly Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta, and White and the indigenous fruit fly Ceratitis rosa Karsch show a similar temporal pattern, but are largely separated spatially, with B. invadens being abundant at lower elevation and C. rosa predominant at higher elevation. The polyphagous indigenous C. cosyra (Walker) coincides with B. invadens but shows an inverse temporal pattern. The cucurbit feeders B. cucurbitae (Coquillett) and Dacus bivittatus (Bigot) show a similar temporal pattern, but the former is restricted to lower elevations. Host availability and climatic differences seem to be the determining factors to explain the differences in occurrence and abundance in time and space. PMID:22935017

Synonymization of key pest species within the Bactrocera dorsalis species complex (Diptera: Tephritidae): taxonomic changes based on a review of 20 years of integrative morphological, molecular, cytogenetic, behavioral, and c

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Bactrocera papayae Drew & Hancock, Bactrocera philippinensis Drew & Hancock, Bactrocera carambolae Drew & Hancock, and Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta & White are four horticultural pest tephritid fruit fly species that are highly morphologically and genetically similar to the destructive pest, th...

An Overview of Pest Species of Bactrocera Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) and the Integration of Biopesticides with Other Biological Approaches for Their Management with a Focus on the Pacific Region

PubMed Central

Vargas, Roger I.; Piñero, Jaime C.; Leblanc, Luc

2015-01-01

Fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) are among the most economically important pest species in the world, attacking a wide range of fruits and fleshy vegetables throughout tropical and sub-tropical areas. These species are such devastating crop pests that major control and eradication programs have been developed in various parts of the world to combat them. The array of control methods includes insecticide sprays to foliage and soil, bait-sprays, male annihilation techniques, releases of sterilized flies and parasitoids, and cultural controls. During the twenty first century there has been a trend to move away from control with organophosphate insecticides (e.g., malathion, diazinon, and naled) and towards reduced risk insecticide treatments. In this article we present an overview of 73 pest species in the genus Bactrocera, examine recent developments of reduced risk technologies for their control and explore Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Programs that integrate multiple components to manage these pests in tropical and sub-tropical areas. PMID:26463186

A liquid larval diet for rearing Bactrocera invadens and Ceratitis fasciventris (Diptera:Tephritidae)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta & White and Ceratitis fasciventris (Bezzi) are the major fruit fly pests of fruits and vegetables in Africa. The effects of two types of larval diet, liquid and solid (carrot based), on various quality control parameters (pupal recovery, pupal weight, adult emergenc...

Host susceptibility of citrus cultivars to Queensland fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Lloyd, A C; Hamacek, E L; Smith, D; Kopittke, R A; Gu, H

2013-04-01

Citrus crops are considered to be relatively poor hosts for Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt), as for other tephritid species. Australian citrus growers and crop consultants have reported observable differences in susceptibility of different citrus cultivars under commercial growing conditions. In this study we conducted laboratory tests and field surveys to determine susceptibility to B. tryoni of six citrus cultivars [(Eureka lemon (Citrus limon (L.) Osbeck); Navel and Valencia oranges (C. sinensis (L.) Osbeck); and Imperial, Ellendale, and Murcott mandarins (C. reticulata Blanco). The host susceptibility of these citrus cultivars was quantified by a Host Susceptibility Index, which is defined as the number of adult flies produced per gram of fruit infested at a calculated rate of one egg per gram of fruit. The HSI was ranked as Murcott (0.083) > Imperial (0.052) > Navel (0.026) - Ellendale (0.020) > Valencia (0.008) > Eureka (yellow) (0.002) > Eureka (green) (0). Results of the laboratory study were in agreement with the level of field infestation in the four citrus cultivars (Eureka lemon, Imperial, Ellendale, and Murcott mandarins) that were surveyed from commercial orchards under baiting treatments against fruit flies in the Central Burnett district of Queensland. Field surveys of citrus hosts from the habitats not subject to fruit fly management showed that the numbers of fruit flies produced per gram of fruit were much lower, compared with the more susceptible noncitrus hosts, such as guava (Psidium guajava L.), cherry guava (P. littorale Raddi), mulberry (Morus nigra L.), loquat (Eriobotrya japonica (Thunb.) Lindl.), and pear (Pyrus communis L.). Therefore, the major citrus crops commercially cultivated in Australia have a relatively low susceptibility to B. tryoni, with Eureka lemons being a particularly poor host for this tephritid fruit fly.

The draft genome of the pest tephritid fruit fly Bactrocera tryoni: resources for the genomic analysis of hybridising species.

PubMed

Gilchrist, Anthony Stuart; Shearman, Deborah C A; Frommer, Marianne; Raphael, Kathryn A; Deshpande, Nandan P; Wilkins, Marc R; Sherwin, William B; Sved, John A

2014-12-20

The tephritid fruit flies include a number of economically important pests of horticulture, with a large accumulated body of research on their biology and control. Amongst the Tephritidae, the genus Bactrocera, containing over 400 species, presents various species groups of potential utility for genetic studies of speciation, behaviour or pest control. In Australia, there exists a triad of closely-related, sympatric Bactrocera species which do not mate in the wild but which, despite distinct morphologies and behaviours, can be force-mated in the laboratory to produce fertile hybrid offspring. To exploit the opportunities offered by genomics, such as the efficient identification of genetic loci central to pest behaviour and to the earliest stages of speciation, investigators require genomic resources for future investigations. We produced a draft de novo genome assembly of Australia's major tephritid pest species, Bactrocera tryoni. The male genome (650-700 Mbp) includes approximately 150 Mb of interspersed repetitive DNA sequences and 60 Mb of satellite DNA. Assessment using conserved core eukaryotic sequences indicated 98% completeness. Over 16,000 MAKER-derived gene models showed a large degree of overlap with other Dipteran reference genomes. The sequence of the ribosomal RNA transcribed unit was also determined. Unscaffolded assemblies of B. neohumeralis and B. jarvisi were then produced; comparison with B. tryoni showed that the species are more closely related than any Drosophila species pair. The similarity of the genomes was exploited to identify 4924 potentially diagnostic indels between the species, all of which occur in non-coding regions. This first draft B. tryoni genome resembles other dipteran genomes in terms of size and putative coding sequences. For all three species included in this study, we have identified a comprehensive set of non-redundant repetitive sequences, including the ribosomal RNA unit, and have quantified the major satellite DNA

Dietary lufenuron reduces egg hatch and influences protein expression in the fruit fly Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel).

PubMed

Chang, Chiou Ling; Geib, Scott; Cho, Il Kyu; Li, Qing X; Stanley, David

2014-08-01

Lufenuron (LFN), a chitin synthase inhibitor, impacts the fertility of Ceratitis capitata, Bactrocera dorsalis, B. cucurbitae, and B. latifrons. We posed the hypothesis that LFN curtails egg hatch in the solanaceous fruit fly, B. latifrons. In this study, newly emerged virgin adults were sexed and fed for 12 days with varying concentrations of LFN-laced agar diets until sexual maturation. Eggs were collected from 12-d-old adults and the egg hatch was assessed. Egg hatch decreased in adults reared on LFN-treated diets. LFN-treated media did not influence fertility after one gender was reared on experimental and the other on control media before mating. Exposure to LFN-treated medium after mating led to reduced egg hatch. We infer that LFN is not a permanent sterilant, and reduced egg hatch depends on continuous exposure to dietary LFN after mating. Proteomic analysis identified two differentially expressed proteins, a pheromone binding protein and a chitin binding protein, between adults maintained on LFN-treated and control diets. Expression of two genes encoding chitin synthase 2, and chitin binding protein, was altered in adults exposed to dietary LFN. LFN treatments also led to increased expression of two odorant binding proteins one in females and one in males. We surmise these data support our hypothesis and provide insight into LFN actions. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A preliminary account of the fruit fly fauna of Timor-Leste (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacinae).

PubMed

Bellis, Glenn A; Brito, Americo A; Jesus, Hipolito DE; Quintao, Valente; Sarmento, Joaquim C; Bere, Apolinario; Rodrigues, João; Hancock, David L

2017-12-05

Opportunistic monitoring using baited fruit fly traps throughout Timor-Leste revealed the presence of 16 species of Bactrocera and one species of Dacus, all of which are previously reported from the region. Sampling of a range of commercial fruit species detected an additional species, B. latifrons, and revealed that nine species are attacking commercial fruits and vegetables. A key for separating these species is provided. New host records were found for B. minuscula, B. floresiae and B. bellisi. Variation in the morphology of B. minuscula, B. floresiae and an undescribed species and within B. albistrigata confounded attempts at accurate identification of some specimens.

Pre-Release Consumption of Methyl Eugenol Increases the Mating Competitiveness of Sterile Males of the Oriental Fruit Fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, in Large Field Enclosures

PubMed Central

Shelly, Todd E.; Edu, James; McInnis, Donald

2010-01-01

The sterile insect technique may be implemented to control populations of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae), when environmental concerns preclude widespread use of chemical attractants or toxicants. The goal of the present study was to evaluate whether the mating competitiveness of sterile B. dorsalis males could be increased via pre-release feeding on methyl eugenol. Males of the oriental fruit fly are strongly attracted to this plant-borne compound, which they ingest and use in the synthesis of the sex pheromone. Previous studies conducted in the laboratory and small field-cages have shown that males given methyl eugenol produce a more attractive pheromone for females and have a higher mating success rate than males denied methyl eugenol. Here, levels of egg sterility were compared following the release of wild-like flies and either methyl eugenol-fed (treated) or methyl eugenol-deprived (control) sterile males in large field enclosures at four over flooding ratios ranging from 5:1 to 60:1 (sterile: wild-like males). Treated sterile males were fed methyl eugenol for 1–4 h (depending on the over flooding ratio tested) 3 d prior to release. Eggs were dissected from introduced fruits (apples), incubated in the laboratory, and scored for hatch rate. The effect of methyl eugenol was most pronounced at lower over flooding ratios. At the 5:1 and 10:1 over flooding ratios, the level of egg sterility observed for treated, sterile males was significantly greater than that observed for control, sterile males. In addition, the incidence of egg sterility reported for treated sterile males at these lower over flooding ratios was similar to that noted for treated or control sterile males at the 30:1 or 60:1 over flooding ratios. This latter result, in particular, suggests that pre-release feeding on methyl eugenol allows for a reduction in the number of sterile flies that are produced and released, thus increasing the cost

Biological control of olive fruit fly in California – release, establishment and impact of Psyttalia lounsburyi and Psyttalia humilis

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The invasive olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae) likely originated in sub-Saharan Africa, where the wild olive Olea europaea cuspidata L. (Wall. ex G. Don) is found and from which the domesticated olive O. europaea europaea L. was derived. Following the path of olive cult...

DNA barcode variability and host plant usage of fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Thailand.

PubMed

Kunprom, Chonticha; Pramual, Pairot

2016-10-01

The objectives of this study were to examine the genetic variation in fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Thailand and to test the efficiency of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) barcoding region for species-level identification. Twelve fruit fly species were collected from 24 host plant species of 13 families. The number of host plant species for each fruit fly species ranged between 1 and 11, with Bactrocera correcta found in the most diverse host plants. A total of 123 COI sequences were obtained from these fruit fly species. Sequences from the NCBI database were also included, for a total of 17 species analyzed. DNA barcoding identification analysis based on the best close match method revealed a good performance, with 94.4% of specimens correctly identified. However, many specimens (3.6%) had ambiguous identification, mostly due to intra- and interspecific overlap between members of the B. dorsalis complex. A phylogenetic tree based on the mitochondrial barcode sequences indicated that all species, except for the members of the B. dorsalis complex, were monophyletic with strong support. Our work supports recent calls for synonymization of these species. Divergent lineages were observed within B. correcta and B. tuberculata, and this suggested that these species need further taxonomic reexamination.

Effects of an African weaver ant, Oecophylla longinoda, in controlling mango fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Benin.

PubMed

Van Mele, Paul; Vayssières, Jean-François; Van Tellingen, Esther; Vrolijks, Jan

2007-06-01

Six mango, Mangifera indica L., plantations around Parakou, northern Benin, were sampled at 2-wk intervals for fruit fly damage from early April to late May in 2005. Mean damage ranged from 1 to 24% with a weaver ant, Oecophylla longinoda (Latreille), being either abundant or absent. The fruit fly complex is made up of Ceratitis spp. and Bactrocera invadens Drew et al., a new invasive species in West Africa. In 2006, Ceratitis spp. peaked twice in the late dry season in early April and early May, whereas B. invadens populations quickly increased at the onset of the rains, from mid-May onward. Exclusion experiments conducted in 2006 with 'Eldon', 'Kent', and 'Gouverneur' confirmed that at high ant abundance levels, Oecophylla significantly reduced fruit fly infestation. Although fruit fly control methods are still at an experimental stage in this part of the world, farmers who tolerated weaver ants in their orchard were rewarded by significantly better fruit quality. Conservation biological control with predatory ants such as Oecophylla in high-value tree crops has great potential for African and Asian farmers. Implications for international research for development at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research level are discussed.

Effects of plant lectin from cobra lily, Arisaema curvatum Kunth on development of melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coq.).

PubMed

Singh, Kuljinder; Kaur, Manpreet; Rup, Pushpinder J; Singh, Jatinder

2008-11-01

The lectin from tubers of cobra lily, Arisaema curvatum Kunth was purified by affinity chromatography using asialofetuin-linked amino activated porous silica beads. The concentration dependent effect of lectin was studied on second instar larvae (64-72 hr) of Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coq.). The treatment not only resulted in a significant reduction in the percentage pupation and emergence of the adults from treated larvae but it also prolonged the remaining larval development period. A very low LC50 value, 39 mgl(-1) of lectin was obtained on the basis of adult emergence using probit analysis. The activity of three hydrolase enzymes (esterases, acid and alkaline phosphatases), one oxidoreductase (catalase) and one group transfer enzyme (GSTs: Glutathione S-transferases) was assayed in second instar larvae under the influence of the LC50 of lectin at increasing exposure intervals (0, 24, 48 and 72 hr). The Arisaema curvatum lectin significantly decreased the activity of all the enzymes except for esterases, where the activity increased as compared to control at all exposure intervals. The decrease in pupation and emergence as well as significant suppression in the activities of two hydrolases, one oxidoreductase and one GST enzyme in treated larvae of B. cucurbitae indicated that this lectin has anti-metabolic effect on the melon fruit fly larvae.

Status of Bactrocera invadens (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Mango-Producing Areas of Arba Minch, Southwestern Ethiopia

PubMed Central

Massebo, Fekadu; Tefera, Zenebe

2015-01-01

Bactrocera invadens, the Asian fruit fly, was first reported in Kenya in 2003, and it spread fast to most tropical countries in Africa. To our knowledge, there is no detailed data on the fruit damage and status of fruit flies in Arba Minch and elsewhere in Ethiopia. Hence, information on the species composition and pest status of the fruit fly species is urgent to plan management strategies in the area. Fruit flies were captured using male parapheromone-baited traps. Matured mango (Mangifera indica) fruits were collected from randomly selected mango trees and incubated individually in cages (15 by 15 by 15 cm) with sandy soil. B. invadens was the predominant (96%; 952 of 992) captured species and the only fruit fly species emerging from mango fruits incubated in the laboratory. The mean number of adult B. invadens emerging per mango fruit was 35.25, indicating that the species is the most devastating mango fruit fly in the area. The loss due to this species would be serious if no management strategies are implemented. PMID:25612742

Attraction and consumption of methyl eugenol by male Bactrocera umbrosa Fabricius (Diptera: Tephritidae) promotes conspecific sexual communication and mating performance.

PubMed

Wee, S L; Abdul Munir, M Z; Hee, A K W

2018-02-01

The Artocarpus fruit fly, Bactrocera umbrosa (Fabricius) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is an oligophagous fruit pest infesting Moraceae fruits, including jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lamarck), a fruit commodity of high value in Malaysia. The scarcity of fundamental biological, physiological and ecological information on this pest, particularly in relation to behavioural response to phytochemical lures, which are instrumental to the success of many area-wide fruit fly control and management programmes, underpins the need for studies on this much-underrated pest. The positive response of B. umbrosa males to methyl eugenol (ME), a highly potent phytochemical lure, which attracts mainly males of many Bactrocera species, was shown to increase with increasing age. As early as 7 days after emergence (DAE), ca. 22% of males had responded to ME and over 50% by 10 DAE, despite no occurrence of matings (i.e. the males were still sexually immature). Male attraction to ME peaked from 10 to 27 DAE, which corresponded with the flies' attainment of sexual maturity. In wind-tunnel assays during the dusk courtship period, ME-fed males exhibited earlier calling activity and attracted a significantly higher percentage of virgin females compared with ME-deprived males. ME-fed males enjoyed a higher mating success than ME-deprived males at 1-day post ME feeding in semi-field assays. ME consumption also promotes aggregation behaviour in B. umbrosa males, as demonstrated in wind-tunnel and semi-field assays. We suggest that ME plays a prominent role in promoting sexual communication and enhancing mating performance of the Artocarpus fruit fly, a finding that is congruent with previous reports on the consequences of ME acquisition by other economically important Bactrocera species.

Host plants of Solanum fruit fly, Bactrocera latifrons(Hendel)(Diptera: Tephritidae); and provisional list of suitable host plants of Bactrocera(Bactrocera)latifrons(Hendel)(Diptera: Tephritidae), Version 1.0

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel)(Diptera: Tephritidae) infests many solanaceous plant species, some of which are important horticultural crop species. It has also been found to infest a number of cucurbitaceous plant species as well as a few plant species in other plant families. Bactrocera latifrons i...

Determination of Opiinae parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) associated with crop infesting Bactrocera spp. (Diptera: Tephritidae) using COI and Cyt b sequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shariff, Safiah; Yaakop, Salmah; Zain, Badrul Munir Md.

2013-11-01

Members of the Opiinae subfamily (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) are well known as important parasitoids of fruit fly larvae (Diptera: Tephritidae). They are widely used as biological control agents of fruit flies, especially the Bactrocera Macquart species that infest fruits. In this study, the larvae of fruit flies were collected from infested crops including star fruit, guava, wax apple and ridge gourd. The parasitized larvae were then reared under laboratory conditions until emergence of the adult parasitoids. Additionally, Malaise trap also was used to collect parasitoid species. The general concept of the multiplex PCR has been performed is to amplify two mitochondrial DNA markers, namely cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and cytochrome b (Cyt b) simultaneously. Therefore, the lengthy process of reaction will be reduced. The status of the fruit fly species has also been confirmed by using COI marker on the early stage of the larvae. Maximum parsimony (MP) and Bayesian Inference (BI) were implemented to help and support the identification of Opiinae species. The result obtained from this study showed three parasitoid genera of the Opiinae viz. Fopius Wharton, Psyttalia Walker and Diachasmimorpha Viereck. Each genus has been determined by clustering together in a similar clade according to their infested crops. Therefore, accurate determination of parasitoids and the fruit fries species was highly useful and necessary for successful biological control of Bactrocera species.

The responsiveness of Bactrocera jarvisi (Diptera: Tephritidae) to two naturally occurring phenylbutaonids, zingerone and raspberry ketone.

PubMed

Wee, Suk-Ling; Peek, Thelma; Clarke, Anthony R

2018-06-08

The males of different species of Bactrocera and Zeugodacus fruit flies are commonly attracted to plant-derived phenylpropanoids (e.g. methyl eugenol (ME)) or phenylbutanoids (e.g. raspberry ketone (RK)) but almost never to both. However, one particular plant-derived phenylbutanoid, zingerone (ZN), which possesses an intermediate chemical structure between ME and RK, weakly attracts both ME- and RK-responding fruit fly species. Bactrocera jarvisi, an Australian fruit fly species, is weakly attracted to cue lure (an analogue of RK) but strongly attracted to ZN. Here, we investigated the minimum olfactory threshold and optimum sensitivity of B. jarvisi males to ZN and RK as a function of dose, time and sexual maturation. Our results show that B. jarvisi males had a marked preferential response to ZN, with a much lower olfactory threshold and faster response time to ZN than RK. Probit analysis demonstrated that ZN was at least >1600× more potent than RK as a male attractant to B. jarvisi. Although fruit fly male attraction to the phytochemicals is generally associated with sexual maturity, in B. jarvisi immature males were also attracted to ZN. Our results suggest that B. jarvisi males have a fine-tuned olfactory response to ZN, which appears to play a central role in the chemical ecology of this species. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Release and Establishment of the Parasitoid Diachasmimorpha kraussii Against the Tephritid Fruit Fly Bactrocera latifrons in Hawaii

PubMed Central

Bokonon-Ganta, Aimé H.; McQuate, Grant T.; Messing, Russell H.; B. Jang, Eric

2013-01-01

Diachasmimorpha kraussii (Fullaway) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) was first released against Bactrocera latifrons (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Hawaii in March 2003. Over a three month period, eight releases, totaling 7,696 females and 3,968 males, were made in a turkeyberry, Solanum torvum Swartz (Solanales: Solanaceae) patch known to have a well established B. latifrons population. The establishment of D. kraussii was assessed through fruit collections conducted over a three-year period beyond the last release. D. kraussii was recovered 2 weeks, 31 months, and 39 months after the last parasitoid release, with collections not only from the release site, but also from a control site about 5.0 km distance from the release site. Recovery from fruit collections three years after the last parasitoid release confirmed that D. kraussii had become established in Hawaii. Parasitism rates were low, only 1.0–1.4%, compared to rates of 2.8–8.7% for the earlier established egg-larval parasitoid, Fopius arisanus (Sonan). PMID:23879328

Gamma Irradiation as a Phytosanitary Treatment of Bactrocera tau (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Pumpkin Fruits.

PubMed

Guoping, Zhan; Lili, Ren; Ying, Shao; Qiaoling, Wang; Daojian, Yu; Yuejin, Wang; Tianxiu, Li

2015-02-01

The fruit fly Bactrocera tau (Walker) is an important quarantine pest that damages fruits and vegetables throughout Asian regions. Host commodities shipped from infested areas should undergo phytosanitary measures to reduce the risk of shipping viable flies. The dose-response tests with 1-d-old eggs and 3-, 5-, 7-, 8-d-old larvae were initiated to determine the most resistant stages in fruits, and the minimum dose for 99.9968% prevention of adult eclosion at 95% confidence level was validated in the confirmatory tests. The results showed that 1) the pupariation rate was not affected by gamma radiation except for eggs and first instars, while the percent of eclosion was reduced significantly in all instars at all radiation dose; 2) the tolerance to radiation increased with increasing age and developmental stage; 3) the estimated dose to 99.9968% preventing adult eclosion from late third instars was 70.9 Gy (95% CL: 65.6-78.2, probit model) and 71.8 Gy (95% CL: 63.0-87.3, logit model); and iv) in total, 107,135 late third instars cage infested in pumpkin fruits were irradiated at the target dose of 70 Gy (62.5-85.0, Gy measured), which resulted in no adult emergence in the two confirmatory tests. Therefore, a minimum dose of 85 and 72 Gy, which could prevent adult emergence at the efficacy of 99.9972 and 99.9938% at the 95% confidence level, respectively, can be recommended as a minimum dose for phytosanitary treatment of B. tau in any host fruits and vegetables under ambient atmospheres. © The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The transformer2 gene of the pumpkin fruit fly, Bactrocera tau (Walker), functions in sex determination, male fertility and testis development.

PubMed

Thongsaiklaing, Thanaset; Nipitwattanaphon, Mingkwan; Ngernsiri, Lertluk

2018-06-22

The insect transformer2 (tra2) gene has a prevalent role in cooperating with the sex determining gene transformer (tra) to direct female differentiation. Here, we report the identification and characterization of Btau-tra2, the tra2 ortholog of the pumpkin fruit fly, Bactrocera tau, an invasive agricultural pest. The Btau-tra2 gene produces three transcript variants. However, only two transcripts can be examined; one is present at all developmental stages in the soma and germline of both sexes and the other one is specific to embryo and the germline. Knocking down the function of Btau-tra2 produced a male biased sex ratio and some intersexes. Consistent with a role in sex determination, the obtained intersexual and male sterility phenotypes express a mix of male and female splice variants of the tra and doublesex (dsx) orthologs, indicating that Btau-tra2 has a conserved splicing regulatory function and acts together/upstream of tra and dsx. In addition, some males obtained from the knock down are fertile but their fertilities are extremely reduced. Moreover, almost all surviving RNAi males harbor testes having some defects in their external morphologies. Most notably, the body size of a few surviving RNAi flies was two to three folds increased with respect to the normal size. Our findings suggest that Btua-tra2 is involved in male fertility and may also have an unprecedented role in body size control besides its conserved role in sex determination. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. © 2018 The Royal Entomological Society.

Molecular characterization of pyrethroid resistance in the olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae.

PubMed

Pavlidi, Nena; Kampouraki, Anastasia; Tseliou, Vasilis; Wybouw, Nicky; Dermauw, Wannes; Roditakis, Emmanouil; Nauen, Ralf; Van Leeuwen, Thomas; Vontas, John

2018-06-01

Α reduction of pyrethroid efficacy has been recently recorded in Bactrocera oleae, the most destructive insect of olives. The resistance levels of field populations collected from Crete-Greece scaled up to 22-folds, compared to reference laboratory strains. Sequence analysis of the IIS4-IIS6 region of para sodium channel gene in a large number of resistant flies indicated that resistance may not be associated with target site mutations, in line with previous studies in other Tephritidae species. We analyzed the transcriptomic differences between two resistant populations versus an almost susceptible field population and two laboratory strains. A large number of genes was found to be significantly differentially transcribed across the pairwise comparisons. Interestingly, gene set analysis revealed that genes of the 'electron carrier activity' GO group were enriched in one specific comparison, which might suggest a P450-mediated resistance mechanism. The up-regulation of several transcripts encoding detoxification enzymes was qPCR validated, focusing on transcripts coding for P450s. Of note, the expression of contig00436 and contig02103, encoding CYP6 P450s, was significantly higher in all resistant populations, compared to susceptible ones. These results suggest that an increase in the amount of the CYP6 P450s might be an important mechanism of pyrethroid resistance in B. oleae. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) method for non-model fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) and evidence of histone modifications.

PubMed

Nagalingam, Kumaran; Lorenc, Michał T; Manoli, Sahana; Cameron, Stephen L; Clarke, Anthony R; Dudley, Kevin J

2018-01-01

Interactions between DNA and proteins located in the cell nucleus play an important role in controlling physiological processes by specifying, augmenting and regulating context-specific transcription events. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a widely used methodology to study DNA-protein interactions and has been successfully used in various cell types for over three decades. More recently, by combining ChIP with genomic screening technologies and Next Generation Sequencing (e.g. ChIP-seq), it has become possible to profile DNA-protein interactions (including covalent histone modifications) across entire genomes. However, the applicability of ChIP-chip and ChIP-seq has rarely been extended to non-model species because of a number of technical challenges. Here we report a method that can be used to identify genome wide covalent histone modifications in a group of non-model fruit fly species (Diptera: Tephritidae). The method was developed by testing and refining protocols that have been used in model organisms, including Drosophila melanogaster. We demonstrate that this method is suitable for a group of economically important pest fruit fly species, viz., Bactrocera dorsalis, Ceratitis capitata, Zeugodacus cucurbitae and Bactrocera tryoni. We also report an example ChIP-seq dataset for B. tryoni, providing evidence for histone modifications in the genome of a tephritid fruit fly for the first time. Since tephritids are major agricultural pests globally, this methodology will be a valuable resource to study taxa-specific evolutionary questions and to assist with pest management. It also provides a basis for researchers working with other non-model species to undertake genome wide DNA-protein interaction studies.

Psyttalia cf. concolor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) for biological control of olive fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) in California.

PubMed

Yokoyama, Victoria Y; Rendón, Pedro A; Sivinski, John

2008-06-01

The larval parasitoid, Psyttalia cf. concolor (Szépligeti), reared on Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Weidemann), by the USDA-APHIS-PPQ, Guatemala City, Guatemala, was imported into California for biological control of olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Gmelin), in olives, Olea europaea L. Mean percentage parasitism of olive fruit fly third instars infesting fruit in field cages ranged from 7.0 in Grapevine to 59.7 in Santa Barbara and in free releases ranged from 0 in Grapevine to 10.6 in Santa Barbara after 4- to 6-d exposures. In the laboratory, more parasitoids developed to adults in olive fruit fly larvae that were 11-13 d old than in larvae 8-10 d old. Adult parasitoids lived significantly longer when provided with water than adults without water in environmental chambers at 5 degrees C, 85% RH; 15 degrees C, 65% RH; 25 degrees C, 25% RH; and 35 degrees C, 25% RH. Adult parasitoids lived for 48 d with honey for food and water and 32 d with food and sugar solution at 15 degrees C and 65% RH. Survival of adult parasitoids without food and water in greenhouse tests was approximately 4 d in a simulated coastal climate and 1 d in a simulated inland valley climate and was significantly increased by providing food and water. The parasitoid did not develop in the beneficial seedhead fly, Chaetorellia succinea (Costa), in yellow star thistle. The rate of parasitism of walnut husk fly, Rhagoletis completa Cresson, larvae in green walnut husks was 28.4% in laboratory no-choice tests. In choice tests, the rate of parasitism of walnut husk fly versus olive fruit fly larvae in olives was 11.5 and 24.2%, respectively.

Evaluation of Low-Temperature Phosphine Fumigation for Control of Oriental Fruit Fly in Loquat Fruit.

PubMed

Liu, Tao; Li, Li; Li, Baishu; Zhan, Guoping; Wang, Yuejin

2018-05-28

Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel; Diptera: Tephritidae), is recognized as a quarantine pest and a threat to Chinese loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) fruit exports. Since loquat fruit is very sensitive to methyl bromide (MB) fumigation and cold treatment, in this study, low-temperature phosphine (PH3) fumigation was investigated to develop an alternative phytosanitary treatment method. Tolerance tests showed that the third instar was the most tolerant of all life stages of B dorsalis to PH3 gas at 8°C. Toxicity assay with 500-3000 ppm PH3 and subsequent probit analysis showed that 2000 ppm PH3 was optimal for fumigation and 152.75 h of treatment duration were required to achieve 99.9968% mortality. In the verification test, 144 and 168 h of treatment duration with 2000 ppm PH3 completely killed 35,277 and 35,134 B. dorsalis third instars, respectively. However, 13 live larvae were found after 120 h of treatment. Furthermore, these treatments reduced fruit respiration rates while causing no adverse effects on other fruit quality parameters, including firmness, soluble solid content, and titratable acidity over 192 h storage at 8°C. The results strongly suggest that low-temperature PH3 fumigation could be used for the postharvest control of B. dorsalis in loquat fruit.

Effects of aging and dilution on attraction and toxicity of GF-120 fruit fly bait spray for melon fly control in Hawaii.

PubMed

Revis, Hannah C; Miller, Neil W; Vargas, Roger I

2004-10-01

Attractiveness and toxicity of GF-120 Fruit Fly Bait (Dow AgroScience Indianapolis, IN) to melon flies, Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillett, were examined to assess the effects of concentration and aging. We tested dilutions of 20, 40, and 80 ppm (AI) (spinosad) against water controls. The 80 and 40 ppm treatments were significantly more attractive than the 20 ppm and control treatments. Attraction was compared between baits aged for 2 and 24 h, fresh bait and water controls. Age had significant effects on both attractiveness and toxicity of GF-120. Baits aged for 2 h were 11 times less attractive to female melon flies than fresh bait. Mortality rates were reduced by 50% when GF-120 was subjected to rain. Our results suggest the need for frequent applications of GF-120 to obtain maximum benefits, particularly in wet tropical climates.

Survivorship of male and female Bactrocera dorsalis in the field and the effect of male annihilation technique

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Male Annihilation Technique (MAT) is a key component of the Oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel (Diptera: Tephritidae) management because of the “strong” attraction of males to the lure methyl eugenol. The optimal application density for MAT has not been investigated for this economically ...

Effects of indian coral tree, Erythrina indica lectin on eggs and larval development of melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae.

PubMed

Singh, Kuljinder; Kaur, Manpreet; Rup, Pushpinder J; Singh, Jatinder

2009-07-01

Present study was undertaken to investigate the influence of D-galactose binding lectin from Erythrina indica Lam. on the eggs and second instar larvae (64-72 hr) of melon fruit fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett). The lectin from E. indica seeds was extracted and purified by affinity chromatography using asilofetuin linked porous amino activated silica beads. The effects of various concentrations (0, 125, 250, 500 and 1000 microg ml(-1)) of lectin were studied on freshly laid eggs (0-8 hr) of B. cucurbitae which showed non-significant reduction in percent hatching of eggs. However, the treatment of second instar larvae (64-72 hr) with various test concentrations (0, 25, 50, 100 and 200 microg ml(-1)) of lectin significantly reduced the percent pupation and percent emergence of B. cucurbitae depicting a negative correlation with the lectin concentration. The LC50 (81 microg ml(-1)) treatment significantly decreased the pupal weight. Moreover, the treatment of larvae had also induced a significant increase in the remaining development duration. The activity of three hydrolase enzymes (esterases, acid and alkaline phosphatases), one oxidoreductase (catalase) and one group transfer enzyme (glutathione S-transferases) was assayed in second instar larvae under the influence of LC50 concentration of lectin for three exposure intervals (24, 48 and 72 hr). It significantly suppressed the activity of all the enzymes after all the three exposure intervals except for esterases which increased significantly.

Spatial dynamics of two oriental fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) parasitoids, Fopius arisanus and Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), in a Guava orchard in Hawaii.

PubMed

Vargas, Roger I; Stark, John D; Banks, John; Leblanc, Luc; Manoukis, Nicholas C; Peck, Steven

2013-10-01

We examined spatial patterns of both sexes of oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), and its two most abundant parasitoids, Fopius arisanus (Sonan) and Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead) in a commercial guava (Psidium guajava L.) orchard. Oriental fruit fly spatial patterns were initially random, but became highly aggregated with host fruit ripening and the subsequent colonization of, first, F. arisanus (egg-pupal parasitoid) and, second, D. longicaudata (larval-pupal parasitoid). There was a significant positive relationship between populations of oriental fruit fly and F. arisanus during each of the F. arisanus increases, a pattern not exhibited between oriental fruit fly and D. longicaudata. Generally, highest total numbers of males and females (oriental fruit fly, F. arisanus, and D. longicaudata) occurred on or about the same date. There was a significant positive correlation between male and female populations of all three species; we measured a lag of 2-4 wk between increases of female F. arisanus and conspecific males. There was a similar trend in one of the two years for the second most abundant species, D. longicaudata, but no sign of a time lag between the sexes for oriental fruit fly. Spatially, we found a significant positive relationship between numbers of F. arisanus in blocks and the average number in adjoining blocks. We did not find the same effect for oriental fruit fly and D. longicaudata, possibly a result of lower overall numbers of the latter two species or less movement of F. arisanus within the field.

Efficacy of Chemicals for the Potential Management of the Queensland Fruit Fly Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Reynolds, Olivia L.; Osborne, Terrence J.; Barchia, Idris

2017-01-01

This study investigated alternative in-field chemical controls against Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt). Bioassay 1 tested the mortality of adults exposed to fruit and filter paper dipped in insecticide, and the topical application of insecticide to adults/fruit. Bioassay 2 measured the mortality of adults permitted to oviposit on fruit dipped in insecticide and aged 0, 1, 3, or 5 days, plus the production of offspring. Bioassay 3 tested infested fruit sprayed with insecticide. The field bioassay trialed the mortality of adults exposed to one- and five-day insecticide residues on peaches, and subsequent offspring. Abamectin, alpha-cypermethrin, clothianidin, dimethoate (half-label rate), emamectin benzoate, fenthion (half- and full-label rate), and trichlorfon were the most efficacious in bioassay 1, across 18 tested insecticide treatments. Overall, the LT50 value was lowest for fenthion (full-label rate), clothianidin, and alpha-cypermethrin. Fenthion, emamectin benzoate, and abamectin had the greatest effect on adult mortality and offspring production. Infested fruit treated with acetamiprid, fenthion, and thiacloprid produced no/very few offspring. Alpha-cypermethrin demonstrated good field efficacy against adults (one day post treatment: 97.2% mortality, five day post treatment: 98.8% mortality) and subsequent offspring (100% across one and five day post treatments), comparable to that of fenthion (full-label rate) (100% mortality for offspring and adults across both post treatments). Alpha-cypermethrin is a possible alternative to fenthion against B. tryoni; as a pyrethroid, it may not be desirable if adjunct biological control is imperative. Thiacloprid and Acetamiprid may be useful as a post-harvest treatment. PMID:28486404

Recent advances in methyl eugenol and cue-lure technologies for fruit fly detection, monitoring, and control in Hawaii.

PubMed

Vargas, Roger I; Shelly, Todd E; Leblanc, Luc; Piñero, Jaime C

2010-01-01

Worldwide, an important aspect of invasive insect pest management is more effective, safer detection and control systems. Phenyl propanoids are attractive to numerous species of Dacinae fruit flies. Methyl eugenol (ME) (4-allyl-1, 2-dimethoxybenzene-carboxylate), cue-lure (C-L) (4-(p-acetoxyphenyl)-2-butanone), and raspberry ketone (RK) (4-(p-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butanone) are powerful male-specific lures. Most evidence suggests a role of ME and C-L/RK in pheromone synthesis and mate attraction. ME and C-L/RK are used in current fruit fly programs for detection, monitoring, and control. During the Hawaii Area-Wide Pest Management Program in the interest of worker safety and convenience, liquid C-L/ME and insecticide (i.e., naled and malathion) mixtures were replaced with solid lures and insecticides. Similarly, Male Annihilation Technique (MAT) with a sprayable Specialized Pheromone and Lure Application Technology (SPLAT), in combination with ME (against Bactrocera dorsalis, oriental fruit fly) or C-L/RK (against B. cucurbitae, melon fly), and the reduced-risk insecticide, spinosad, was developed for area-wide suppression of fruit flies. The nontarget effects of ME and C-L/RK to native invertebrates were examined. Although weak attractiveness was recorded to flower-visiting insects, including bees and syrphid flies, by ME, effects to native Drosophila and other Hawaiian endemics were found to be minimal. These results suggested that the majority of previously published records, including those of endemic Drosophilidae, were actually for attraction to dead flies inside fruit fly traps. Endemic insect attraction was not an issue with C-L/RK, because B. cucurbitae were rarely found in endemic environments. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Eradication of tephritid fruit fly pest populations: outcomes and prospects.

PubMed

Suckling, David Maxwell; Kean, John M; Stringer, Lloyd D; Cáceres-Barrios, Carlos; Hendrichs, Jorge; Reyes-Flores, Jesus; Dominiak, Bernard C

2016-03-01

The number of insect eradication programmes is rising in response to globalisation. A database of arthropod and plant pathogen eradications covers 1050 incursion responses, with 928 eradication programmes on 299 pest and disease taxa in 104 countries (global eradication database b3.net.nz/gerda). A subset of the database was assembled with 211 eradication or response programmes against 17 species of fruit flies (Tephritidae) in 31 countries, in order to investigate factors affecting the outcome. The failure rate for fruit fly eradication programmes was about 7%, with 0% for Ceratitis capitata (n = 85 programmes) and 0% for two Anastrepha species (n = 12 programmes), but 12% for 13 Bactrocera species (n = 108 programmes). A number of intended eradication programmes against long-established populations were not initiated because of cost and other considerations, or evolved during the planning phase into suppression programmes. Cost was dependent on area, ranged from $US 0.1 million to $US 240 million and averaged about $US 12 million (normalised to $US in 2012). In addition to the routine use of surveillance networks, quarantine and fruit destruction, the key tactics used in eradication programmes were male annihilation, protein bait sprays (which can attract both sexes), fruit destruction and the sterile insect technique. Eradication success generally required the combination of several tactics applied on an area-wide basis. Because the likelihood of eradication declines with an increase in the area infested, it pays to invest in effective surveillance networks that allow early detection and delimitation while invading populations are small, thereby greatly favouring eradication success. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.

Suppression of cuelure attraction in male Queensland fruit flies provided raspberry ketone supplements as immature adults

PubMed Central

Akter, Humayra; Adnan, Saleh; Morelli, Renata; Taylor, Phillip W.

2017-01-01

Tephritid fruit flies are amongst the most damaging insect pests of horticulture globally. Some of the key fruit fly species are managed using the sterile insect technique (SIT), whereby millions of sterile males are released to suppress reproduction of pest populations. Male annihilation technique (MAT), whereby sex specific lures are used to attract and kill males, is often used to reduce wild male numbers before SIT programs commence, providing released sterile males an increased numerical advantage. Overall program efficacy might be improved if MAT could be deployed simultaneously with SIT, continuously depleting fertile males from pest populations and replacing them with sterile males. However, such ‘male replacement’ requires a means of suppressing attraction of released sterile males to lures used in MAT. Previous studies have found that exposure of some fruit flies to lure compounds as mature adults can suppress subsequent response to those lures, raising the possibility of pre-release treatments. However, this approach requires holding flies until after maturation for treatment and then release. The present study takes a novel approach of exposing immature adult male Queensland fruit flies (Bactrocera tryoni, or ‘Qfly’) to raspberry ketone (RK) mixed in food, forcing these flies to ingest RK at ages far younger than they would naturally. After feeding on RK-supplemented food for two days after emergence, male Qflies exhibited a reduction in attraction to cuelure traps that lasted more than 20 days. This approach to RK exposure is compatible with current practises, in which Qflies are released as immature adults, and also yields advantages of accelerated reproductive development and increased mating propensity at young ages. PMID:28859132

Managing oriental fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae), with spinosad-based protein bait sprays and sanitation in papaya orchards in Hawaii.

PubMed

Piñero, Jaime C; Mau, Ronald F L; Vargas, Roger I

2009-06-01

The efficacy of GF-120 NF Naturalyte Fruit Fly Bait in combination with field sanitation was assessed as a control for female oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae), in papaya (Carica papaya L.) orchards in Hawaii. Three different bait spray regimes were evaluated: every row (high use of the bait), every fifth row (moderate use), and every 10th row (low use). Orchard plots in which no bait was applied served as controls. For five of the seven biweekly periods that followed the first bait spray, trapping data revealed significantly fewer female B. dorsalis captured in plots subject to high and moderate bait use than in control plots. Differences in incidence of infestation among treatments were detected only by the third (12 wk after first spray) fruit sampling with significantly fewer infested one-fourth to one-half ripe papaya fruit in plots subject to high and moderate bait use than in control plots. Parasitism rates by Fopius arisanus (Sonan) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) were not negatively affected by bait application. Results indicate that foliar applications of GF-120 NF Naturalyte Fruit Fly Bait either to all rows (every other tree), or to every fifth row (every tree) in combination with good sanitation can effectively reduce infestation by B. dorsalis in papaya orchards in Hawaii.

Adipokinetic hormone receptor gene identification and its role in triacylglycerol mobilization and sexual behavior in the oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis).

PubMed

Hou, Qiu-Li; Chen, Er-Hu; Jiang, Hong-Bo; Wei, Dan-Dan; Gui, Shun-Hua; Wang, Jin-Jun; Smagghe, Guy

2017-11-01

Energy homeostasis requires continuous compensation for fluctuations in energy expenditure and availability of food resources. In insects, energy mobilization is under control of the adipokinetic hormone (AKH) where it is regulating the nutritional status by supporting the mobilization of lipids. In this study, we characterized the gene coding for the AKH receptor (AKHR) and investigated its function in the oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis) that is economically one of the most important pest insects of tropical and subtropical fruit. Bacdo-AKHR is a typical G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) and phylogenetic analysis confirmed that Bacdo-AKHR is closely related to insect AKHRs from other species. When expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, Bacdo-AKHR exhibited a high sensitivity and selectivity for AKH peptide (EC 50  = 19.3 nM). Using qPCR, the developmental stage and tissue-specific expression profiles demonstrated that Bacdo-AKHR was highly expressed in both the larval and adult stages, and also specifically in the fat body and midgut of the adult with no difference in sex. To investigate the role of AKHR in B. dorsalis, RNAi assays were performed with dsRNA against Bacdo-AKHR in adult flies of both sexes and under starvation and feeding condition. As major results, the knockdown of this gene resulted in triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation. With RNAi-males, we observed a severe decrease in their sexual courtship activity when starved, but there was a partial rescue in copulation when refed. Also in RNAi-males, the tethered-flight duration declined compared with the control group when starved, which is confirming the dependency on energy metabolism. In RNAi-females, the sexual behavior was not affected, but their fecundity was decreased. Our findings indicate an interesting role of AKHR in the sexual behavior of males specifically. The effects are associated with TAG accumulation, and we also reported that the conserved role of AKH

Complete mitochondrial genome of Bactrocera arecae (Insecta: Tephritidae) by next-generation sequencing and molecular phylogeny of Dacini tribe

PubMed Central

Yong, Hoi-Sen; Song, Sze-Looi; Lim, Phaik-Eem; Chan, Kok-Gan; Chow, Wan-Loo; Eamsobhana, Praphathip

2015-01-01

The whole mitochondrial genome of the pest fruit fly Bactrocera arecae was obtained from next-generation sequencing of genomic DNA. It had a total length of 15,900 bp, consisting of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes and a non-coding region (A + T-rich control region). The control region (952 bp) was flanked by rrnS and trnI genes. The start codons included 6 ATG, 3 ATT and 1 each of ATA, ATC, GTG and TCG. Eight TAA, two TAG, one incomplete TA and two incomplete T stop codons were represented in the protein-coding genes. The cloverleaf structure for trnS1 lacked the D-loop, and that of trnN and trnF lacked the TΨC-loop. Molecular phylogeny based on 13 protein-coding genes was concordant with 37 mitochondrial genes, with B. arecae having closest genetic affinity to B. tryoni. The subgenus Bactrocera of Dacini tribe and the Dacinae subfamily (Dacini and Ceratitidini tribes) were monophyletic. The whole mitogenome of B. arecae will serve as a useful dataset for studying the genetics, systematics and phylogenetic relationships of the many species of Bactrocera genus in particular, and tephritid fruit flies in general. PMID:26472633

Semiochemical mediated enhancement of males to complement sterile insect technique in management of the tephritid pest Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt), is the most significant pest of Australia’s $9 billion horticulture industry. The sterile insect technique (SIT) and male annihilation technique (MAT) based on traps baited with a synthetic analogue of raspberry ketone (RK) are two of the most effe...

Weathering and Chemical Degradation of Methyl Eugenol and Raspberry Ketone Solid Dispensers for Detection, Monitoring, and Male Annihilation of Bactrocera dorsalis and Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Hawaii.

PubMed

Vargas, Roger I; Souder, Steven K; Nkomo, Eddie; Cook, Peter J; Mackey, Bruce; Stark, John D

2015-08-01

Solid male lure dispensers containing methyl eugenol (ME) and raspberry ketone (RK), or mixtures of the lures (ME + RK), and dimethyl dichloro-vinyl phosphate (DDVP) were evaluated in area-wide pest management bucket or Jackson traps in commercial papaya (Carica papaya L.) orchards where both oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), and melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett), are pests. Captures of B. dorsalis with fresh wafers in Jackson and bucket traps were significantly higher on the basis of ME concentration (Mallet ME [56%] > Mallet MR [31.2%] > Mallet MC [23.1%]). Captures of B. cucurbitae with fresh wafers in Jackson and bucket traps were not different regardless of concentration of RK (Mallet BR [20.1%] = Mallet MR [18.3%] = Mallet MC [15.9%]). Captures of B. dorsalis with fresh wafers, compared with weathered wafers, were significantly different after week 12; captures of B. cucurbitae were not significantly different after 16 wk. Chemical analyses revealed presence of RK in dispensers in constant amounts throughout the 16-wk trial. Degradation of both ME and DDVP over time was predicted with a high level of confidence by nonlinear asymptotic exponential decay curves. Results provide supportive data to deploy solid ME and RK wafers (with DDVP) in fruit fly traps for detection programs, as is the current practice with solid TML dispensers placed in Jackson traps. Wafers with ME and RK might be used in place of two separate traps for detection of both ME and RK responding fruit flies and could potentially reduce cost of materials and labor by 50%. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America 2015. This work is written by US Government employees and is in the public domain in the US.

Sexual selection in true fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae): transcriptome and experimental evidences for phytochemicals increasing male competitive ability.

PubMed

Kumaran, Nagalingam; Prentis, Peter J; Mangalam, Kalimuthu P; Schutze, Mark K; Clarke, Anthony R

2014-09-01

In male tephritid fruit flies of the genus Bactrocera, feeding on secondary plant compounds (sensu lato male lures = methyl eugenol, raspberry ketone and zingerone) increases male mating success. Ingested male lures alter the male pheromonal blend, normally making it more attractive to females and this is considered the primary mechanism for the enhanced mating success. However, the male lures raspberry ketone and zingerone are known, across a diverse range of other organisms, to be involved in increasing energy metabolism. If this also occurs in Bactrocera, then this may represent an additional benefit to males as courtship is metabolically expensive and lure feeding may increase a fly's short-term energy. We tested this hypothesis by performing comparative RNA-seq analysis between zingerone-fed and unfed males of Bactrocera tryoni. We also carried out behavioural assays with zingerone- and cuelure-fed males to test whether they became more active. RNA-seq analysis revealed, in zingerone-fed flies, up-regulation of 3183 genes with homologues transcripts to those known to regulate intermale aggression, pheromone synthesis, mating and accessory gland proteins, along with significant enrichment of several energy metabolic pathways and gene ontology terms. Behavioural assays show significant increases in locomotor activity, weight reduction and successful mating after mounting; all direct/indirect measures of increased activity. These results suggest that feeding on lures leads to complex physiological changes, which result in more competitive males. These results do not negate the pheromone effect, but do strongly suggest that the phytochemical-induced sexual selection is governed by both female preference and male competitive mechanisms. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Characterization of irritans mariner-like elements in the olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae): evolutionary implications.

PubMed

Ben Lazhar-Ajroud, Wafa; Caruso, Aurore; Mezghani, Maha; Bouallegue, Maryem; Tastard, Emmanuelle; Denis, Françoise; Rouault, Jacques-Deric; Makni, Hanem; Capy, Pierre; Chénais, Benoît; Makni, Mohamed; Casse, Nathalie

2016-08-01

Genomic variation among species is commonly driven by transposable element (TE) invasion; thus, the pattern of TEs in a genome allows drawing an evolutionary history of the studied species. This paper reports in vitro and in silico detection and characterization of irritans mariner-like elements (MLEs) in the genome and transcriptome of Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae). Eleven irritans MLE sequences have been isolated in vitro using terminal inverted repeats (TIRs) as primers, and 215 have been extracted in silico from the sequenced genome of B. oleae. Additionally, the sequenced genomes of Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) and Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae) have been explored to identify irritans MLEs. A total of 129 sequences from B. tryoni have been extracted, while the genome of B. cucurbitae appears probably devoid of irritans MLEs. All detected irritans MLEs are defective due to several mutations and are clustered together in a monophyletic group suggesting a common ancestor. The evolutionary history and dynamics of these TEs are discussed in relation with the phylogenetic distribution of their hosts. The knowledge on the structure, distribution, dynamic, and evolution of irritans MLEs in Bactrocera species contributes to the understanding of both their evolutionary history and the invasion history of their hosts. This could also be the basis for genetic control strategies using transposable elements.

Monitoring Resistance to Spinosad in the Melon Fly (Bactrocera cucurbitae) in Hawaii and Taiwan

PubMed Central

Hsu, Ju-Chun; Haymer, David S.; Chou, Ming-Yi; Feng, Hai-Tung; Chen, Hsaio-Han; Huang, Yu-Bing; Mau, Ronald F. L.

2012-01-01

Spinosad is a natural insecticide with desirable qualities, and it is widely used as an alternative to organophosphates for control of pests such as the melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett). To monitor the potential for development of resistance, information about the current levels of tolerance to spinosad in melon fly populations were established in this study. Spinosad tolerance bioassays were conducted using both topical applications and feeding methods on flies from field populations with extensive exposure to spinosad as well as from collections with little or no prior exposure. Increased levels of resistance were observed in flies from the field populations. Also, higher dosages were generally required to achieve specific levels of mortality using topical applications compared to the feeding method, but these levels were all lower than those used for many organophosphate-based food lures. Our information is important for maintaining effective programs for melon fly management using spinosad. PMID:22629193

Flight control of fruit flies: dynamic response to optic flow and headwind.

PubMed

Lawson, Kiaran K K; Srinivasan, Mandyam V

2017-06-01

Insects are magnificent fliers that are capable of performing many complex tasks such as speed regulation, smooth landings and collision avoidance, even though their computational abilities are limited by their small brain. To investigate how flying insects respond to changes in wind speed and surrounding optic flow, the open-loop sensorimotor response of female Queensland fruit flies ( Bactrocera tryoni ) was examined. A total of 136 flies were exposed to stimuli comprising sinusoidally varying optic flow and air flow (simulating forward movement) under tethered conditions in a virtual reality arena. Two responses were measured: the thrust and the abdomen pitch. The dynamics of the responses to optic flow and air flow were measured at various frequencies, and modelled as a multicompartment linear system, which accurately captured the behavioural responses of the fruit flies. The results indicate that these two behavioural responses are concurrently sensitive to changes of optic flow as well as wind. The abdomen pitch showed a streamlining response, where the abdomen was raised higher as the magnitude of either stimulus was increased. The thrust, in contrast, exhibited a counter-phase response where maximum thrust occurred when the optic flow or wind flow was at a minimum, indicating that the flies were attempting to maintain an ideal flight speed. When the changes in the wind and optic flow were in phase (i.e. did not contradict each other), the net responses (thrust and abdomen pitch) were well approximated by an equally weighted sum of the responses to the individual stimuli. However, when the optic flow and wind stimuli were presented in counterphase, the flies seemed to respond to only one stimulus or the other, demonstrating a form of 'selective attention'. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Caribbean Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) and Small Fruit in Florida

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Tephritid fruit flies are among the most important pests of fruits and vegetables worldwide. The Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa (Loew), is a tephritid pest that became established in Florida following introduction in 1965. Populations of this fruit fly also occur in Puerto Rico and Cuba, ...

76 FR 18419 - Movement of Hass Avocados From Areas Where Mediterranean Fruit Fly or South American Fruit Fly Exist

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-04

... Avocados From Areas Where Mediterranean Fruit Fly or South American Fruit Fly Exist AGENCY: Animal and... Mediterranean fruit fly quarantined areas in the United States with a certificate if the fruit is safeguarded... quarantine regulations to remove trapping requirements for Mediterranean fruit fly for Hass avocados imported...

Response of the pearly eye melon fly Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett)(Diptera:Tephritidae) mutant to host-associated visual cues

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We report on a pearly eye mutant (PEM) line generated from a single male Bactrocera cucurbitae collected in Kapoho, Hawaii. Crossing experiments with colony wild-type flies indicate that the locus controlling this trait is autosomal and the mutant allele is recessive. Experiments with females to ass...

Terminalia Larval Host Fruit Reduces the Response of Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) Adults to the Male Lure Methyl Eugenol.

PubMed

Manoukis, N C; Cha, D H; Collignon, R M; Shelly, T E

2018-04-12

Methyl eugenol (ME) is a powerful semiochemical attractant to males of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae), and is the keystone of detection, control, and eradication programs against this polyphagous and highly invasive tephritid pest. Despite its status as a model lure against B. dorsalis, variation among individuals in their attraction is known, independent of the generally increasing attraction with age and decreases with previous exposure. Here we report that adult male B. dorsalis that fed on Terminalia catappa L. (Myrtales: Combretaceae) (tropical almond) fruit as larvae have a significantly lower behavioral response to ME compared with wild males from Psidium guajava L. (Myrtales: Myrtaceae) or colony-reared males raised on artificial larval diet. F1 males from the tropical almond stock reared on artificial larval diet did not show reduced attraction to ME, suggesting that the lowered response of parental males (sires) results from the host fruit itself, perhaps its relatively high amount of ME. Experiments with ME added to artificial diet lend some support to this interpretation. In addition to the results above, we report on quantities of ME in three different host fruits (T. catappa, P. guajava, and Carica papaya L. (Brassicales: Caricaceae)) of B. dorsalis. This study indicates the need for further research on the effect of host fruit on adult response to lures in economically important tephritids.

Laboratory evaluation on a potential birth control diet for fruit fly sterile insect technique (SIT).

PubMed

Chang, Chiou Ling

2017-08-01

Sterile insect technique (SIT) is one of the most effective fruit fly control technologies. Irradiation has been used to sterilize male fruit flies before release to the field to compete with the wild males for females. Imagine an environmental and cost effective method using a rearing diet that can make insects sterile indefinitely, by feeding for 7days before release. This could replace costly irradiation process. A potential birth control diet was evaluated on fertility, mating, survival, and protein analysis for fruit fly species in Hawaii. Insects were continuously fed an agar diet with lufenuron (LFN) for 7d after emergence and then switched to a control diet to simulate the actual field condition. The influence on egg hatch was dose dependent. With dose of 2-4mg/g in the diet, egg hatch from LFN-fed was almost 100% suppressed for 24 experimental days if adults of Ceratitia capitate (Widemann), Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), and B. latifrons (Hendel) continued to feed on LFN diet. B. cucurbitae (Coquillett) was not affected by LFN. However, egg hatch from LFN fed B. latifrons and B. dorsalis were suppressed for at least 2weeks after switching to the control diet at 7d. Egg hatch did not recover >4% up to 24d. Proteome analysis revealed that ABD-4 protein was under expressed by 70-83% on LFN fed females and males of B. latifrons and B. dorsalis while Pbprp2 protein was significantly over expressed by 6-12 fold on LFN fed males only. These two proteins were not expressed in C. capitata and B. cucurbitae. Therefore, this report focused more on B. latifrons and B. dorsalis. This finding suggested a great potential for one alternative to sterilize fruit flies for SIT without irradiation. Published by Elsevier Inc.

76 FR 26654 - Movement of Hass Avocados From Areas Where Mediterranean Fruit Fly or South American Fruit Fly Exist

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-09

... Fly or South American Fruit Fly Exist AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA. ACTION... Mediterranean fruit fly quarantined areas in the United States with a certificate if the fruit is safeguarded... regulations to remove trapping requirements for Mediterranean fruit fly for Hass avocados imported from the...

Evaluation of methyl eugenol and cue-lure traps with solid lure and insecticide dispensers for fruit fly monitoring and male annihilation in the Hawaii Areawide Pest Management Program.

PubMed

Vargas, Roger I; Mau, Ronald F L; Stark, John D; Piñero, Jaime C; Leblanc, Luc; Souder, Steven K

2010-04-01

Methyl eugenol (ME) and cue-lure (C-L) traps with solid lure dispensers were deployed in areas with low and high populations of oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), and melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett), respectively. In low-density areas, standard Jackson traps or Hawaii Fruit Fly Areawide Pest Management (AWPM) traps with FT Mallet ME wafers impregnated with dimethyl dichloro-vinyl phosphate (DDVP) or AWPM traps with Scentry ME cones and vapor tape performed equally as well as standard Jackson traps with liquid ME/C-L and naled. Standard Jackson traps or AWPM traps with FT Mallet C-L wafers impregnated with DDVP or AWPM traps with Scentry C-L plugs with vapor tape performed equally as well as standard Jackson traps with a lure-naled solution. In high density areas, captures with traps containing FT Mallet wafers (ME and C-L) outperformed AWPM traps with Scentry cones and plugs (ME and C-L) with DDVP insecticidal strips over a 6-mo period. Captures of B. dorsalis and B. cucurbitae with wafers containing both ME and raspberry ketone (FT Mallet MC) were equivalent to those containing separate lures. From a worker safety and convenience standpoint, FT Mallet ME and C-L wafers with DDVP or Scentry plugs, with or without DDVP vapor tape, are more convenient and safer to handle than standard liquid insecticide formulations used for monitoring and male annihilation programs in Hawaii, and for detections traps used on the U.S. mainland. Furthermore, the FT Mallet MC wafer might be used in a single trap in place of two separate traps for detection of both ME and C-L responding fruit flies.

An evaluation of the species status of Bactrocera invadens and the Systematics of the Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) complex

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The genus Bactrocera (Tephritidae) contains over 500 species, including many severe pests of fruits and vegetables. While native to tropical and sub-tropical areas of Africa, India, Southeast Asia and Australasia, a number of the pest species, largely members of the Bactrocera dorsalis complex, have...

Proteomic interactions between the parasitoid Diachasmimorpha longicaudata and the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis during host parasitism

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Background: Oriental fruit flies are important agricultural pests worldwide and their larval parasitoid, Diachasmimorph longicaudata is one of their most effective biological control agents. How a parasitoid interacts with its host as an endo-parasitoid is very important while it is rarely studied a...

Gene flow and genetic structure of Bactrocera carambolae (Diptera, Tephritidae) among geographical differences and sister species, B. dorsalis, inferred from microsatellite DNA data.

PubMed

Aketarawong, Nidchaya; Isasawin, Siriwan; Sojikul, Punchapat; Thanaphum, Sujinda

2015-01-01

The Carambola fruit fly, Bactrocera carambolae, is an invasive pest in Southeast Asia. It has been introduced into areas in South America such as Suriname and Brazil. Bactrocera carambolae belongs to the Bactrocera dorsalis species complex, and seems to be separated from Bactrocera dorsalis based on morphological and multilocus phylogenetic studies. Even though the Carambola fruit fly is an important quarantine species and has an impact on international trade, knowledge of the molecular ecology of Bactrocera carambolae, concerning species status and pest management aspects, is lacking. Seven populations sampled from the known geographical areas of Bactrocera carambolae including Southeast Asia (i.e., Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand) and South America (i.e., Suriname), were genotyped using eight microsatellite DNA markers. Genetic variation, genetic structure, and genetic network among populations illustrated that the Suriname samples were genetically differentiated from Southeast Asian populations. The genetic network revealed that samples from West Sumatra (Pekanbaru, PK) and Java (Jakarta, JK) were presumably the source populations of Bactrocera carambolae in Suriname, which was congruent with human migration records between the two continents. Additionally, three populations of Bactrocera dorsalis were included to better understand the species boundary. The genetic structure between the two species was significantly separated and approximately 11% of total individuals were detected as admixed (0.100 ≤ Q ≤ 0.900). The genetic network showed connections between Bactrocera carambolae and Bactrocera dorsalis groups throughout Depok (DP), JK, and Nakhon Sri Thammarat (NT) populations. These data supported the hypothesis that the reproductive isolation between the two species may be leaky. Although the morphology and monophyly of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences in previous studies showed discrete entities, the hypothesis of semipermeable boundaries may not

Gene flow and genetic structure of Bactrocera carambolae (Diptera, Tephritidae) among geographical differences and sister species, B. dorsalis, inferred from microsatellite DNA data

PubMed Central

Aketarawong, Nidchaya; Isasawin, Siriwan; Sojikul, Punchapat; Thanaphum, Sujinda

2015-01-01

Abstract The Carambola fruit fly, Bactrocera carambolae, is an invasive pest in Southeast Asia. It has been introduced into areas in South America such as Suriname and Brazil. Bactrocera carambolae belongs to the Bactrocera dorsalis species complex, and seems to be separated from Bactrocera dorsalis based on morphological and multilocus phylogenetic studies. Even though the Carambola fruit fly is an important quarantine species and has an impact on international trade, knowledge of the molecular ecology of Bactrocera carambolae, concerning species status and pest management aspects, is lacking. Seven populations sampled from the known geographical areas of Bactrocera carambolae including Southeast Asia (i.e., Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand) and South America (i.e., Suriname), were genotyped using eight microsatellite DNA markers. Genetic variation, genetic structure, and genetic network among populations illustrated that the Suriname samples were genetically differentiated from Southeast Asian populations. The genetic network revealed that samples from West Sumatra (Pekanbaru, PK) and Java (Jakarta, JK) were presumably the source populations of Bactrocera carambolae in Suriname, which was congruent with human migration records between the two continents. Additionally, three populations of Bactrocera dorsalis were included to better understand the species boundary. The genetic structure between the two species was significantly separated and approximately 11% of total individuals were detected as admixed (0.100 ≤ Q ≤ 0.900). The genetic network showed connections between Bactrocera carambolae and Bactrocera dorsalis groups throughout Depok (DP), JK, and Nakhon Sri Thammarat (NT) populations. These data supported the hypothesis that the reproductive isolation between the two species may be leaky. Although the morphology and monophyly of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences in previous studies showed discrete entities, the hypothesis of semipermeable boundaries

Vision-mediated exploitation of a novel host plant by a tephritid fruit fly.

PubMed

Piñero, Jaime C; Souder, Steven K; Vargas, Roger I

2017-01-01

Shortly after its introduction into the Hawaiian Islands around 1895, the polyphagous, invasive fruit fly Bactrocera (Zeugodacus) cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae) was provided the opportunity to expand its host range to include a novel host, papaya (Carica papaya). It has been documented that female B. cucurbitae rely strongly on vision to locate host fruit. Given that the papaya fruit is visually conspicuous in the papaya agro-ecosystem, we hypothesized that female B. cucurbitae used vision as the main sensory modality to find and exploit the novel host fruit. Using a comparative approach that involved a series of studies under natural and semi-natural conditions in Hawaii, we assessed the ability of female B. cucurbitae to locate and oviposit in papaya fruit using the sensory modalities of olfaction and vision alone and also in combination. The results of these studies demonstrate that, under a variety of conditions, volatiles emitted by the novel host do not positively stimulate the behavior of the herbivore. Rather, vision seems to be the main mechanism driving the exploitation of the novel host. Volatiles emitted by the novel host papaya fruit did not contribute in any way to the visual response of females. Our findings highlight the remarkable role of vision in the host-location process of B. cucurbitae and provide empirical evidence for this sensory modality as a potential mechanism involved in host range expansion.

Vision-mediated exploitation of a novel host plant by a tephritid fruit fly

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Shortly after its introduction into the Hawaiian Islands around 1895, the polyphagous, invasive fruit fly Bactrocera (Zeugodacus) cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae) was provided the opportunity to expand its host range to include a novel host, papaya (Carica papaya). It has been documented that female B. cucurbitae rely strongly on vision to locate host fruit. Given that the papaya fruit is visually conspicuous in the papaya agro-ecosystem, we hypothesized that female B. cucurbitae used vision as the main sensory modality to find and exploit the novel host fruit. Using a comparative approach that involved a series of studies under natural and semi-natural conditions in Hawaii, we assessed the ability of female B. cucurbitae to locate and oviposit in papaya fruit using the sensory modalities of olfaction and vision alone and also in combination. The results of these studies demonstrate that, under a variety of conditions, volatiles emitted by the novel host do not positively stimulate the behavior of the herbivore. Rather, vision seems to be the main mechanism driving the exploitation of the novel host. Volatiles emitted by the novel host papaya fruit did not contribute in any way to the visual response of females. Our findings highlight the remarkable role of vision in the host-location process of B. cucurbitae and provide empirical evidence for this sensory modality as a potential mechanism involved in host range expansion. PMID:28380069

Carbohydrate Diet and Reproductive Performance of a Fruit Fly Parasitoid, Diachasmimorpha tryoni

PubMed Central

Zamek, Ashley Louisa; Reynolds, Olivia Louise; Mansfield, Sarah; Micallef, Jessica Louise; Gurr, Geoff Michael

2013-01-01

Augmentative releases of parasitoid wasps are often used successfully for biological control of fruit flies in programs worldwide. The development of cheaper and more effective augmentative releases of the parasitoid wasp Diachasmimorpha tryoni (Cameron) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) may allow its use to be expanded to cover Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae), a serious pest of many vegetables and most fruit production in Australia. This demands a fuller understanding of the parasitoid's reproductive biology. In this study, mating status, fecundity, and size of female D. tryoni were determined under laboratory conditions. A range of pre-release diets, 10% concentrations of honey, white sugar, and golden syrup, were also assessed in the laboratory. Mature egg loads and progeny yields of mated and unmated parasitoid females were statistically similar, demonstrating that mating status was not a determinant of parasitoid performance. Female lifespan was not negatively impacted by the act of oviposition, though larger females carried more eggs than smaller individuals, indicating a need to produce large females in mass-rearing facilities to maintain this trait. White sugar gave the highest adult female lifespan, while honey and golden syrup shared similar survivorship curves, all significantly greater compared with water control females. Pre-release feeding of D. tryoni, particularly with white sugar, may enhance the impact of released parasitoids on B. tryoni. These findings are important because honey is currently the standard diet for mass-reared braconids, but white sugar is less than one-third the cost of other foods; however further work is required to assess postrelease performance of the parasitoid. PMID:24224552

Yeast: An Overlooked Component of Bactrocera tryoni (Diptera: Tephritidae) Larval Gut Microbiota.

PubMed

Deutscher, Ania T; Reynolds, Olivia L; Chapman, Toni A

2017-02-01

Yeasts, often in hydrolyzed form, are key ingredients in the larval and adult diets of tephritid fruit fly colonies. However, very little is known about the presence or role of yeasts in the diets of tephritid fruit flies in nature. Previous studies have identified bacteria but not detected yeasts in the gut of Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt), one of Australia's most economically damaging insect pests of horticultural crops and of significant biosecurity concern domestically and internationally. Here we demonstrate that cultivable yeasts are commonly found in the gut of B. tryoni larvae from fruit hosts. Analysis of the ITS1, 5.8S rRNA gene, and ITS2 sequences of randomly selected isolates identified yeasts and yeast-like fungi of the genera Aureobasidium, Candida, Cryptococcus, Hanseniaspora, Pichia, and Starmerella. The prevalence of these yeasts in fruits suggests that larvae consume the yeasts as part of their diet. This work highlights that yeasts should be considered in future tephritid larval gut microbiota studies. Understanding tephritid-microbial symbiont interactions will lead to improvements in artificial diets and the quality of mass-reared tephritids for the sterile insect technique. © The Authors 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

RNAi-Mediated Knock-Down of transformer and transformer 2 to Generate Male-Only Progeny in the Oriental Fruit Fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel)

PubMed Central

Li, Jianwei; Zhang, Guifen; Wan, Fanghao

2015-01-01

The transformer (tra) gene appears to act as the genetic switch that promotes female development by interaction with the transformer2 (tra-2) gene in several dipteran species including the Medfly, housefly and Drosophila melanogaster. In this study, we describe the isolation, expression and function of tra and tra-2 in the economically important agricultural pest, the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel). Bdtra and Bdtra-2 are similar to their homologs from other tephritid species. Bdtra demonstrated sex-specific transcripts: one transcript in females and two transcripts in males. In contrast, Bdtra-2 only had one transcript that was common to males and females, which was transcribed continuously in different adult tissues and developmental stages. Bdtra-2 and the female form of Bdtra were maternally inherited in eggs, whereas the male form of Bdtra was not detectable until embryos of 1 and 2 h after egg laying. Function analyses of Bdtra and Bdtra-2 indicated that both were indispensable for female development, as nearly 100% males were obtained with embryonic RNAi against either Bdtra or Bdtra-2. The fertility of these RNAi-generated males was subsequently tested. More than 80% of RNAi-generated males could mate and the mated females could lay eggs, but only 40-48.6% males gave rise to progeny. In XX-reversed males and intersex individuals, no clear female gonadal morphology was observed after dissection. These results shed light on the development of a genetic sexing system with male-only release for this agricultural pest. PMID:26057559

RNAi-Mediated Knock-Down of transformer and transformer 2 to Generate Male-Only Progeny in the Oriental Fruit Fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel).

PubMed

Liu, Guiqing; Wu, Qiang; Li, Jianwei; Zhang, Guifen; Wan, Fanghao

2015-01-01

The transformer (tra) gene appears to act as the genetic switch that promotes female development by interaction with the transformer2 (tra-2) gene in several dipteran species including the Medfly, housefly and Drosophila melanogaster. In this study, we describe the isolation, expression and function of tra and tra-2 in the economically important agricultural pest, the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel). Bdtra and Bdtra-2 are similar to their homologs from other tephritid species. Bdtra demonstrated sex-specific transcripts: one transcript in females and two transcripts in males. In contrast, Bdtra-2 only had one transcript that was common to males and females, which was transcribed continuously in different adult tissues and developmental stages. Bdtra-2 and the female form of Bdtra were maternally inherited in eggs, whereas the male form of Bdtra was not detectable until embryos of 1 and 2 h after egg laying. Function analyses of Bdtra and Bdtra-2 indicated that both were indispensable for female development, as nearly 100% males were obtained with embryonic RNAi against either Bdtra or Bdtra-2. The fertility of these RNAi-generated males was subsequently tested. More than 80% of RNAi-generated males could mate and the mated females could lay eggs, but only 40-48.6% males gave rise to progeny. In XX-reversed males and intersex individuals, no clear female gonadal morphology was observed after dissection. These results shed light on the development of a genetic sexing system with male-only release for this agricultural pest.

A phylogenetic assessment of the polyphyletic nature and intraspecific color polymorphism in the Bactrocera dorsalis complex (Diptera, Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Leblanc, Luc; San Jose, Michael; Barr, Norman; Rubinoff, Daniel

2015-01-01

Abstract The Bactrocera dorsalis complex (Tephritidae) comprises 85 species of fruit flies, including five highly destructive polyphagous fruit pests. Despite significant work on a few key pest species within the complex, little has been published on the majority of non-economic species in the complex, other than basic descriptions and illustrations of single specimens regarded as typical representatives. To elucidate the species relationships within the Bactrocera dorsalis complex, we used 159 sequences from one mitochondrial (COI) and two nuclear (elongation factor-1α and period) genes to construct a phylogeny containing 20 described species from within the complex, four additional species that may be new to science, and 26 other species from Bactrocera and its sister genus Dacus. The resulting concatenated phylogeny revealed that most of the species placed in the complex appear to be unrelated, emerging across numerous clades. This suggests that they were placed in the Bactrocera dorsalis complex based on the similarity of convergent characters, which does not appear to be diagnostic. Variations in scutum and abdomen color patterns within each of the non-economic species are presented and demonstrate that distantly-related, cryptic species overlap greatly in traditional morphological color patterns used to separate them in keys. Some of these species may not be distinguishable with confidence by means other than DNA data. PMID:26798267

High-Throughput Sequencing to Reveal Genes Involved in Reproduction and Development in Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Zheng, Weiwei; Peng, Tao; He, Wei; Zhang, Hongyu

2012-01-01

Background Tephritid fruit flies in the genus Bactrocera are of major economic significance in agriculture causing considerable loss to the fruit and vegetable industry. Currently, there is no ideal control program. Molecular means is an effective method for pest control at present, but genomic or transcriptomic data for members of this genus remains limited. To facilitate molecular research into reproduction and development mechanisms, and finally effective control on these pests, an extensive transcriptome for the oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis was produced using the Roche 454-FLX platform. Results We obtained over 350 million bases of cDNA derived from the whole body of B. dorsalis at different developmental stages. In a single run, 747,206 sequencing reads with a mean read length of 382 bp were obtained. These reads were assembled into 28,782 contigs and 169,966 singletons. The mean contig size was 750 bp and many nearly full-length transcripts were assembled. Additionally, we identified a great number of genes that are involved in reproduction and development as well as genes that represent nearly all major conserved metazoan signal transduction pathways, such as insulin signal transduction. Furthermore, transcriptome changes during development were analyzed. A total of 2,977 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected between larvae and pupae libraries, while there were 1,621 DEGs between adults and larvae, and 2,002 between adults and pupae. These DEGs were functionally annotated with KEGG pathway annotation and 9 genes were validated by qRT-PCR. Conclusion Our data represent the extensive sequence resources available for B. dorsalis and provide for the first time access to the genetic architecture of reproduction and development as well as major signal transduction pathways in the Tephritid fruit fly pests, allowing us to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying courtship, ovipositing, development and detailed analyses of the signal

Alimentary Tract Bacteria Isolated and Identified with API-20E and Molecular Cloning Techniques from Australian Tropical Fruit Flies, Bactrocera cacuminata and B. tryoni

PubMed Central

Thaochan, N.; Drew, R. A. I.; Hughes, J. M.; Vijaysegaran, S.; Chinajariyawong, A.

2010-01-01

Bacteria were isolated from the crop and midgut of field collected Bactrocera cacuminata (Hering) and Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae). Two methods were used, firstly isolation onto two types of bacteriological culture media (PYEA and TSA) and identification using the API-20E diagnostic kit, and secondly, analysis of samples using the 16S rRNA gene molecular diagnostic method. Using the API-20E method, 10 genera and 17 species of bacteria in the family Enterobacteriaceae were identified from cultures growing on the nutrient agar. The dominant species in both the crop and midgut were Citrobacter freundii, Enterobacter cloacae and Klebsiella oxytoca. Providencia rettgeri, Klebsiella pneumoniae ssp ozaenae and Serratia marcescens were isolated from B. tryoni only. Using the molecular cloning technique that is based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, five bacteria classes were dignosed — Alpha-, Beta-, Gamma- and Delta- Proteobacteria and Firmicutes — including five families, Leuconostocaceae, Enterococcaceae, Acetobacteriaceae, Comamonadaceae and Enterobacteriaceae. The bacteria affiliated with Firmicutes were found mainly in the crop while the Gammaproteobacteria, especially the family Enterobacteriaceae, was dominant in the midgut. This paper presents results from the first known application of molecular cloning techniques to study bacteria within tephritid species and the first record of Firmicutes bacteria in these flies. PMID:20883132

Learning from the Fruit Fly

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bierema, Andrea; Schwartz, Renee

2016-01-01

The fruit fly ("Drosophila melanogaster") is an ideal subject for studying inheritance patterns, Mendel's laws, meiosis, Punnett squares, and other aspects of genetics. Much of what we know about genetics dates to evolutionary biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan's work with mutated fruit flies in the early 1900s. Many genetic laboratories…

Biology of Fopius arisanus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in Two Species of Fruit Flies

PubMed Central

Groth, M. Z.; Loeck, A. E.; Nörnberg, S. D.; Bernardi, D.; Nava, D. E.

2016-01-01

Fopius arisanus (Sonan, 1932) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is an egg–larval parasitoid used in control programs of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) and Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann). In Brazil, C. capitata and Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann) are considered the main tephritid pests of exotic and indigenous fruits. The objective of this study was to study the biology of F. arisanus in C. capitata and A. fraterculus. Eggs of the two fruit fly species were used to determine the parasitism rate, number of offspring, emergence rate, sex ratio, adult weight and longevity of male and female F. arisanus. These biological parameters were used to develop a fertility life table. We observed higher parasitism and emergence rates of adults, a shorter duration of the egg–adult period and a sex ratio biased to females when F. arisanus was reared in eggs of C. capitata than in those of A. fraterculus. However, adults of F. arisanus from eggs of A. fraterculus were heavier and had greater longevity than those obtained from C. capitata eggs. The fertility life table showed better biological and reproductive performance for F. arisanus reared in eggs of C. capitata, although eggs of A. fraterculus also provided positive values for population increase. PMID:27638954

Fruit Flies Help Human Sleep Research

MedlinePlus

Skip Navigation Bar Home Current Issue Past Issues Fruit Flies Help Human Sleep Research Past Issues / Summer 2007 ... courtesy of NIGMS Neuroscientist Chiara Cirelli uses experimental fruit flies to study sleep. Although it may be tough ...

Functional Morphology of the Mouthparts of the Adult Mediterranean Fruit Fly, Ceratitis capitata

PubMed Central

Coronado-Gonzalez, Pablo A.; Vijaysegaran, S.; Robinson, Alan S.

2008-01-01

Food-based attractants incorporating an insecticide are an important component of area-wide control programmes for the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae). This study was carried out to understand the feeding mechanism of adults of this species. Mouthparts of C. capitata are similar in general structure to those of another Tephritid genus, Bactrocera, and have specific structural modifications that determine what adult flies can ingest. The labellum has a series of fine tube-like structures, called pseudotracheae, on its inner surface. Each pseudotrachea leads from the outer margin of the labellum and ends at the prestomum to the oral opening. The pseudotracheae contain fine micropores about 0.5µm in size. During feeding, the oral opening is never exposed to the feeding substrate but the portions of the opposing labellar lobes proximal to the oral opening are flexed against each other and distal portions of the opposing labellar lobes are opened and pressed flat against the feeding substrate or surface. The prestomal spines at the base of each pseudotrachea interlock to form a barrier across the oral opening. Thus entry of large particles directly into the crop and gut through the oral opening is prevented by flexure of the opposing labellar lobes against each other and the interlocking prestomal spines across the oral opening. Only liquids and suspended particles less than 0.5µm in size are sucked through the micropores into the lumen of the pseudotracheae and then pass into the food canal and into the crop and gut. The pseudotracheae of adult C. capitata, particularly along the middle portion of the labellum, have prominent blade-like projections that Bactrocera do not have. These projections are probably an ancestral condition as they were not observed to use them to abrade the plant or feeding surface as has been reported for species in the Tephritid genus, Blepharoneura.

Whole Genome Sequencing of the Braconid Parasitoid Wasp Fopius arisanus, an Important Biocontrol Agent of Pest Tepritid Fruit Flies

PubMed Central

Geib, Scott M.; Liang, Guang Hong; Murphy, Terence D.; Sim, Sheina B.

2017-01-01

The braconid wasp Fopius arisanus (Sonan) is an important biological control agent of tropical and subtropical pest fruit flies, including two important global pests, the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata), and the oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis). The goal of this study was to develop foundational genomic resources for this species to provide tools that can be used to answer questions exploring the multitrophic interactions between the host and parasitoid in this important research system. Here, we present a whole genome assembly of F. arisanus, derived from a pool of haploid offspring from a single unmated female. The genome is ∼154 Mb in size, with a N50 contig and scaffold size of 51,867 bp and 0.98 Mb, respectively. Utilizing existing RNA-Seq data for this species, as well as publicly available peptide sequences from related Hymenoptera, a high quality gene annotation set, which includes 10,991 protein coding genes, was generated. Prior to this assembly submission, no RefSeq proteins were present for this species. Parasitic wasps play an important role in a diverse ecosystem as well as a role in biological control of agricultural pests. This whole genome assembly and annotation data represents the first genome-scale assembly for this species or any closely related Opiine, and are publicly available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information Genome and RefSeq databases, providing a much needed genomic resource for this hymenopteran group. PMID:28584080

Testing for Mutagens Using Fruit Flies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liebl, Eric C.

1998-01-01

Describes a laboratory employed in undergraduate teaching that uses fruit flies to test student-selected compounds for their ability to cause mutations. Requires no prior experience with fruit flies, incorporates a student design component, and employs both rigorous controls and statistical analyses. (DDR)

Effects of diet and host access on fecundity and lifespan in two fruit fly species with different life history patterns

PubMed Central

Harwood, James F.; Chen, Kehui; Müller, Hans-Georg; Wang, Jane-Ling; Vargas, Roger I.; Carey, James R.

2013-01-01

The reproductive ability of female tephritids can be limited and prevented by denying access to host plants and restricting the dietary precursors of vitellogenesis. The mechanisms underlying the delayed egg production in each case are initiated by different physiological processes that are anticipated to have dissimilar effects on lifespan and reproductive ability later in life. The egg laying abilities of laboratory reared females of the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata Wiedmann) and melon fly (Bactrocera cucurbitae Coquillett) from Hawaii are delayed or suppressed by limiting access to host fruits and dietary protein. In each case, this is expected to prevent the loss of lifespan associated with reproduction until protein or hosts are introduced. Two trends are observed in each species: Firstly, access to protein at eclosion leads to a greater probability of survival and higher reproductive ability than if it is delayed, and secondly, that delayed host access reduces lifetime reproductive ability without improving life expectancy. When host access and protein availability are delayed, the rate of reproductive senescence is reduced in the medfly, whereas the rate of reproductive senescence is generally increased in the melon fly. Overall, delaying reproduction lowers the fitness of females by constraining their fecundity for the remainder of the lifespan without extending the lifespan. PMID:23483775

Genome-wide identification, phylogenetic analysis, and expression profiles of ATP-binding cassette transporter genes in the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Xiao, Lin-Fan; Zhang, Wei; Jing, Tian-Xing; Zhang, Meng-Yi; Miao, Ze-Qing; Wei, Dan-Dan; Yuan, Guo-Rui; Wang, Jin-Jun

2018-03-01

The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) is the largest transporter gene family and the genes play key roles in xenobiotic resistance, metabolism, and development of all phyla. However, the specific functions of ABC gene families in insects is unclear. We report a genome-wide identification, phylogenetic, and transcriptional analysis of the ABC genes in the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel). We identified a total of 47 ABC genes (BdABCs) from the transcriptomic and genomic databases of B. dorsalis and classified these genes into eight subfamilies (A-H), including 7 ABCAs, 7 ABCBs, 9 ABCCs, 2 ABCDs, 1 ABCE, 3 ABCFs, 15 ABCGs, and 3 ABCHs. Comparative phylogenetic analysis of the ABCs suggests an orthologous relationship between B. dorsalis and other insect species in which these genes have been related to pesticide resistance and essential biological processes. Comparison of transcriptome and relative expression patterns of BdABCs indicated diverse multifunctions within different B. dorsalis tissues. The expression of 4, 10, and 14 BdABCs from 18 BdABCs was significantly upregulated after exposure to LD 50 s of malathion, avermectin, and beta-cypermethrin, respectively. The maximum expression level of most BdABCs (including BdABCFs, BdABCGs, and BdABCHs) occurred at 48h post exposures, whereas BdABCEs peaked at 24h after treatment. Furthermore, RNA interference-mediated suppression of BdABCB7 resulted in increased toxicity of malathion against B. dorsalis. These data suggest that ABC transporter genes might play key roles in xenobiotic metabolism and biosynthesis in B. dorsalis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

76 FR 43804 - Movement of Hass Avocados From Areas Where Mediterranean Fruit Fly or South American Fruit Fly Exist

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-22

... dorsalis), peach fruit fly (Anastrepha zonata), and sapote fruit fly (Anastrepha serpentina) in the... obliqua, Anastrepha serpentina, and Anastrepha striata (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Mexico. J. Econ. Entomol...

Symbiotic bacteria enable olive fly larvae to overcome host defences

PubMed Central

Ben-Yosef, Michael; Pasternak, Zohar; Jurkevitch, Edouard; Yuval, Boaz

2015-01-01

Ripe fruit offer readily available nutrients for many animals, including fruit fly larvae (Diptera: Tephritidae) and their associated rot-inducing bacteria. Yet, during most of their ontogeny, fruit remain chemically defended and effectively suppress herbivores and pathogens by high levels of secondary metabolites. Olive flies (Bactrocera oleae) are uniquely able to develop in unripe olives. Unlike other frugivorous tephritids, the larvae maintain bacteria confined within their midgut caeca. We examined the interaction between larvae, their associated bacteria, and fruit chemical defence, hypothesizing that bacterial contribution to larval development is contingent on the phenology of fruit defensive chemistry. We demonstrate that larvae require their natural complement of bacteria (Candidatus Erwinia dacicola: Enterobacteriaceae) in order to develop in unripe olives. Conversely, when feeding on ripe fruit, larval development proceeds independently of these bacteria. Our experiments suggest that bacteria counteract the inhibitory effect of oleuropein—the principal phenolic glycoside in unripe olives. In light of these results, we suggest that the unique symbiosis in olive flies, compared with other frugivorous tephritids, is understood by considering the relationship between the fly, bacteria and fruit chemistry. When applied in an evolutionary context, this approach may also point out the forces which shaped symbioses across the Tephritidae. PMID:26587275

Screening mitochondrial DNA sequence variation as an alternative method for tracking established and outbreak populations of Queensland fruit fly at the species southern range limit.

PubMed

Blacket, Mark J; Malipatil, Mali B; Semeraro, Linda; Gillespie, Peter S; Dominiak, Bernie C

2017-04-01

Understanding the relationship between incursions of insect pests and established populations is critical to implementing effective control. Studies of genetic variation can provide powerful tools to examine potential invasion pathways and longevity of individual pest outbreaks. The major fruit fly pest in eastern Australia, Queensland fruit fly Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt), has been subject to significant long-term quarantine and population reduction control measures in the major horticulture production areas of southeastern Australia, at the species southern range limit. Previous studies have employed microsatellite markers to estimate gene flow between populations across this region. In this study, we used an independent genetic marker, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences, to screen genetic variation in established and adjacent outbreak populations in southeastern Australia. During the study period, favorable environmental conditions resulted in multiple outbreaks, which appeared genetically distinctive and relatively geographically localized, implying minimal dispersal between simultaneous outbreaks. Populations in established regions were found to occur over much larger areas. Screening mtDNA (female) lineages proved to be an effective alternative genetic tool to assist in understanding fruit fly population dynamics and provide another possible molecular method that could now be employed for better understanding of the ecology and evolution of this and other pest species.

Effects of Peganum harmala (Zygophyllaceae) seed extract on the olive fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) and its larval parasitoid Psyttalia concolor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae).

PubMed

Rehman, Junaid Ur; Wang, Xin-Geng; Johnson, Marshall W; Daane, Kent M; Jilani, Ghulam; Khan, Mir A; Zalom, Frank G

2009-12-01

Peganum harmala L. (Zygophyllaceae) is an herb native to arid and semiarid regions of Central Asian deserts. This study investigated the effects of ethanol extracts of P. harmala seeds on the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae), i.e., adult repellency, reproductive activity, and larval growth, as well as parasitism levels by Psyttalia concolor (Szépligeti). Olive fruit treated with 2% extract reduced B. oleae oviposition. In choice tests, female B. oleae spent >99% of their time foraging on untreated fruit rather than P. harmala-treated fruit. These changes in ovipositional behavior resulted in a nearly 30-fold decrease in oviposition marks on treated fruit compared with untreated fruit during a 48 h exposure period. When female B. oleae were fed liquid diet containing 0.2% P. harmala extract, there was no effect on the number of ovipositional marks on exposed fruit, but up to 21.4% of the deposited eggs were deformed. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analyses of deformed eggs revealed that some protein bands were missing. Consequently, the number of offspring produced by treated females was lower than by untreated females. Neither the sex ratio nor body size of the fly's offspring were affected by adults fed diet containing 0.2% P. harmala extract. However, there was a slightly prolonged developmental time from egg to adult. Parasitism of larval B. oleae by P. concolor was not affected by infested fruit treatment with 2% P. harmala extract. P. harmala extracts as a potential control for insect pest species are discussed.

Fruit_Flies_in_Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-05-25

Scientists study how astronauts are affected by microgravity, but with a relatively small number of human subjects available to them, they often turn to model organisms for research. Model organisms are living organisms that have a genetic makeup that is relatively well-documented and understood, and is similar to human systems. Fruit flies are reliable model organisms because their systems closely resemble that of larger organisms. They have the benefit of being small in size, well understood, and reproduce quickly so many generations can be studied in a short amount of time. Some of the things we can study using fruit flies are how microgravity affects the immune system. Will the muscle cells of the heart lose strength in microgravity? Are reproduction, lifespan and the aging process affected by microgravity? Do changes in gravity affect the basic metabolic rate and metabolism of living systems? Fruit flies offer a manageable way to study living systems in microgravity. Learn more about other model organisms and how they are being used for microgravity research, and keep up with all the science being conducted aboard your orbiting laboratory by visiting ISS Research Overview on nasa.gov http://www.twitter.com/ISS_Research

Improve California trap programs for detection of fruit flies

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

There are >160,000 federal and state fruit fly detection traps deployed in southern and western U.S. States and Puerto Rico. In California alone, >100,000 traps are deployed and maintained just for exotic fruit flies detection. Fruit fly detection and eradication requires deployment of large numbers...

Weathering trials of Amulet cue-lure and Amulet methyl eugenol "attract-and-kill" stations with male melon flies and oriental fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Hawaii.

PubMed

Vargas, Roger I; Stark, John D; Mackey, Bruce; Bull, Richard

2005-10-01

Amulet C-L (cue-lure) and Amulet ME (methyl eugenol) molded paper fiber "attract-and-kill" dispensers containing fipronil were tested under Hawaiian weather conditions against Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) (melon fly) and Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (oriental fruit fly), respectively. In paired tests (fresh versus weathered), C-L dispensers were effective for at least 77 d, whereas ME dispensers were effective for at least 21 d. Thus, C-L dispensers exceeded, whereas ME dispensers did not meet the label interval replacement recommendation of 60 d. Addition of 4 ml of ME to 56-d-old ME dispensers restored attraction and kill for an additional 21 d. This result suggested the fipronil added at manufacture was still effective. By enclosing and weathering ME dispensers inside small plastic bucket traps, longevity of ME dispensers was extended up to 56 d. Fipronil ME and C-L dispensers also were compared, inside bucket traps, to other toxicants: spinosad, naled, DDVP, malathion, and permethrin. Against B. dorsalis, fipronil ME dispensers compared favorably only up to 3 wk. Against B. cucurbitae, fipronil C-L dispensers compared favorably for at least 15 wk. Our results suggest that fipronil C-L dispensers can potentially be used in Hawaii; however, fipronil ME dispensers need to be modified or protected from the effects of weathering to extend longevity and meet label specifications. Nonetheless, Amulet C-L and ME dispensers are novel prepackaged formulations containing C-L or ME and fipronil that are more convenient and safer to handle than current liquid insecticide formulations used for areawide suppression of B. dorsalis and B. cucurbitae in Hawaii.

Identification of leaf volatiles from olive (Olea europaea) and their possible role in the ovipositional preferences of olive fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Malheiro, Ricardo; Casal, Susana; Cunha, Sara C; Baptista, Paula; Pereira, José Alberto

2016-01-01

The olive fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), is a monophagous pest that displays an oviposition preference among cultivars of olive (Olea europaea L.). To clarify the oviposition preference, the olive leaf volatiles of three olive cultivars (Cobrançosa, Madural and Verdeal Transmontana) were assessed by headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC/MS) at six different periods of olive fruit maturation and degrees of infestation. A total of 39 volatiles were identified, mainly esters and alcohols, with a minor percentage of aldehydes, ketones and terpenic compounds, including sesquiterpenes. At sampling dates with higher degrees of infestation, cv. Cobrançosa had, simultaneously, significantly lower infestation degrees and higher volatile amounts than the other two cultivars, with a probable deterrent effect for oviposition. The green leaf volatiles (GLVs) (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol and (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol acetate) were the main compounds identified in all cultivars, together with toluene. The abundance of GLVs decreased significantly throughout maturation, without significant differences among cultivars, while toluene showed a general increase and positive correlation with olive fly infestation levels. The results obtained could broaden our understanding of the roles of various types and amounts of olive volatiles in the environment, especially in olive fly host selection and cultivar preference. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bacterial communities in the gut and reproductive organs of Bactrocera minax (Diptera: Tephritidae) based on 454 pyrosequencing.

PubMed

Wang, Ailin; Yao, Zhichao; Zheng, Weiwei; Zhang, Hongyu

2014-01-01

The citrus fruit fly Bactrocera minax is associated with diverse bacterial communities. We used a 454 pyrosequencing technology to study in depth the microbial communities associated with gut and reproductive organs of Bactrocera minax. Our dataset consisted of 100,749 reads with an average length of 400 bp. The saturated rarefaction curves and species richness indices indicate that the sampling was comprehensive. We found highly diverse bacterial communities, with individual sample containing approximately 361 microbial operational taxonomic units (OTUs). A total of 17 bacterial phyla were obtained from the flies. A phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA revealed that Proteobacteria was dominant in all samples (75%-95%). Actinobacteria and Firmicutes were also commonly found in the total clones. Klebsiella, Citrobacter, Enterobacter, and Serratia were the major genera. However, bacterial diversity (Chao1, Shannon and Simpson indices) and community structure (PCA analysis) varied across samples. Female ovary has the most diverse bacteria, followed by male testis, and the bacteria diversity of reproductive organs is richer than that of the gut. The observed variation can be caused by sex and tissue, possibly to meet the host's physiological demands.

Niche Overlap of Congeneric Invaders Supports a Single-Species Hypothesis and Provides Insight into Future Invasion Risk: Implications for Global Management of the Bactrocera dorsalis Complex

PubMed Central

Hill, Matthew P.; Terblanche, John S.

2014-01-01

Background The invasive fruit fly, Bactrocera invadens, has expanded its range rapidly over the past 10 years. Here we aimed to determine if the recent range expansion of Bactrocera invadens into southern Africa can be better understood through niche exploration tools, ecological niche models (ENMs), and through incorporating information about Bactrocera dorsalis s.s., a putative conspecific species from Asia. We test for niche overlap of environmental variables between Bactrocera invadens and Bactrocera dorsalis s.s. as well as two other putative conspecific species, Bactrocera philippinensis and B. papayae. We examine overlap and similarity in the geographical expression of each species’ realised niche through reciprocal distribution models between Africa and Asia. We explore different geographical backgrounds, environmental variables and model complexity with multiple and single Bactrocera species hypotheses in an attempt to predict the recent range expansion of B. invadens into northern parts of South Africa. Principal Findings Bactrocera invadens has a high degree of niche overlap with B. dorsalis s.s. (and B. philippinensis and B. papayae). Ecological niche models built for Bactrocera dorsalis s.s. have high transferability to describe the range of B. invadens, and B. invadens is able to project to the core range of B. dorsalis s.s. The ENMs of both Bactrocera dorsalis and B. dorsalis combined with B. philipenesis and B. papayae have significantly higher predictive ability to capture the distribution points in South Africa than for B. invadens alone. Conclusions/Significance Consistent with other studies proposing these Bactrocera species as conspecific, niche similarity and overlap between these species is high. Considering these other Bactrocera dorsalis complex species simultaneously better describes the range expansion and invasion potential of B. invadens in South Africa. We suggest that these species should be considered the same–at least

Field infestation of rambutan fruits by internal-feeding pests in Hawaii.

PubMed

McQuate, G T; Follett, P A; Yoshimoto, J M

2000-06-01

More than 47,000 mature fruits of nine different varieties of rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) were harvested from orchards in Hawaii to assess natural levels of infestation by tephritid fruit flies and other internal feeding pests. Additionally, harvested, mature fruits of seven different rambutan varieties were artificially infested with eggs or first-instars of Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), or oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) to assess host suitability. When all varieties were combined over two field seasons of sampling, fruit infestation rates were 0.021% for oriental fruit fly, 0.097% for Cryptophlebia spp. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), and 0.85% for pyralids (Lepidoptera). Species of Cryptophlebia included both C. illepida (Butler), the native Hawaiian species, and C. ombrodelta (Lower), an introduced species from Australia. Cryptophlebia spp. had not previously been known to attack rambutan. The pyralid infestation was mainly attributable to Cryptoblabes gnidiella (Milliere), a species also not previously recorded on rambutan in Hawaii. Overall infestation rate for other moths in the families Blastobasidae, Gracillariidae, Tineidae, and Tortricidae was 0.061%. In artificially infested fruits, both species of fruit fly showed moderately high survivorship for all varieties tested. Because rambutan has such low rates of infestation by oriental fruit fly and Cryptophlebia spp., the two primary internal-feeding regulatory pests of rambutan in Hawaii, it may be amenable to the alternative treatment efficacy approach to postharvest quarantine treatment.

A Novel Method for Tracking Individuals of Fruit Fly Swarms Flying in a Laboratory Flight Arena.

PubMed

Cheng, Xi En; Qian, Zhi-Ming; Wang, Shuo Hong; Jiang, Nan; Guo, Aike; Chen, Yan Qiu

2015-01-01

The growing interest in studying social behaviours of swarming fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, has heightened the need for developing tools that provide quantitative motion data. To achieve such a goal, multi-camera three-dimensional tracking technology is the key experimental gateway. We have developed a novel tracking system for tracking hundreds of fruit flies flying in a confined cubic flight arena. In addition to the proposed tracking algorithm, this work offers additional contributions in three aspects: body detection, orientation estimation, and data validation. To demonstrate the opportunities that the proposed system offers for generating high-throughput quantitative motion data, we conducted experiments on five experimental configurations. We also performed quantitative analysis on the kinematics and the spatial structure and the motion patterns of fruit fly swarms. We found that there exists an asymptotic distance between fruit flies in swarms as the population density increases. Further, we discovered the evidence for repulsive response when the distance between fruit flies approached the asymptotic distance. Overall, the proposed tracking system presents a powerful method for studying flight behaviours of fruit flies in a three-dimensional environment.

Releases of Psyttalia fletcheri (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and sterile flies to suppress melon fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Hawaii.

PubMed

Vargas, Roger I; Long, Jay; Miller, Neil W; Delate, Kathleen; Jackson, Charles G; Uchida, Grant K; Bautista, Renato C; Harris, Ernie J

2004-10-01

Ivy gourd, Coccinia grandis (L.) Voigt, patches throughout Kailua-Kona, Hawaii Island, HI, were identified as persistent sources of melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett). These patches had a low incidence of Psyttalia fletcheri (Silvestri), its major braconid parasitoid natural enemy in Hawaii, and were used to evaluate augmentative releases of P. fletcheri against melon fly. In field cage studies of releases, numbers of melon flies emerging from ivy gourd fruit placed inside treatment cages were reduced up to 21-fold, and numbers of parasitoids were increased 11-fold. In open field releases of P. fletcheri into ivy gourd patches, parasitization rates were increased 4.7 times in release plots compared with those in control plots. However, there was no significant reduction in emergence of melon flies from fruit. In subsequent cage tests with sterile melon flies and P. fletcheri, combinations of sterile flies and P. fletcheri produced the greatest reduction (9-fold) in melon fly emergence from zucchini, Cucurbita pepo L. Reductions obtained with sterile flies alone or in combination with parasitoids were significantly greater than those in the control, whereas those for parasitoids alone were not. Although these results suggest that the effects of sterile flies were greater than those for parasitoids, from a multitactic melon fly management strategy, sterile flies would complement the effects of P. fletcheri. Cost and sustainability of these nonchemical approaches will be examined further in an ongoing areawide pest management program for melon fly in Hawaii.

Feeding and attraction of non-target flies to spinosad-based fruit fly bait.

PubMed

Wang, Xin-Geng; Messing, Russell H

2006-10-01

A spinosad-based fruit fly bait, GF-120, has recently become a primary tool for area-wide suppression or eradication of pest tephritid fruit flies. The present study assessed the attraction and feeding of five non-target fly species to GF-120 in Hawaii. These non-target flies include three beneficial tephritid species [Eutreta xanthochaeta (Aldrich), Tetreuaresta obscuriventris (Loew), Ensina sonchi (L.)] introduced for weed biological control, an endemic Hawaiian tephritid [Trupanea dubautiae (Bryan)] (all Diptera: Tephritidae) and the cosmopolitan Drosophila melanogaster Meigen (Diptera: Drosophilidae). All five non-target fly species were susceptible to GF-120, as was the target pest Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann). Feeding on, or even brief tasting of, GF-120 killed all fly species within 2 h. When individual flies were provided with a choice of GF-120 or honey solution, there was no difference in the frequency of first food encounter by E. xanthochaeta, D. melanogaster or C. capitata. The other three non-target species approached honey more often than GF-120 in their first food encounter. Feeding times on GF-120 and honey were not significantly different for D. melanogaster and C. capitata, while the other four non-target species fed longer on honey than on GF-120. There was no significant difference in feeding time on honey versus GF-120 between males and females of each species. These results suggest that area-wide treatment using GF-120 for the purpose of eradication of pest fruit flies has potential negative impacts on these and other non-target fly species in Hawaii.

A Novel Method for Tracking Individuals of Fruit Fly Swarms Flying in a Laboratory Flight Arena

PubMed Central

Cheng, Xi En; Qian, Zhi-Ming; Wang, Shuo Hong; Jiang, Nan; Guo, Aike; Chen, Yan Qiu

2015-01-01

The growing interest in studying social behaviours of swarming fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, has heightened the need for developing tools that provide quantitative motion data. To achieve such a goal, multi-camera three-dimensional tracking technology is the key experimental gateway. We have developed a novel tracking system for tracking hundreds of fruit flies flying in a confined cubic flight arena. In addition to the proposed tracking algorithm, this work offers additional contributions in three aspects: body detection, orientation estimation, and data validation. To demonstrate the opportunities that the proposed system offers for generating high-throughput quantitative motion data, we conducted experiments on five experimental configurations. We also performed quantitative analysis on the kinematics and the spatial structure and the motion patterns of fruit fly swarms. We found that there exists an asymptotic distance between fruit flies in swarms as the population density increases. Further, we discovered the evidence for repulsive response when the distance between fruit flies approached the asymptotic distance. Overall, the proposed tracking system presents a powerful method for studying flight behaviours of fruit flies in a three-dimensional environment. PMID:26083385

Seasonal Distributions of the Western Cherry Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) Among Host and Nonhost Fruit Trees

PubMed Central

Yee, Wee L.

2014-01-01

Abstract Seasonal distributions of the western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran (Diptera: Tephritidae), in sweet cherry ( Prunus avium (L.) L.) (major host), black hawthorn (occasional developmental host) ( Crataegus douglasii Lindley), and other trees were determined in a ponderosa pine ecosystem in Washington state, USA. The hypothesis that most fly dispersal from cherry trees occurs after fruit senesce or drop was tested, with emphasis on movement to black hawthorn trees. Sweet cherry fruit developed earlier than black hawthorn, bitter cherry (common host), choke cherry, and apple fruit. Flies were usually captured first in sweet cherry trees but were caught in bitter cherry and other trees throughout the season. Peak fly capture periods in sweet cherry began around the same time or slightly earlier than in other trees. However, peak fly capture periods in black hawthorn and other nonsweet cherry trees continued after peak periods in sweet cherry ended, or relative fly numbers within sweet cherry declined more quickly than those within other trees. Larvae were reared from sweet and bitter cherry but not black hawthorn fruit. Results provide partial support for the hypothesis in that although R. indifferens commonly disperses from sweet cherry trees with fruit, it could disperse more, or more flies are retained in nonsweet cherry trees after than before sweet cherries drop. This could allow opportunities for the flies to use other fruit for larval development. Although R . indifferens infestation in black hawthorn was not detected, early season fly dispersal to this and other trees and fly presence in bitter cherry could make fly management in sweet cherry difficult. PMID:25527581

Function of the natalisin receptor in mating of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) and identification of agonists/antagonists

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Natalisins (NTLs) are conservative neuropeptides, which are only found in arthropods and have been documented to regulate reproductive behaviors in insect species. In our previous study, we have confirmed NTL regulates the reproductive process in an important agricultural pest, Bactrocera dorsalis ...

Social attraction mediated by fruit flies' microbiome.

PubMed

Venu, Isvarya; Durisko, Zachary; Xu, Jianping; Dukas, Reuven

2014-04-15

Larval and adult fruit flies are attracted to volatiles emanating from food substrates that have been occupied by larvae. We tested whether such volatiles are emitted by the larval gut bacteria by conducting tests under bacteria-free (axenic) conditions. We also tested attraction to two bacteria species, Lactobacillus brevis, which we cultured from larvae in our lab, and L. plantarum, a common constituent of fruit flies' microbiome in other laboratory populations and in wild fruit flies. Neither larvae nor adults showed attraction to axenic food that had been occupied by axenic larvae, but both showed the previously reported attraction to standard food that had been occupied by larvae with an intact microbiome. Larvae also showed significant attraction to volatiles from axenic food and larvae to which we added only either L. brevis or L. plantarum, and volatiles from L. brevis reared on its optimal growth medium. Controlled learning experiments indicated that larvae experienced with both standard and axenic used food do not perceive either as superior, while focal larvae experienced with simulated used food, which contains burrows, perceive it as superior to unused food. Our results suggest that flies rely on microbiome-derived volatiles for long-distance attraction to suitable food patches. Under natural settings, fruits often contain harmful fungi and bacteria, and both L. brevis and L. plantarum produce compounds that suppress the growth of some antagonistic fungi and bacteria. The larval microbiome volatiles may therefore lead prospective fruit flies towards substrates with a hospitable microbial environment.

Seasonal distributions of the western cherry fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) among host and nonhost fruit trees.

PubMed

Yee, Wee L

2014-01-01

Seasonal distributions of the western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran (Diptera: Tephritidae), in sweet cherry (Prunus avium (L.) L.) (major host), black hawthorn (occasional developmental host) (Crataegus douglasii Lindley), and other trees were determined in a ponderosa pine ecosystem in Washington state, USA. The hypothesis that most fly dispersal from cherry trees occurs after fruit senesce or drop was tested, with emphasis on movement to black hawthorn trees. Sweet cherry fruit developed earlier than black hawthorn, bitter cherry (common host), choke cherry, and apple fruit. Flies were usually captured first in sweet cherry trees but were caught in bitter cherry and other trees throughout the season. Peak fly capture periods in sweet cherry began around the same time or slightly earlier than in other trees. However, peak fly capture periods in black hawthorn and other nonsweet cherry trees continued after peak periods in sweet cherry ended, or relative fly numbers within sweet cherry declined more quickly than those within other trees. Larvae were reared from sweet and bitter cherry but not black hawthorn fruit. Results provide partial support for the hypothesis in that although R. indifferens commonly disperses from sweet cherry trees with fruit, it could disperse more, or more flies are retained in nonsweet cherry trees after than before sweet cherries drop. This could allow opportunities for the flies to use other fruit for larval development. Although R. indifferens infestation in black hawthorn was not detected, early season fly dispersal to this and other trees and fly presence in bitter cherry could make fly management in sweet cherry difficult. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Entomological Society of America 2014. This work is written by a US Government employee and is in the public domain in the US.

Global Establishment Risk of Economically Important Fruit Fly Species (Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Qin, Yujia; Paini, Dean R.; Wang, Cong; Fang, Yan; Li, Zhihong

2015-01-01

The global invasion of Tephritidae (fruit flies) attracts a great deal of attention in the field of plant quarantine and invasion biology because of their economic importance. Predicting which one in hundreds of potential invasive fruit fly species is most likely to establish in a region presents a significant challenge, but can be facilitated using a self organising map (SOM), which is able to analyse species associations to rank large numbers of species simultaneously with an index of establishment. A global presence/absence dataset including 180 economically significant fruit fly species in 118 countries was analysed using a SOM. We compare and contrast ranked lists from six countries selected from each continent, and also show that those countries geographically close were clustered together by the SOM analysis because they have similar fruit fly assemblages. These closely clustered countries therefore represent greater threats to each other as sources of invasive fruit fly species. Finally, we indicate how this SOM method could be utilized as an initial screen to support prioritizing fruit fly species for further research into their potential to invade a region. PMID:25588025

Response of Olive Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) to an Attract-and-Kill Trap in Greenhouse Cage Tests

PubMed Central

Yokoyama, Victoria Y.

2014-01-01

Abstract A novel attract-and-kill trap for olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae), was constructed with yellow corrugated plastic in an inverted cylindrical pan shape formed from a disk and collar. The trap components were tested under three greenhouse temperatures and humidities of warm, hot, and very hot for attractiveness to caged young or older adults. A greater proportion of adults regardless of age were found underneath the devices including disks, cylindrical pans, and pans with pheromone lures and test units of cylindrical pans sprayed with water, insecticidal bait spray, and with lures. The effect was related to lower temperatures on the underside compared with the top and the intolerance of the pest to heat. A circular collar added to the perimeter of the disk that formed the top of the inverted cylinder made the attract-and-kill trap more attractive to adults than the disk alone. Pheromone lures or bait sprays did not increase adult attraction, so were not needed for efficacy. The cylindrical pan was especially attractive to adults when temperatures were high by providing shelter from the heat. At very high temperatures, the pan became unattractive, possibly due to heating of the construction materials. Cylindrical pans sprayed with water on the underside attracted the highest number of adults especially at high temperatures. Greenhouse tests showed that the inverted cylindrical pan design has potential as an attract-and-kill device for olive fruit fly control. PMID:25368094

Genetic and cytogenetic analysis of the olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Mavragani-Tsipidou, P

2002-09-01

The genetic and cytogenetic characteristics of one of the major agricultural pests, the olive fruit fly Bactmcera oleae, are presented here. The mitotic metaphase complement of this insect consists of six pairs of chromosomes including one pair of heteromorphic sex chromosomes, with the male being the heterogametic sex. The analysis of the polytene complements of three larval tissues, the fat body, the salivary glands and the Malpighian tubules of this pest has shown (a) a total number of five long chromosomes (10 polytene arms) that correspond to the five autosomes of the mitotic nuclei and a heterochromatic mass corresponding to the sex chromosomes, (b) the constancy of the banding pattern of the three somatic tissues, (c) the absence of a typical chromocenter as an accumulation of heterochromatin, (d) the existence of reverse tandem duplications, and (e) the presence of toroid tips of the chromosome arms. The in situ hybridization of genes or DNA sequences to the salivary gland polytene chromosomes of B. oleae provided molecular markers for all five autosomes and permitted the establishment of chromosomal homologies among B. olea, B. tryoni and Ceratitis capitata. The heat shock response of B. oleae, as revealed by heat-inducible puffing and protein pattern, shows a higher thermotolerance than Drosophila melanogaster.

Endocytic pathway mediates refractoriness of insect Bactrocera dorsalis to RNA interference

PubMed Central

Li, Xiaoxue; Dong, Xiaolong; Zou, Cong; Zhang, Hongyu

2015-01-01

RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful and convenient tool for sequence-specific gene silencing, and it is triggered by double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). RNAi can be easily achieved in many eukaryotes by either injecting or feeding dsRNAs. This mechanism has demonstrated its potential in fundamental research on genetics, medicine and agriculture. However, the possibility that insects might develop refractoriness to RNAi remains unexplored. In this study, we report that the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, became refractory to RNAi using orally administered dsRNA targeting endogenous genes. Furthermore, refractoriness to RNAi is not gene-specific, and its duration depends on the dsRNA concentration. RNAi blockage requires the endocytic pathway. Fluorescence microscopy indicated that in RNAi refractory flies, dsRNA uptake is blocked. Genes involved in the entry of dsRNAs into cells, including chc, cog3, light and others, are down-regulated in RNAi refractory flies. Increasing the endocytic capacity by improving F-actin polymerization disrupts RNAi refractoriness after both primary and secondary dsRNA exposures. Our results demonstrate that an insect can become refractory to RNAi by preventing the entry of dsRNA into its cells. PMID:25731667

Endocytic pathway mediates refractoriness of insect Bactrocera dorsalis to RNA interference.

PubMed

Li, Xiaoxue; Dong, Xiaolong; Zou, Cong; Zhang, Hongyu

2015-03-03

RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful and convenient tool for sequence-specific gene silencing, and it is triggered by double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). RNAi can be easily achieved in many eukaryotes by either injecting or feeding dsRNAs. This mechanism has demonstrated its potential in fundamental research on genetics, medicine and agriculture. However, the possibility that insects might develop refractoriness to RNAi remains unexplored. In this study, we report that the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, became refractory to RNAi using orally administered dsRNA targeting endogenous genes. Furthermore, refractoriness to RNAi is not gene-specific, and its duration depends on the dsRNA concentration. RNAi blockage requires the endocytic pathway. Fluorescence microscopy indicated that in RNAi refractory flies, dsRNA uptake is blocked. Genes involved in the entry of dsRNAs into cells, including chc, cog3, light and others, are down-regulated in RNAi refractory flies. Increasing the endocytic capacity by improving F-actin polymerization disrupts RNAi refractoriness after both primary and secondary dsRNA exposures. Our results demonstrate that an insect can become refractory to RNAi by preventing the entry of dsRNA into its cells.

Reconstructing the behavior of walking fruit flies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berman, Gordon; Bialek, William; Shaevitz, Joshua

2010-03-01

Over the past century, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has arisen as almost a lingua franca in the study of animal behavior, having been utilized to study questions in fields as diverse as sleep deprivation, aging, and drug abuse, amongst many others. Accordingly, much is known about what can be done to manipulate these organisms genetically, behaviorally, and physiologically. Most of the behavioral work on this system to this point has been experiments where the flies in question have been given a choice between some discrete set of pre-defined behaviors. Our aim, however, is simply to spend some time with a cadre of flies, using techniques from nonlinear dynamics, statistical physics, and machine learning in an attempt to reconstruct and gain understanding into their behavior. More specifically, we use a multi-camera set-up combined with a motion tracking stage in order to obtain long time-series of walking fruit flies moving about a glass plate. This experimental system serves as a test-bed for analytical, statistical, and computational techniques for studying animal behavior. In particular, we attempt to reconstruct the natural modes of behavior for a fruit fly through a data-driven approach in a manner inspired by recent work in C. elegans and cockroaches.

High genetic diversity in the offshore island populations of the tephritid fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis.

PubMed

Yi, Chunyan; Zheng, Chunyan; Zeng, Ling; Xu, Yijuan

2016-10-13

Geographic isolation is an important factor that limit species dispersal and thereby affects genetic diversity. Because islands are often small and surrounded by a natural water barrier to dispersal, they generally form discrete isolated habitats. Therefore, islands may play a key role in the distribution of the genetic diversity of insects, including flies. To characterize the genetic structure of island populations of Bactrocera dorsalis, we analyzed a dataset containing both microsatellite and mtDNA loci of B. dorsalis samples collected from six offshore islands in Southern China. The microsatellite data revealed a high level of genetic diversity among these six island populations based on observed heterozygosity (Ho), expected heterozygosity (H E ), Nei's standard genetic distance (D), genetic identity (I) and the percentage of polymorphic loci (PIC). These island populations had low F ST values (F ST  = 0.04161), and only 4.16 % of the total genetic variation in the species was found on these islands, as determined by an analysis of molecular variance. Based on the mtDNA COI data, high nucleotide diversity (0.9655) and haplotype diversity (0.00680) were observed in all six island populations. F-statistics showed that the six island populations exhibited low or medium levels of genetic differentiation among some island populations. To investigate the population differentiation between the sampled locations, a factorial correspondence analysis and both the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic mean and Bayesian clustering methods were used to analyze the microsatellite data. The results showed that Hebao Island, Weizhou Island and Dong'ao Island were grouped together in one clade. Another clade consisted of Shangchuan Island and Naozhou Island, and a final, separate clade contained only the Wailingding Island population. Phylogenetic analysis of the mtDNA COI sequences revealed that the populations on each of these six islands were closely related to

Molecular characterization of interspecific competition of Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead) and Fopius arisanus (Sonan) parasitizing the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel).

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead) and Fopius arisanus (Sonan), are two of the most abundant and widely used parasitoids for biological control of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) worldwide. However, interspecific competition between them frequently occurs within a single host once they coexist in s...

Tephritid fruit fly transgenesis and applications

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Tephritid fruit flies are among the most serious agricultural pests in the world, owing in large part to those species having broad host ranges including hundreds of fruits and vegetables. They are the largest group of insects subject to population control by a biologically-based systems, most notab...

Managing the Fruit Fly Experiment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jeszenszky, Arleen W.

1997-01-01

Describes a sophisticated version of the fruit fly experiment for teaching concepts about genetics to biology students. Provides students with the opportunity to work with live animals over an extended period. (JRH)

The first complete mitochondrial genome of Bactrocera tsuneonis (Miyake) (Diptera: Tephritidae) by next-generation sequencing and its phylogenetic implications.

PubMed

Zhang, Yue; Feng, Shiqian; Zeng, Yiying; Ning, Hong; Liu, Lijun; Zhao, Zihua; Jiang, Fan; Li, Zhihong

2018-06-23

Bactrocera tsuneonis (Miyake), generally known as the Japanese orange fly, is considered to be a major pest of commercial citrus crops. It has a limited distribution in China, Japan and Vietnam, but it has the potential to invade areas outside of Asia. More genetic information of B. tsuneonis should be obtained in order to develop effective methodologies for rapid and accurate molecular identification due to the difficulty of distinguishing it from Bactrocera minax based on morphological features. We report here the whole mitochondrial genome of B. tsuneonis sequenced by next-generation sequencing. This mitogenome sequence had a total length of 15,865 bp, a typical circular molecule comprising 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes and a non-coding region (A + T-rich control region). The structure and organization of the molecule were typical and similar compared with the published homologous sequences of other fruit flies in Tephritidae. The phylogenetic analyses based on the mitochondrial genome data presented a close genetic relationship between B. tsuneonis and B. minax. This is the first report of the complete mitochondrial genome of B. tsuneonis, and it can be used in further studies of species diagnosis, evolutionary biology, prevention and control. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Predicting fruit fly's sensing rate with insect flight simulations.

PubMed

Chang, Song; Wang, Z Jane

2014-08-05

Without sensory feedback, flies cannot fly. Exactly how various feedback controls work in insects is a complex puzzle to solve. What do insects measure to stabilize their flight? How often and how fast must insects adjust their wings to remain stable? To gain insights into algorithms used by insects to control their dynamic instability, we develop a simulation tool to study free flight. To stabilize flight, we construct a control algorithm that modulates wing motion based on discrete measurements of the body-pitch orientation. Our simulations give theoretical bounds on both the sensing rate and the delay time between sensing and actuation. Interpreting our findings together with experimental results on fruit flies' reaction time and sensory motor reflexes, we conjecture that fruit flies sense their kinematic states every wing beat to stabilize their flight. We further propose a candidate for such a control involving the fly's haltere and first basalar motor neuron. Although we focus on fruit flies as a case study, the framework for our simulation and discrete control algorithms is applicable to studies of both natural and man-made fliers.

Anti-insect potential of lectins from Arisaema species towards Bactrocera cucurbitae.

PubMed

Kaur, Manpreet; Singh, Kuljinder; Rup, Pushpinder J; Kamboj, Sukhdev Singh; Singh, Jatinder

2009-11-01

Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett), also known as melon fruit fly, is one of the major insect pests of cucurbits in several parts of Asia, Africa and Pacific. In the present investigation, effect of lectins from two sources i.e. Arisaema intermedium Blume and Arisaema wallichianum Hook f. (Family-Araceae) has been studied on the development of second instar larvae of melon fruit fly. The lectins were incorporated separately in artificial diet at a concentration of 10 to 160 microg ml(-1) and fed adlibitum to the second instar larvae. Both the lectins were found to prolong the development period and significantly inhibited the pupation and emergence in a dose dependent manner. Total development period was found to be prolonged by 3.5 and 2.3 days in case of larvae fed on artificial diet containing A. intermedium (AIL) and A. wallichianum (AWL), respectively. LC50 values calculated on the basis of adult emergence came out to be 32.8 and 29 microg ml(-1) for AIL and AWL, respectively. Both the lectins tested, were found to increase the activity of esterases as larvae proceeded from 24 to 72 hr of treatment. The activity of acid phosphatase decreased significantly in larvae reared on diet containing LC50 of AIL, while in case of AWL significant decrease was observed only at 72 hr of treatment. Alkaline phosphatase activity decreased significantly on treatment with both of these lectins. These results showed that AIL and AWL have promising anti-insect potential. So, lectin gene/s from either of these species can be cloned and subsequently can be employed to develop transgenics to control melon fruit flies specifically and insect pests in general. This approach could be used as a part of Integrated pest management (IPM) strategies.

DNA barcoding and real-time PCR detection of Bactrocera xanthodes (Tephritidae: Diptera) complex.

PubMed

Li, D; Waite, D W; Gunawardana, D N; McCarthy, B; Anderson, D; Flynn, A; George, S

2018-05-06

Immature fruit fly stages of the family Tephritidae are commonly intercepted on breadfruit from Pacific countries at the New Zealand border but are unable to be identified to the species level using morphological characters. Subsequent molecular identification showed that they belong to Bactrocera xanthodes, which is part of a species complex that includes Bactrocera paraxanthodes, Bactrocera neoxanthodes and an undescribed species. To establish a more reliable molecular identification system for B. xanthodes, a reference database of DNA barcode sequences for the 5'-fragment of COI gene region was constructed for B. xanthodes from Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. To better understand the species complex, B. neoxanthodes from Vanuatu and B. paraxanthodes from New Caledonia were also barcoded. Using the results of this analysis, real-time TaqMan polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for the detection of B. xanthodes complex and for the three individual species of the complex were developed and validated. The assay showed high specificity for the target species, with no cross-reaction observed for closely related organisms. Each of the real-time PCR assays is sensitive, detecting the target sequences at concentrations as low as ten copies µl-1 and can be used as either singleplex or multiplex formats. This real-time PCR assay for B. xanthodes has been successfully applied at the borders in New Zealand, leading to the rapid identification of intercepted Tephritidae eggs and larvae. The developed assays will be useful biosecurity tools for rapid detection of species in the B. xanthodes complex worldwide.

Phytosanitary treatments against Bactrocera dorsalis(Diptera: Tephritidae): current situation and future prospects

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Bactrocera dorsalis(Hendel)(Diptera: Tephritidae) is arguably the most important tephritid attacking fruits after Ceratitis capitata(Wiedemann)(Diptera: Tephritidae). In 2003, it was found in Africa and quickly spread to most of the sub-Saharan part of the continent destroying fruits and creating re...

Methyl eugenol aromatherapy enhances the mating competitiveness of male Bactrocera carambolae Drew & Hancock (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Haq, Ihsan; Vreysen, Marc J B; Cacéres, Carlos; Shelly, Todd E; Hendrichs, Jorge

2014-09-01

Males of Bactrocera carambolae Drew & Hancock (Diptera: Tephritidae) are strongly attracted to methyl eugenol (ME) (1,2-dimethoxy-4-(2-propenyl)benzene), a natural compound occurring in variety of plant species. ME-feeding is known to enhance male B. carambolae mating competitiveness 3 days after feeding. Enhanced male mating competitiveness due to ME-feeding can increase the effectiveness of sterile insect technique (SIT) manifolds. However, the common methods for emergence and holding fruit flies prior to field releases do not allow the inclusion of any ME feeding treatment after fly emergence. Therefore this study was planned to assess the effects of ME-aromatherapy in comparison with ME feeding on male B. carambolae mating competitiveness as aromatherapy is pragmatic for fruit flies emergence and holding facilities. Effects of ME application by feeding or by aromatherapy for enhanced mating competitiveness were evaluated 3d after treatments in field cages. ME feeding and ME aromatherapy enhanced male mating competitiveness as compared to untreated males. Males treated with ME either by feeding or by aromatherapy showed similar mating success but mating success was significantly higher than that of untreated males. The results are discussed in the context of application of ME by aromatherapy as a pragmatic approach in a mass-rearing facility and its implications for effectiveness of SIT. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Automated Surveillance of Fruit Flies

PubMed Central

Potamitis, Ilyas; Rigakis, Iraklis; Tatlas, Nicolaos-Alexandros

2017-01-01

Insects of the Diptera order of the Tephritidae family cause costly, annual crop losses worldwide. Monitoring traps are important components of integrated pest management programs used against fruit flies. Here we report the modification of typical, low-cost plastic traps for fruit flies by adding the necessary optoelectronic sensors to monitor the entrance of the trap in order to detect, time-stamp, GPS tag, and identify the species of incoming insects from the optoacoustic spectrum analysis of their wingbeat. We propose that the incorporation of automated streaming of insect counts, environmental parameters and GPS coordinates into informative visualization of collective behavior will finally enable better decision making across spatial and temporal scales, as well as administrative levels. The device presented is at product level of maturity as it has solved many pending issues presented in a previously reported study. PMID:28075346

Augmentative Biological Control Using Parasitoids for Fruit Fly Management in Brazil

PubMed Central

Garcia, Flávio R. M.; Ricalde, Marcelo P.

2012-01-01

The history of classical biological control of fruit flies in Brazil includes two reported attempts in the past 70 years. The first occurred in 1937 when an African species of parasitoid larvae (Tetrastichus giffardianus) was introduced to control the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata and other tephritids. The second occurred in September 1994 when the exotic parasitoid Diachasmimorpha longicaudata, originally from Gainesville, Florida, was introduced by a Brazilian agricultural corporation (EMBRAPA) to evaluate the parasitoid’s potential for the biological control of Anastrepha spp. and Ceratitis capitata. Although there are numerous native Brazilian fruit fly parasitoids, mass rearing of these native species is difficult. Thus, D. longicaudata was chosen due to its specificity for the family Tephritidae and its ease of laboratory rearing. In this paper we review the literature on Brazilian fruit fly biological control and suggest that those tactics can be used on a large scale, together creating a biological barrier to the introduction of new fruit fly populations, reducing the source of outbreaks and the risk of species spread, while decreasing the use of insecticides on fruit destined for domestic and foreign markets. PMID:26466795

Existence of species complex largely reduced barcoding success for invasive species of Tephritidae: a case study in Bactrocera spp.

PubMed

Jiang, F; Jin, Q; Liang, L; Zhang, A B; Li, Z H

2014-11-01

Fruit flies in the family Tephritidae are the economically important pests that have many species complexes. DNA barcoding has gradually been verified as an effective tool for identifying species in a wide range of taxonomic groups, and there are several publications on rapid and accurate identification of fruit flies based on this technique; however, comprehensive analyses of large and new taxa for the effectiveness of DNA barcoding for fruit flies identification have been rare. In this study, we evaluated the COI barcode sequences for the diagnosis of fruit flies using 1426 sequences for 73 species of Bactrocera distributed worldwide. Tree-based [neighbour-joining (NJ)]; distance-based, such as Best Match (BM), Best Close Match (BCM) and Minimum Distance (MD); and character-based methods were used to evaluate the barcoding success rates obtained with maintaining the species complex in the data set, treating a species complex as a single taxon unit, and removing the species complex. Our results indicate that the average divergence between species was 14.04% (0.00-25.16%), whereas within a species this was 0.81% (0.00-9.71%); the existence of species complexes largely reduced the barcoding success for Tephritidae, for example relatively low success rates (74.4% based on BM and BCM and 84.8% based on MD) were obtained when the sequences from species complexes were included in the analysis, whereas significantly higher success rates were achieved if the species complexes were treated as a single taxon or removed from the data set - BM (98.9%), BCM (98.5%) and MD (97.5%), or BM (98.1%), BCM (97.4%) and MD (98.2%). © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Near full-length 16S rRNA gene next-generation sequencing revealed Asaia as a common midgut bacterium of wild and domesticated Queensland fruit fly larvae.

PubMed

Deutscher, Ania T; Burke, Catherine M; Darling, Aaron E; Riegler, Markus; Reynolds, Olivia L; Chapman, Toni A

2018-05-05

Gut microbiota affects tephritid (Diptera: Tephritidae) fruit fly development, physiology, behavior, and thus the quality of flies mass-reared for the sterile insect technique (SIT), a target-specific, sustainable, environmentally benign form of pest management. The Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Tephritidae), is a significant horticultural pest in Australia and can be managed with SIT. Little is known about the impacts that laboratory-adaptation (domestication) and mass-rearing have on the tephritid larval gut microbiome. Read lengths of previous fruit fly next-generation sequencing (NGS) studies have limited the resolution of microbiome studies, and the diversity within populations is often overlooked. In this study, we used a new near full-length (> 1300 nt) 16S rRNA gene amplicon NGS approach to characterize gut bacterial communities of individual B. tryoni larvae from two field populations (developing in peaches) and three domesticated populations (mass- or laboratory-reared on artificial diets). Near full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences were obtained for 56 B. tryoni larvae. OTU clustering at 99% similarity revealed that gut bacterial diversity was low and significantly lower in domesticated larvae. Bacteria commonly associated with fruit (Acetobacteraceae, Enterobacteriaceae, and Leuconostocaceae) were detected in wild larvae, but were largely absent from domesticated larvae. However, Asaia, an acetic acid bacterium not frequently detected within adult tephritid species, was detected in larvae of both wild and domesticated populations (55 out of 56 larval gut samples). Larvae from the same single peach shared a similar gut bacterial profile, whereas larvae from different peaches collected from the same tree had different gut bacterial profiles. Clustering of the Asaia near full-length sequences at 100% similarity showed that the wild flies from different locations had different Asaia strains. Variation in the gut bacterial communities of B

Bombykol receptors in the silkworm moth and the fruit fly

PubMed Central

Syed, Zainulabeuddin; Kopp, Artyom; Kimbrell, Deborah A.; Leal, Walter S.

2010-01-01

Male moths are endowed with odorant receptors (ORs) to detect species-specific sex pheromones with remarkable sensitivity and selectivity. We serendipitously discovered that an endogenous OR in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is highly sensitive to the sex pheromone of the silkworm moth, bombykol. Intriguingly, the fruit fly detectors are more sensitive than the receptors of the silkworm moth, although its ecological significance is unknown. By expression in the “empty neuron” system, we identified the fruit fly bombykol-sensitive OR as DmelOR7a (= DmOR7a). The profiles of this receptor in response to bombykol in the native sensilla (ab4) or expressed in the empty neuron system (ab3 sensilla) are indistinguishable. Both WT and transgenic flies responded with high sensitivity, in a dose-dependent manner, and with rapid signal termination. In contrast, the same empty neuron expressing the moth bombykol receptor, BmorOR1, demonstrated low sensitivity and slow signal inactivation. When expressed in the trichoid sensilla T1 of the fruit fly, the neuron housing BmorOR1 responded with sensitivity comparable to that of the native trichoid sensilla in the silkworm moth. By challenging the native bombykol receptor in the fruit fly with high doses of another odorant to which the receptor responds with the highest sensitivity, we demonstrate that slow signal termination is induced by overdose of a stimulus. As opposed to the empty neuron system in the basiconic sensilla, the structural, biochemical, and/or biophysical features of the sensilla make the T1 trichoid system of the fly a better surrogate for the moth receptor. PMID:20439725

Grapefruit as a host for the West Indian fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Mangan, Robert L; Thomas, Donald B; Moreno, Aleena Tarshis; Robacker, David

2011-02-01

The most common hosts for the West Indian fruit fly, Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart) (Diptera: Tephritidae) are fruit in the family Anacardiaceae (mango [Mangifera L.] and mombin [Spondias L.] species). However, similar to many of the tropical fruit flies of major economic importance, this species attacks several other families of crop fruit, including Annonaceae (cherimoya, Annona cherimola Mill.), Myrtaceae (guava, Psidium L.), Oxalidaceae (carambola, Averrhoa carambola L.), Passifloraceae (granadilla, Passiflora quadrangularis Mill.), and Sapotaceae [mamey sapote, Pouteria sapota (Jacq.) H. E. Moore & Steam]. In the family Rutaceae the economically important genus Citrus has been reported and until recently considered a host for this fruit fly. In this study, we reviewed the taxonomy of A. obliqua, tested specific chemicals that may inhibit oviposition, compared egg-to-adult survival of A. obliqua on preferred hosts and on grapefruit (Citrus X paradisi Macfad.), and measured fruit tissue-specific developmental rates of A. obliqua and the known citrus breeding Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens (Loew) (Diptera: Tephritidae), from egg to pupae. Our literature review shows much confusion concerning the taxonomy of this and related Anastrepha species, including synonymies and confusion with other species. The deterrent effect of the highest concentration of flavonoids for oviposition, although significant, was not absolute. Experiments carried out under laboratory conditions showed 15-40 times greater survival of A. ludens (whose preferred hosts include Rutaceae) on grapefruit compared with A. obliqua for both tree attached and harvested fruit. Experiments of survival of developing stages over time showed that the two species oviposit into different tissues in the fruit, and mortality is much higher for the West Indian fruit fly in the flavedo and albedo of the fruit compared with the Mexican fruit fly.

A high-throughput detection method for invasive fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) species based on microfluidic dynamic array.

PubMed

Jiang, Fan; Fu, Wei; Clarke, Anthony R; Schutze, Mark Kurt; Susanto, Agus; Zhu, Shuifang; Li, Zhihong

2016-11-01

Invasive species can be detrimental to a nation's ecology, economy and human health. Rapid and accurate diagnostics are critical to limit the establishment and spread of exotic organisms. The increasing rate of biological invasions relative to the taxonomic expertise available generates a demand for high-throughput, DNA-based diagnostics methods for identification. We designed species-specific qPCR primer and probe combinations for 27 economically important tephritidae species in six genera (Anastrepha, Bactrocera, Carpomya, Ceratitis, Dacus and Rhagoletis) based on 935 COI DNA barcode haplotypes from 181 fruit fly species publically available in BOLD, and then tested the specificity for each primer pair and probe through qPCR of 35 of those species. We then developed a standardization reaction system for detecting the 27 target species based on a microfluidic dynamic array and also applied the method to identify unknown immature samples from port interceptions and field monitoring. This method led to a specific and simultaneous detection for all 27 species in 7.5 h, using only 0.2 μL of reaction system in each reaction chamber. The approach successfully discriminated among species within complexes that had genetic similarities of up to 98.48%, while it also identified all immature samples consistent with the subsequent results of morphological examination of adults which were reared from larvae of cohorts from the same samples. We present an accurate, rapid and high-throughput innovative approach for detecting fruit flies of quarantine concern. This is a new method which has broad potential to be one of international standards for plant quarantine and invasive species detection. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Dynamics of pH modification of an acidic protein bait used for tropical fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Heath, Robert R; Vazquez, Aime; Schnell, Elena Q; Villareal, Janett; Kendra, Paul E; Epsky, Nancy D

2009-12-01

Several species of Anastrepha and Bactrocera fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) are captured in traps baited with the protein bait NuLure combined with borax (sodium tetraborate decahydrate) in an aqueous solution, typically 9% NuLure (vol:vol) with 3% borax (wt:vol). NuLure is an acid hydrolysate of corn and has an acidic pH. Addition of borax makes the solution more alkaline, and increase in alkalinity results in increase of ammonia release from the bait solution. This is a very dynamic system, with resultant pH affected by factors such as the amount of borax added, the pH of the water used for preparation, the age of the bait solution, and the development of microbial growth. Problems with borax include amount needed to increase alkalinity of NuLure solutions, which creates difficulties in disposing of spent bait in fruit fly trapping programs. Therefore, research was conducted to evaluate NaOH as an alternative method to increase alkalinity of NuLure solutions. Laboratory experiments compared effect of NaOH versus borax for pH modification on changes in pH and ammonia content of NuLure solutions over time. Although NuLure/NaOH solutions could be adjusted to a more alkaline pH than NuLure/borax solutions, borax plays a critical role in pH stability over time. However, the pH of NuLure/NaOH is stabilized when propylene glycol (10% vol:vol) was used to prepare the bait solution. The use of NaOH can provide an alternative to the use of borax to increase bait solution alkalinity.

Development of a genetic sexing strain in Bactrocera carambolae (Diptera: Tephritidae) by introgression of sex sorting components from B. dorsalis, Salaya1 strain

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The carambola fruit fly, Bactrocera carambolae Drew & Hancock is a high profile key pest that is widely distributed in the southwestern ASEAN region. In addition, it has trans-continentally invaded Suriname, where it has been expanding east and southward since 1975. This fruit fly belongs to Bactrocera dorsalis species complex. The development and application of a genetic sexing strain (Salaya1) of B. dorsalis sensu stricto (s.s.) (Hendel) for the sterile insect technique (SIT) has improved the fruit fly control. However, matings between B. dorsalis s.s. and B. carambolae are incompatible, which hinder the application of the Salaya1 strain to control the carambola fruit fly. To solve this problem, we introduced genetic sexing components from the Salaya1 strain into the B. carambolae genome by interspecific hybridization. Results Morphological characteristics, mating competitiveness, male pheromone profiles, and genetic relationships revealed consistencies that helped to distinguish Salaya1 and B. carambolae strains. A Y-autosome translocation linking the dominant wild-type allele of white pupae gene and a free autosome carrying a recessive white pupae homologue from the Salaya1 strain were introgressed into the gene pool of B. carambolae. A panel of Y-pseudo-linked microsatellite loci of the Salaya1 strain served as markers for the introgression experiments. This resulted in a newly derived genetic sexing strain called Salaya5, with morphological characteristics corresponding to B. carambolae. The rectal gland pheromone profile of Salaya5 males also contained a distinctive component of B. carambolae. Microsatellite DNA analyses confirmed the close genetic relationships between the Salaya5 strain and wild B. carambolae populations. Further experiments showed that the sterile males of Salaya5 can compete with wild males for mating with wild females in field cage conditions. Conclusions Introgression of sex sorting components from the Salaya1 strain to a

Development of a genetic sexing strain in Bactrocera carambolae (Diptera: Tephritidae) by introgression of sex sorting components from B. dorsalis, Salaya1 strain.

PubMed

Isasawin, Siriwan; Aketarawong, Nidchaya; Lertsiri, Sittiwat; Thanaphum, Sujinda

2014-01-01

The carambola fruit fly, Bactrocera carambolae Drew & Hancock is a high profile key pest that is widely distributed in the southwestern ASEAN region. In addition, it has trans-continentally invaded Suriname, where it has been expanding east and southward since 1975. This fruit fly belongs to Bactrocera dorsalis species complex. The development and application of a genetic sexing strain (Salaya1) of B. dorsalis sensu stricto (s.s.) (Hendel) for the sterile insect technique (SIT) has improved the fruit fly control. However, matings between B. dorsalis s.s. and B. carambolae are incompatible, which hinder the application of the Salaya1 strain to control the carambola fruit fly. To solve this problem, we introduced genetic sexing components from the Salaya1 strain into the B. carambolae genome by interspecific hybridization. Morphological characteristics, mating competitiveness, male pheromone profiles, and genetic relationships revealed consistencies that helped to distinguish Salaya1 and B. carambolae strains. A Y-autosome translocation linking the dominant wild-type allele of white pupae gene and a free autosome carrying a recessive white pupae homologue from the Salaya1 strain were introgressed into the gene pool of B. carambolae. A panel of Y-pseudo-linked microsatellite loci of the Salaya1 strain served as markers for the introgression experiments. This resulted in a newly derived genetic sexing strain called Salaya5, with morphological characteristics corresponding to B. carambolae. The rectal gland pheromone profile of Salaya5 males also contained a distinctive component of B. carambolae. Microsatellite DNA analyses confirmed the close genetic relationships between the Salaya5 strain and wild B. carambolae populations. Further experiments showed that the sterile males of Salaya5 can compete with wild males for mating with wild females in field cage conditions. Introgression of sex sorting components from the Salaya1 strain to a closely related B. carambolae

Field trials of solid triple lure (trimedlure, methyl eugenol, raspberry ketone, and DDVP) dispensers for detection and male annihilation of Ceratitis capitata, Bactrocera dorsalis, and Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Hawaii.

PubMed

Vargas, Roger I; Souder, Steven K; Mackey, Bruce; Cook, Peter; Morse, Joseph G; Stark, John D

2012-10-01

Solid Mallet TMR (trimedlure [TML], methyl eugenol [ME], raspberry ketone [RK]) wafers and Mallet CMR (ceralure, ME, RK, benzyl acetate) wafers impregnated with DDVP (2,2-dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate) insecticide were measured in traps as potential detection and male annihilation technique (MAT) devices. Comparisons were made with 1) liquid lure and insecticide formulations, 2) solid cones and plugs with an insecticidal strip, and 3) solid single and double lure wafers with DDVP for captures of Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann); oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel; and melon fly, B. cucurbitae Coquillett. Bucket and Jackson traps were tested in a coffee plantation near Eleele, Kauai Island, HI (trials at high populations) and avocado orchards near Kona, HI Island, HI (trials at low populations). Captures of all three species with Mallet TMR were not different from Mallet CMR; therefore, subsequent experiments did not include Mallet CMR because of higher production costs. In MAT trials near Eleele, HI captures in AWPM traps with Mallet TMR wafers were equal to any other solid lure (single or double) except the Mallet ME wafer. In survey trials near Kona, captures of C. capitata, B. cucurbitae, and B. dorsalis with Mallet TMR wafers were equal to those for the standard TML, ME, and C-L traps used in FL and CA. A solid Mallet TMR wafer is safer, more convenient to handle, and may be used in place of several individual lure and trap systems, potentially reducing costs of large survey and detection programs in Florida and California, and MAT programs in Hawaii.

Assessment of fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) management practices in deciduous fruit growing areas in South Africa.

PubMed

Manrakhan, Aruna; Addison, Pia

2014-04-01

Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) and Ceratitis rosa Karsch are important fruit fly pests of deciduous fruit in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The main techniques used for fruit fly control in the Western Cape are the sterile insect technique (SIT) targeting C. capitata and the bait application technique (BAT). We determined the relative success of SIT by comparing adult fly-trap catches and fruit infestation in commercial orchards between three regions under SIT and two regions under BAT in the Western Cape, from 2006 to 2008. Ceratitis capitata was predominant in all regions. In commercial orchards, C. capitata catches peaked towards the end of the fruiting season (March to May) and were low between July and January. During the late season, C. capitata catches were significantly higher in two of the regions under SIT. The sterile to wild male ratio in those regions was found to be mostly <1. SIT is not being properly applied in some regions. SIT should be implemented when the pest population is low. The sterile to wild fly ratios should be increased. Alternatively, BAT should be used to lower the pest population before SIT application. Control methods should be more integrated and applied area-wide. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.

Neuronal encoding of sound, gravity, and wind in the fruit fly.

PubMed

Matsuo, Eriko; Kamikouchi, Azusa

2013-04-01

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster responds behaviorally to sound, gravity, and wind. Exposure to male courtship songs results in reduced locomotion in females, whereas males begin to chase each other. When agitated, fruit flies tend to move against gravity. When faced with air currents, they 'freeze' in place. Based on recent studies, Johnston's hearing organ, the antennal ear of the fruit fly, serves as a sensor for all of these mechanosensory stimuli. Compartmentalization of sense cells in Johnston's organ into vibration-sensitive and deflection-sensitive neural groups allows this single organ to mediate such varied functions. Sound and gravity/wind signals sensed by these two neuronal groups travel in parallel from the fly ear to the brain, feeding into neural pathways reminiscent of the auditory and vestibular pathways in the human brain. Studies of the similarities between mammals and flies will lead to a better understanding of the principles of how sound and gravity information is encoded in the brain. Here, we review recent advances in our understanding of these principles and discuss the advantages of the fruit fly as a model system to explore the fundamental principles of how neural circuits and their ensembles process and integrate sensory information in the brain.

Genome-wide annotation of cuticular proteins in the oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis), changes during pupariation and expression analysis of CPAP3 protein genes in response to environmental stresses.

PubMed

Chen, Er-Hu; Hou, Qiu-Li; Dou, Wei; Wei, Dan-Dan; Yue, Yong; Yang, Rui-Lin; Yang, Pei-Jin; Yu, Shuai-Feng; De Schutter, Kristof; Smagghe, Guy; Wang, Jin-Jun

2018-06-01

Cuticular proteins (CPs) are essential components of the insect cuticle as they create a structural and protective shield and may have a role in insect development. In this paper, we studied the CPs in the oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis), one of the most economically important pests in the Tephritidae family around the world. The availability of a complete genome sequence (NCBI Assembly: ASM78921v2) allowed the identification of 164 CP genes in B. dorsalis. Comparative analysis of the CPs in B. dorsalis with those in the model insect Drosophila melanogaster and the closely related Ceratitis capitata, and CPs from mosquitoes, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera identified Diptera-specific genes and cuticle development patterns. Analysis of their evolutionary relationship revealed that some CP families had evolved according to the phylogeny of the different insect species, while others shared a closer relationship based on domain architecture. Subsequently, transcriptome analysis showed that while most of the CPs (60-100% of the family members) are expressed in the epidermis, some were also present in internal organs such as the fat body and the reproductive organs. Furthermore, the study of the expression profiles throughout development revealed a profound change in the expression of CPs during the formation of the puparium (pupariation). Further analysis of the expression profiles of the CPAP3 genes under various environmental stresses revealed them to be involved in the response to pesticides and arid and extreme temperatures conditions. In conclusion, the data provide a particular overview of CPs and their evolutionary and transcriptional dynamics, and in turn they lay a molecular foundation to explore their roles in the unique developmental process of insect metamorphosis and stress responses. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of SPLAT with spinosad and methyl eugenol or cue-lure for "attract-and-kill" of oriental and melon fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Hawaii.

PubMed

Vargas, Roger I; Stark, John D; Hertlein, Mark; Neto, Agenor Mafra; Coler, Reginald; Piñero, Jaime C

2008-06-01

Specialized Pheromone and Lure Application Technology (SPLAT) methyl eugenol (ME) and cue-lure (C-L) "attract-and-kill" sprayable formulations containing spinosad were compared with other formulations under Hawaiian weather conditions against oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), and melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae), respectively. Field tests were conducted with three different dispensers (Min-U-Gel, Acti-Gel, and SPLAT) and two different insecticides (naled and spinosad). SPLAT ME with spinosad was equal in performance to the standard Min-U-Gel ME with naled formulation up to 12 wk. SPLAT C-L with spinosad was equal in performance to the standard Min-U-Gel C-L with naled formulation during weeks 7 to12, but not during weeks 1-6. In subsequent comparative trials, SPLAT ME + spinosad compared favorably with the current standard of Min-U-Gel ME + naled for up to 6 wk, and it was superior from weeks 7 to 12 in two separate tests conducted in a papaya (Carica papaya L.) orchard and a guava (Psidium guajava L.) orchard, respectively. In outdoor paired weathering tests (fresh versus weathered), C-L dispensers (SPLAT + spinosad, SPLAT + naled, and Min-U-Gel + naled) were effective up to 70 d. Weathered ME dispensers with SPLAT + spinosad compared favorably with SPLAT + naled and Min-U-Gel + naled, and they were equal to fresh dispensers for 21-28 d, depending on location. Our current studies indicate that SPLAT ME and SPLAT C-L sprayable attract-and-kill dispensers containing spinosad are a promising substitute for current liquid organophosphate insecticide formulations used for areawide suppression of B. dorsalis and B. cucurbitae in Hawaii.

Olive fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) in California: longevity, oviposition, and development in canning olives in the laboratory and greenhouse.

PubMed

Yokoyama, Victoria Y

2012-02-01

The biology of olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), was studied in the laboratory, greenhouse, and in canning olives, Olea europaea L., in relation to California regional climates. Adults survived in laboratory tests at constant temperatures and relative humidities of 5 degrees C and 83%; 15 degrees C and 59%; 25 degrees C and 30%; and 35 degrees C and 29% for 15, 6, 3, and 2 d without provisions of food and water and for 37, 63, 25, and 4 d with provisions, respectively. In a divided greenhouse, adults survived for 8-11 d in the warm side (36 degrees C and 31% RH daytime); and in the cool side (26 degrees C and 63% RH daytime) 10 d without provisions and 203 d with provisions. A significantly greater number of adults survived in the cool side than the warm side, and with provisions than without. First and last eggs were oviposited in olive fruit when females were 6 and 90 d old, respectively. The highest number of eggs was 55 per day in 10 olive fruit oviposited by 10 28 d-old females, with maximum egg production by 13-37 d-old females. A significantly greater number of ovipositional sites occurred in all sizes of immature green fruit when exposed to adults in cages for 5 d than 2 d. Adults emerged from fruit with a height of > or = 1.0 cm or a volume of > or = 0.2 cm3. More than seven adults per 15 fruit emerged from field infested fruit with a height of 1.1 cm and volume of 0.1 cm3. Larval length was significantly different among the first, second, and third instars and ranged from 0.7 to 1.6, 2.4-4.3, and 4.8-5.6 mm at 14 degrees C; 0.8-1.1, 1.9-2.9, and 3.9-4.4 mm at 21 degrees C, and 0.7-1.3, 2.4-2.9, and 4.4-4.8 mm at 26 degrees C, respectively. Survival of pupae to the adult stage was significantly lower at 26 degrees C than 14 degrees C or 21 degrees C. The period of adult emergence began at 38, 14, and 11 d over a period of 8, 5, and 1 d at 14, 21, and 26 degrees C, respectively. Findings were related to the occurrence and control of California

Olive cultivar and maturation process on the oviposition preference of Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Malheiro, R; Casal, S; Pinheiro, L; Baptista, P; Pereira, J A

2018-02-21

The olive fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is a key-pest in the main olives producing areas worldwide, and displays distinct preference to different olive cultivars. The present work intended to study oviposition preference towards three Portuguese cultivars (Cobrançosa, Madural, and Verdeal Transmontana) at different maturation indexes. Multiple oviposition bioassays (multiple-choice and no-choice) were conducted to assess cultivar preference. No-choice bioassays were conducted to assess the influence of different maturation indexes (MI 2; MI 3, and MI 4) in single cultivars. The longevity of olive fly adults according to the cultivar in which its larvae developed was also evaluated through survival assays. Cultivar and maturation are crucial aspects in olive fly preference. Field and laboratory assays revealed a preference towards cv. Verdeal Transmontana olives and a lower susceptibility to cv. Cobrançosa olives. A higher preference was observed for olives at MI 2 and MI 3. The slower maturation process in cv. Verdeal Transmontana (still green while the other cultivars are reddish or at black stage) seems to have an attractive effect on olive fly females, thus increasing its infestation levels. Olive fly adults from both sexes live longer if emerged from pupae developed from cv. Verdeal Transmontana fruits and live less if emerged from cv. Cobrançosa. Therefore, olive cultivar and maturation process are crucial aspects in olive fly preference, also influencing the longevity of adults.

Rearing two fruit flies pests on artificial diet with variable pH.

PubMed

Dias, N P; Nava, D E; Smaniotto, G; Garcia, M S; Valgas, R A

2018-04-23

Fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) are considered the main fruit pests worldwide. In Brazil, two species are predominant: the South American fruit fly, Anastrepha fraterculus and the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata. In this study, we evaluated the effect of artificial diets with variable pH in their larval development and adult performance. The experiments were carried out in the laboratory at 25 ± 2 °C, 70 ± 10% RH and 12:12h (L:D) photoperiod. Semisolid diets with pH values of 6.0, 5.0, 4.0, 3.0, 2.0, 1.5, and 1.0, adjusted by adding hydrochloric acid were tested. Results indicated that the diet with pH 6.0 did not support larval development of both species of fruit fly. Diets with greater acidic pH values did not allow egg, larvae or pupae development and adult reproduction of A. fraterculus. For C. capitata , the pH of artificial diet exerts greater influence compared to A. fraterculus on the duration and viability of the larval stage, number of pupae, sex ratio and longevity of males.

Biology, taxonomy, and IPM strategies of Bactrocera tau Walker and complex species (Diptera; Tephritidae) in Asia: a comprehensive review.

PubMed

Jaleel, Waqar; Lu, Lihua; He, Yurong

2018-06-02

Bactrocera flies are the serious pests of fruit, vegetables, and nuts over the world. Bactrocera tau Walker is an economically important pest of agricultural crops. In Asia, approximately 30-40% losses of agricultural products are caused by B. tau infestation every year. In Asia, the B. tau contains a complex of sibling species that called the tau complex. However, the basic studies of B. tau and complex species are very important for integrated management. A comprehensive review of the B. tau and complex species has not been provided elsewhere. So, considering the importance of B. tau and complex species, this study provides the published information on ecology, nomenclature, identification tools, geographical distribution, potential invasion, and IPM tactics of B. tau and complex species, which would be more informative for publication facilitating related to integrated pest management (IPM) strategies of B. tau and complex species. In IPM of B. tau and complex species, the phytochemical and biological controls have not been applied successfully in Asia; there is an urgent need to study and applications of these two mentioned control techniques against the B. tau and complex species in Asia.

Genetic Diversity of Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) on the Hawaiian Islands: Implications for an Introduction Pathway Into California.

PubMed

Barr, Norman B; Ledezma, Lisa A; Leblanc, Luc; San Jose, Michael; Rubinoff, Daniel; Geib, Scott M; Fujita, Brian; Bartels, David W; Garza, Daniel; Kerr, Peter; Hauser, Martin; Gaimari, Stephen

2014-10-01

Population genetic diversity of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii (the Big Island) was estimated using DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene. In total, 932 flies representing 36 sampled sites across the four islands were sequenced for a 1,500-bp fragment of the gene named the C1500 marker. Genetic variation was low on the Hawaiian Islands with >96% of flies having just two haplotypes: C1500-Haplotype 1 (63.2%) or C1500-Haplotype 2 (33.3%). The other 33 flies (3.5%) had haplotypes similar to the two dominant haplotypes. No population structure was detected among the islands or within islands. The two haplotypes were present at similar frequencies at each sample site, suggesting that flies on the various islands can be considered one population. Comparison of the Hawaiian data set to DNA sequences of 165 flies from outbreaks in California between 2006 and 2012 indicates that a single-source introduction pathway of Hawaiian origin cannot explain many of the flies in California. Hawaii, however, could not be excluded as a maternal source for 69 flies. There was no clear geographic association for Hawaiian or non-Hawaiian haplotypes in the Bay Area or Los Angeles Basin over time. This suggests that California experienced multiple, independent introductions from different sources. © 2014 Entomological Society of America.

The fruit flies (Tephritidae) of Ontario

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Thirteen species of Tephritidae are newly recorded from Ontario, and alternative format keys are provided to the 31 genera and 72 species of fruit fly now known from, or likely to occur, in the province. Standard dichotomous keys to genera, and simplified field keys to genera and species are provide...

Integrated Management of European Cherry Fruit Fly Rhagoletis cerasi (L.): Situation in Switzerland and Europe.

PubMed

Daniel, Claudia; Grunder, Jürg

2012-10-16

The European cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis cerasi (L.) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is a highly destructive pest. The low tolerance for damaged fruit requires preventive insecticide treatments for a marketable crop. The phase-out of old insecticides threatens cherry production throughout the European Union (EU). Consequently, new management techniques and tools are needed. With the increasing number of dwarf tree orchards covered against rain to avoid fruit splitting, crop netting has become a viable, cost-effective method of cherry fruit fly control. Recently, a biocontrol method using the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana has been developed for organic agriculture. However, for most situations, there is still a lack of efficient and environmentally sound insecticides to control this pest. This review summarizes the literature from over one hundred years of research on R. cerasi with focus on the biology and history of cherry fruit fly control as well as on antagonists and potential biocontrol organisms. We will present the situation of cherry fruit fly regulation in different European countries, give recommendations for cherry fruit fly control, show gaps in knowledge and identify future research opportunities.

Integrated Management of European Cherry Fruit Fly Rhagoletis cerasi (L.): Situation in Switzerland and Europe

PubMed Central

Daniel, Claudia; Grunder, Jürg

2012-01-01

The European cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis cerasi (L.) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is a highly destructive pest. The low tolerance for damaged fruit requires preventive insecticide treatments for a marketable crop. The phase-out of old insecticides threatens cherry production throughout the European Union (EU). Consequently, new management techniques and tools are needed. With the increasing number of dwarf tree orchards covered against rain to avoid fruit splitting, crop netting has become a viable, cost-effective method of cherry fruit fly control. Recently, a biocontrol method using the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana has been developed for organic agriculture. However, for most situations, there is still a lack of efficient and environmentally sound insecticides to control this pest. This review summarizes the literature from over one hundred years of research on R. cerasi with focus on the biology and history of cherry fruit fly control as well as on antagonists and potential biocontrol organisms. We will present the situation of cherry fruit fly regulation in different European countries, give recommendations for cherry fruit fly control, show gaps in knowledge and identify future research opportunities. PMID:26466721

Alcohol consumption as self-medication against blood-borne parasites in the fruit fly.

PubMed

Milan, Neil F; Kacsoh, Balint Z; Schlenke, Todd A

2012-03-20

Plants and fungi often produce toxic secondary metabolites that limit their consumption, but herbivores and fungivores that evolve resistance gain access to these resources and can also gain protection against nonresistant predators and parasites. Given that Drosophila melanogaster fruit fly larvae consume yeasts growing on rotting fruit and have evolved resistance to fermentation products, we decided to test whether alcohol protects flies from one of their common natural parasites, endoparasitoid wasps. Here, we show that exposure to ethanol reduces wasp oviposition into fruit fly larvae. Furthermore, if infected, ethanol consumption by fruit fly larvae causes increased death of wasp larvae growing in the hemocoel and increased fly survival without need of the stereotypical antiwasp immune response. This multifaceted protection afforded to fly larvae by ethanol is significantly more effective against a generalist wasp than a wasp that specializes on D. melanogaster. Finally, fly larvae seek out ethanol-containing food when infected, indicating that they use alcohol as an antiwasp medicine. Although the high resistance of D. melanogaster may make it uniquely suited to exploit curative properties of alcohol, it is possible that alcohol consumption may have similar protective effects in other organisms. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Inquiry-Based Investigation of Modes of Inheritance Using "Flightless" Fruit Flies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chinnici, Joseph P.; Farland, Andrew M.

2005-01-01

The various strains of flightless fruit flies that were developed at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and an exercise that helps students in determining the inheritance pattern in the fruit fly mutant trait are described. The study and the resulting exercise helped the students in scientifically determining the two important aspects of…

Chemical degradation of TMR multi-lure dispensers for fruit fly detection weathered under California climatic conditions

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

There are >160,000 federal and state fruit fly detection traps deployed in southern and western U.S. and Puerto Rico. In California alone, >100,000 traps are deployed and maintained just for exotic fruit flies detection. Fruit fly detection and eradication requires deployment of large numbers of tra...

Host Plants of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), version 3.5

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae), commonly known as the Mediterranean fruit fly, is a tephritid fruit fly species native to Africa but now found in every country surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, in Central and South America, in Australia, in Hawaii and in other oceanic islands...

Turning behaviour depends on frictional damping in the fruit fly Drosophila.

PubMed

Hesselberg, Thomas; Lehmann, Fritz-Olaf

2007-12-01

Turning behaviour in the fruit fly Drosophila depends on several factors including not only feedback from sensory organs and muscular control of wing motion, but also the mass moments of inertia and the frictional damping coefficient of the rotating body. In the present study we evaluate the significance of body friction for yaw turning and thus the limits of visually mediated flight control in Drosophila, by scoring tethered flies flying in a flight simulator on their ability to visually compensate a bias on a moving object and a visual background panorama at different simulated frictional dampings. We estimated the fly's natural damping coefficient from a numerical aerodynamic model based on both friction on the body and the flapping wings during saccadic turning. The model predicts a coefficient of 54 x 10(-12) Nm s, which is more than 100-times larger than the value estimated from a previous study on the body alone. Our estimate suggests that friction plays a larger role for yaw turning in Drosophila than moments of inertia. The simulator experiments showed that visual performance of the fruit fly collapses near the physical conditions estimated for freely flying animals, which is consistent with the suggested role of the halteres for flight stabilization. However, kinematic analyses indicate that the measured loss of flight control might be due predominantly to the limited fine control in the fly's steering muscles below a threshold of 1-2 degrees stroke amplitude, rather than resulting from the limits of visual motion detection by the fly's compound eyes. We discuss the impact of these results and suggest that the elevated frictional coefficient permits freely flying fruit flies to passively terminate rotational body movements without producing counter-torque during the second half of the saccadic turning manoeuvre.

75 FR 12961 - Regulation of the Interstate Movement of Lemons from Areas Quarantined for Mediterranean Fruit Fly

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-18

... amending the list of regulated articles in our domestic fruit fly quarantine regulations. The regulations... commercial packinghouses are not regulated articles for Mediterranean fruit fly. We are amending the... that, under certain conditions, yellow lemons are a host for Mediterranean fruit fly. As a result of...

Wolbachia in guilds of Anastrepha fruit flies (Tephritidae) and parasitoid wasps (Braconidae)

PubMed Central

Mascarenhas, Rodrigo O; Prezotto, Leandro F; Perondini, André Luiz P; Marino, Celso Luiz; Selivon, Denise

2016-01-01

Abstract The endosymbiont Wolbachia is efficiently transmitted from females to their progenies, but horizontal transmission between different taxa is also known to occur. Aiming to determine if horizontal transmission might have occurred between Anastrepha fruit flies and associated braconid wasps, infection by Wolbachia was screened by amplification of a fragment of the wsp gene. Eight species of the genus Anastrepha were analyzed, from which six species of associated parasitoid wasps were recovered. The endosymbiont was found in seven Anastrepha species and in five species of braconids. The WSP Typing methodology detected eight wsp alleles belonging to Wolbachia supergroup A. Three were already known and five were new ones, among which four were found to be putative recombinant haplotypes. Two samples of Anastrepha obliqua and one sample of Doryctobracon brasiliensis showed multiple infection. Single infection by Wolbachia was found in the majority of samples. The distribution of Wolbachia harboring distinct alleles differed significantly between fruit flies and wasps. However, in nine samples of fruit flies and associated wasps, Wolbachia harbored the same wsp allele. These congruences suggest that horizontal transfer of Wolbachia might have occurred in the communities of fruit flies and their braconid parasitoids. PMID:27648768

Evidence for potential of managing some african fruit fly species (Diptera: Tephritidae) using the mango fruit fly host-marking pheromone

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We investigated conspecific and heterospecific oviposition host discrimination among four economically important fruit fly pests of mango in Africa (Ceratitis capitata, Wiedemann; C. fasciventris, Bezzi; C. rosa, Karsch, and C. cosyra, Walker) with regard to host-marking behavior and fecal matter aq...

Odour intensity learning in fruit flies

PubMed Central

Yarali, Ayse; Ehser, Sabrina; Hapil, Fatma Zehra; Huang, Ju; Gerber, Bertram

2009-01-01

Animals' behaviour towards odours depends on both odour quality and odour intensity. While neuronal coding of odour quality is fairly well studied, how odour intensity is treated by olfactory systems is less clear. Here we study odour intensity processing at the behavioural level, using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. We trained flies by pairing a MEDIUM intensity of an odour with electric shock, and then, at a following test phase, measured flies' conditioned avoidance of either this previously trained MEDIUM intensity or a LOWer or a HIGHer intensity. With respect to 3-octanol, n-amylacetate and 4-methylcyclohexanol, we found that conditioned avoidance is strongest when training and test intensities match, speaking for intensity-specific memories. With respect to a fourth odour, benzaldehyde, on the other hand, we found no such intensity specificity. These results form the basis for further studies of odour intensity processing at the behavioural, neuronal and molecular level. PMID:19586944

Taste and pheromone perception in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Ebbs, Michelle L; Amrein, Hubert

2007-08-01

Taste is an essential sense for detection of nutrient-rich food and avoidance of toxic substances. The Drosophila melanogaster gustatory system provides an excellent model to study taste perception and taste-elicited behaviors. "The fly" is unique in the animal kingdom with regard to available experimental tools, which include a wide repertoire of molecular-genetic analyses (i.e., efficient production of transgenics and gene knockouts), elegant behavioral assays, and the possibility to conduct electrophysiological investigations. In addition, fruit flies, like humans, recognize sugars as a food source, but avoid bitter tasting substances that are often toxic to insects and mammals alike. This paper will present recent research progress in the field of taste and contact pheromone perception in the fruit fly. First, we shall describe the anatomical properties of the Drosophila gustatory system and survey the family of taste receptors to provide an appropriate background. We shall then review taste and pheromone perception mainly from a molecular genetic perspective that includes behavioral, electrophysiological and imaging analyses of wild type flies and flies with genetically manipulated taste cells. Finally, we shall provide an outlook of taste research in this elegant model system for the next few years.

Resolving cryptic species complexes of major tephritid pests

PubMed Central

Hendrichs, Jorge; Vera, M. Teresa; De Meyer, Marc; Clarke, Anthony R.

2015-01-01

Abstract An FAO/IAEA Co-ordinated Research Project (CRP) on “Resolution of Cryptic Species Complexes of Tephritid Pests to Overcome Constraints to SIT Application and International Trade” was conducted from 2010 to 2015. As captured in the CRP title, the objective was to undertake targeted research into the systematics and diagnostics of taxonomically challenging fruit fly groups of economic importance. The scientific output was the accurate alignment of biological species with taxonomic names; which led to the applied outcome of assisting FAO and IAEA Member States in overcoming technical constraints to the application of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) against pest fruit flies and the facilitation of international agricultural trade. Close to 50 researchers from over 20 countries participated in the CRP, using coordinated, multidisciplinary research to address, within an integrative taxonomic framework, cryptic species complexes of major tephritid pests. The following progress was made for the four complexes selected and studied: Anastrepha fraterculus complex – Eight morphotypes and their geographic and ecological distributions in Latin America were defined. The morphotypes can be considered as distinct biological species on the basis of differences in karyotype, sexual incompatibility, post-mating isolation, cuticular hydrocarbon, pheromone, and molecular analyses. Discriminative taxonomic tools using linear and geometric morphometrics of both adult and larval morphology were developed for this complex. Bactrocera dorsalis complex – Based on genetic, cytogenetic, pheromonal, morphometric, and behavioural data, which showed no or only minor variation between the Asian/African pest fruit flies Bactrocera dorsalis, Bactrocera papayae, Bactrocera philippinensis and Bactrocera invadens, the latter three species were synonymized with Bactrocera dorsalis. Of the five target pest taxa studied, only Bactrocera dorsalis and Bactrocera carambolae remain as

A Systems Approach to Mitigate Oriental Fruit Fly Risk in ‘Sharwil’ Avocados Exported From Hawaii

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Avocados, Persea americana Miller, grown in Hawaii cannot be exported to the United States mainland without quarantine treatment for melon fly, oriental fruit fly, and Mediterranean fruit fly. The most widely grown cultivar of avocado in Hawaii is ‘Sharwil’. ‘Sharwil’, like other avocado varieties, ...

Packing of Fruit Fly Parasitoids for Augmentative Releases

PubMed Central

Montoya, Pablo; Cancino, Jorge; Ruiz, Lía

2012-01-01

The successful application of Augmentative Biological Control (ABC) to control pest fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) confronts two fundamental requirements: (1) the establishment of efficient mass rearing procedures for the species to be released, and (2) the development of methodologies for the packing and release of parasitoids that permit a uniform distribution and their optimal field performance under an area-wide approach. Parasitoid distributions have been performed by ground and by air with moderate results; both options face challenges that remain to be addressed. Different devices and strategies have been used for these purposes, including paper bags and the chilled adult technique, both of which are commonly used when releasing sterile flies. However, insect parasitoids have morphological and behavioral characteristics that render the application of such methodologies suboptimal. In this paper, we discuss an alternate strategy for the augmentative release of parasitoids and describe packing conditions that favor the rearing and emergence of adult parasitoids for increased field performance. We conclude that the use of ABC, including the packaging of parasitoids, requires ongoing development to ensure that this technology remains a viable and effective control technique for pest fruit flies. PMID:26466634

Chromosomal duplications in bacteria, fruit flies, and humans

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lupski, J.R.; Weinstock, G.M.; Roth, J.R.

1996-01-01

Tandem duplication of chromosomal segments has been recognized as a frequent mutational mechanism in several genetic model systems. In bacteria, fruit flies, and humans, duplications form by similar molecular mechanisms and appear to be important in genome evolution. 80 refs.

Attractant-based systems as pesticide alternatives for control of tropical fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Mass trapping and attract-and-kill bait stations are two attractant based systems that are being used or are under development as pesticide alternatives for control of a number of pest tephritid fruit flies. Results of field trials for suppression of Caribbean fruit flies in guava orchards in Florid...

The dual oxidase gene BdDuox regulates the intestinal bacterial community homeostasis of Bactrocera dorsalis

PubMed Central

Yao, Zhichao; Wang, Ailin; Li, Yushan; Cai, Zhaohui; Lemaitre, Bruno; Zhang, Hongyu

2016-01-01

The guts of metazoans are in permanent contact with the microbial realm that includes beneficial symbionts, nonsymbionts, food-borne microbes and life-threatening pathogens. However, little is known concerning how host immunity affects gut bacterial community. Here, we analyze the role of a dual oxidase gene (BdDuox) in regulating the intestinal bacterial community homeostasis of the oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis. The results showed that knockdown of BdDuox led to an increased bacterial load, and to a decrease in the relative abundance of Enterobacteriaceae and Leuconostocaceae bacterial symbionts in the gut. The resulting dysbiosis, in turn, stimulates an immune response by activating BdDuox and promoting reactive oxygen species (ROS) production that regulates the composition and structure of the gut bacterial community to normal status by repressing the overgrowth of minor pathobionts. Our results suggest that BdDuox plays a pivotal role in regulating the homeostasis of the gut bacterial community in B. dorsalis. PMID:26565723

Comparison of in vitro heat and cold tolerances of the new invasive species Bactrocera invadens (Diptera: Tephritidae) with three known tephritids

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta and White has been invading central Africa attacking a variety of fruits. Quarantines are placed on fruits that might be considered hosts. The only phytosanitary treatment that is commercially available is an ionizing irradiation generic treatment for Tephritidae ...

Inter-regional mating compatibility among Bactrocera dorsalis populations in Thailand (Diptera,Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Chinvinijkul, Suksom; Srikachar, Sunyanee; Kumjing, Phatchara; Weera Kimjong; Sukamnouyporn, Weerawan; Polchaimat, Nongon

2015-01-01

Abstract Mating compatibility among recently colonized (wildish) populations of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) from different geographic origins in Thailand was assessed through inter-regional mating tests. Outdoor octagonal nylon screen field cages containing single potted mango trees (Mangifera indica L.) were used. Sexual compatibility was determined using the index of sexual isolation (ISI), the male relative performance index (MRPI), and the female relative performance index (FRPI). The ISI values indicated that the northern population of Bactrocera dorsalis from Chiang Mai province was sexually compatible with the southern population of Bactrocera dorsalis (previously Bactrocera papayae) from Nakhon Si Thammarat province. The MRPI values showed that the northern males had a slightly higher tendency to mate than southern males, while the FRPI data reflected that females of both origins participated equally in matings. In all combinations there were no differences between homotypic and heterotypic couples in mating latency. Southern males tended to mate first with southern females, followed by northern males mating with northern females, while the latest matings involved heterotypic couples, in particular northern males mating with southern females. Overall, more couples were collected from higher parts of the field cage and the upper tree canopy, while there were no differences between the origins of flies in terms of elevation of couples within the cage. Laboratory assessments of fecundity showed no differences in the average number of eggs resulting from inter-regional crosses. Development of immature stages was also equal in the two hybrid crosses, with no differences found in the number of pupae produced, percentage pupal recovery, and percent adult emergence. The practical implication of this study is that colony of Bactrocera dorsalis derived from any northern or southern region of Thailand can potentially be used in sterile insect technique programs

Efficacy of the Suterra biolure individual female fruit fly attractant packages vs. the Unipak version

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The combination of putrescine with ammonium acetate into one unit had no significant effect on the attractance of Caribbean fruit fly to trap(s) when compared with the individual BioLure dispseners. Additionally, there were no significant differences in attractancy to the Mediterranean fruit fly wh...

Discovering the flight autostabilizer of fruit flies by inducing aerial stumbles.

PubMed

Ristroph, Leif; Bergou, Attila J; Ristroph, Gunnar; Coumes, Katherine; Berman, Gordon J; Guckenheimer, John; Wang, Z Jane; Cohen, Itai

2010-03-16

Just as the Wright brothers implemented controls to achieve stable airplane flight, flying insects have evolved behavioral strategies that ensure recovery from flight disturbances. Pioneering studies performed on tethered and dissected insects demonstrate that the sensory, neurological, and musculoskeletal systems play important roles in flight control. Such studies, however, cannot produce an integrative model of insect flight stability because they do not incorporate the interaction of these systems with free-flight aerodynamics. We directly investigate control and stability through the application of torque impulses to freely flying fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) and measurement of their behavioral response. High-speed video and a new motion tracking method capture the aerial "stumble," and we discover that flies respond to gentle disturbances by accurately returning to their original orientation. These insects take advantage of a stabilizing aerodynamic influence and active torque generation to recover their heading to within 2 degrees in < 60 ms. To explain this recovery behavior, we form a feedback control model that includes the fly's ability to sense body rotations, process this information, and actuate the wing motions that generate corrective aerodynamic torque. Thus, like early man-made aircraft and modern fighter jets, the fruit fly employs an automatic stabilization scheme that reacts to short time-scale disturbances.

Mediterranean fruit fly on Mimusops zeyheri indigenous to South Africa: a threat to the horticulture industry.

PubMed

Dube, Zakheleni P; Mashela, Phatu W; Mathabatha, Raesibe V

2016-08-01

Claims abound that the Transvaal red milkwood, Mimusops zeyheri, indigenous to areas with tropical and subtropical commercial fruit trees and fruiting vegetables in South Africa, is relatively pest free owing to its copious concentrations of latex in the above-ground organs. On account of observed fruit fly damage symptoms, a study was conducted to determine whether M. zeyheri was a host to the notorious quarantined Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata). Fruit samples were kept for 16-21 days in plastic pots containing moist steam-pasteurised growing medium with tops covered with a mesh sheath capable of retaining emerging flies. Microscopic diagnosis of the trapped flies suggested that the morphological characteristics were congruent with those of C. capitata, which was confirmed through cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene sequence alignment with a 100% bootstrap value and 99% confidence probability when compared with those from the National Centre for Biotechnology Information database. This study demonstrated that M. zeyheri is a host of C. capitata. Therefore, C. capitata from infestation reservoirs of M. zeyheri fruit trees could be a major threat to the tropical and subtropical fruit industries in South Africa owing to the fruit-bearing nature of the new host. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Comparison of torula yeast and various grape juice products as attractants for Mexican fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Early research during the 1930’s focused on attractants for the Mexican fruit fly indicated that fermentation products were effective attractants for Mexican fruit flies and other tropical Tephritidae, but that attraction to fruit components was only of academic interest. Tests reported here were ca...

A Chromosome-scale assemby of the Bactrocera cucurbitae genome provides insight to the genetic basis of white pupae

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae, is a destructive agricultural pest and is the subject of strict quarantines that are enforced to prevent its establishment outside of its current geographic range. In addition to quarantine efforts, additional control measures are necessary for its eradication i...

Historical perspective on the synonymization of the four major pest species belonging to the Bactrocera dorsalis species complex (Diptera, Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Hee, Alvin K.W.; Wee, Suk-Ling; Nishida, Ritsuo; Ono, Hajime; Hendrichs, Jorge; Haymer, David S.; Tan, Keng-Hong

2015-01-01

Abstract An FAO/IAEA-sponsored coordinated research project on integrative taxonomy, involving close to 50 researchers from at least 20 countries, culminated in a significant breakthrough in the recognition that four major pest species, Bactrocera dorsalis, Bactrocera philippinensis, Bactrocera papayae and Bactrocera invadens, belong to the same biological species, Bactrocera dorsalis. The successful conclusion of this initiative is expected to significantly facilitate global agricultural trade, primarily through the lifting of quarantine restrictions that have long affected many countries, especially those in regions such as Asia and Africa that have large potential for fresh fruit and vegetable commodity exports. This work stems from two taxonomic studies: a revision in 1994 that significantly increased the number of described species in the Bactrocera dorsalis species complex; and the description in 2005 of Bactrocera invadens, then newly incursive in Africa. While taxonomically valid species, many biologists considered that these were different names for one biological species. Many disagreements confounded attempts to develop a solution for resolving this taxonomic issue, before the FAO/IAEA project commenced. Crucial to understanding the success of that initiative is an accounting of the historical events and perspectives leading up to the international, multidisciplinary collaborative efforts that successfully achieved the final synonymization. This review highlights the 21 year journey taken to achieve this outcome. PMID:26798266

Honeydew and insecticide-bait as competing food resources for a fruit fly and common parasitoids

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Honeydew from phloem-feeding insects and fruit fly insecticidal baits may both serve as adult food resources for some insect species. In California olive orchards the black scale, Saissetia oleae (Olivier), is a common honeydew-producer, while spinosad-based fruit fly bait (GF-120) is used to contro...

Efficient Management of Fruit Pests by Pheromone Nanogels

PubMed Central

Bhagat, Deepa; Samanta, Suman K.; Bhattacharya, Santanu

2013-01-01

Environment-friendly management of fruit flies involving pheromones is useful in reducing the undesirable pest populations responsible for decreasing the yield and the crop quality. A nanogel has been prepared from a pheromone, methyl eugenol (ME) using a low-molecular mass gelator. This was very stable at open ambient conditions and slowed down the evaporation of pheromone significantly. This enabled its easy handling and transportation without refrigeration, and reduction in the frequency of pheromone recharging in the orchard. Notably the involvement of the nano-gelled pheromone brought about an effective management of Bactrocera dorsalis, a prevalent harmful pest for a number of fruits including guava. Thus a simple, practical and low cost green chemical approach is developed that has a significant potential for crop protection, long lasting residual activity, excellent efficacy and favorable safety profiles. This makes the present invention well-suited for pest management in a variety of crops. PMID:23416455

Laboratory evaluation for a potential birth control diet for fruit fly sterilization insect technique (SIT)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A potential fruit fly steilizing diet was evaluated on fertility, mating, survival, and protein anaylsis for fruit fly species in Hawaii. Insects were continuously fed an agar diet with lufenuron(LFN) for an initial 7d after emergence and then switched to a control diet to simulate the actual field ...

Insecticide toxicity to oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) is influenced by environmental factors.

PubMed

Lin, Yuying; Jin, Tao; Zeng, Ling; Lu, Yongyue

2013-02-01

In this study, we investigated the effects of environmental factors (temperature, dose, dietary source, and feeding density) on the insecticide tolerance of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae). The results indicated that the toxicities of trichlorphon and abamectin to B. dorsalis increased with an increase in temperature. At 15-35 degrees C, the toxicity of beta-cypermethrin decreased with an increase in temperature at low doses (0.82 and 1.86 mg/L), but was similar at a high dose (4.18 mg/L). These results demonstrated that the temperature coefficient of beta-cypermethrin was related to both temperature and dosage. The insecticide sensitivity of B. dorsalis reared on different dietary sources was significantly different. Trichlorphon sensitivity of B. dorsalis fed on banana was the highest with an LC50 of 1.61 mg/L, followed by on apple, carambola, semiartificial diet, pear, mango, guava, orange, and papaya. With an increasing feeding density, the sensitivity of B. dorsalis adults to trichlorphon increased, while the sensitivities of B. dorsalis adults to abamectin and beta-cypermethrin decreased. The differences between LC50 values of insects reared at densities of 10 and 13 eggs/g of semiartificial diet to trichlorphon, abamectin and beta-cypermethrin were not significant. This result suggested that representative toxicity could be obtained by using adults developed at a feeding density between 10-13 eggs/g of semiartificial diet. Adult body weight was positively correlated with the LC50 value of trichlorphon, but was negatively correlated with the toxicities of abamectin and beta-cypermethrin. These results suggested that the effects of adult body weight on the toxicity of insecticides were different among different chemicals.

Feasibility of using the radiation-based sterile insect technique (SIT) to control the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae Gmelin (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Iran.

PubMed

Ahmadi, Mehrdad; Salehi, Bahareh; Abd-Alla, Adly M M; Babaie, Mohammad

2018-05-30

Bactrocera oleae is one of the most hazardous pests threatening olive orchards in Iran. SIT is an environment-friendly system of pest control based on releasing sterile males able to compete with wild males to mate with wild females. To determine sterile doses of radiation, pupae were irradiated to the doses of 0-160 Gy. Doses of 90-100 Gy were found optimal providing the necessary sterilization without severely impairing the competitiveness of the irradiated males in mating. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of Methyl Eugenol Feeding on Mating Compatibility of Asian Population of Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) with African Population and with B. carambolae

PubMed Central

Haq, Ihsan ul; Vreysen, Marc J. B.; Schutze, Mark; Hendrichs, Jorge; Shelly, Todd

2016-01-01

Males of some species included in the Bactrocera dorsalis complex are strongly attracted to methyl eugenol (ME) (1,2-dimethoxy-4-(2-propenyl) benzene), a natural compound occurring in a variety of plant species. ME feeding of males of the B. dorsalis complex is known to enhance their mating competitiveness. Within B. dorsalis, recent studies show that Asian and African populations of B. dorsalis are sexually compatible, while populations of B. dorsalis and Bactrocera carambolae are relatively incompatible. The objectives of this study were to examine whether ME feeding by males affects mating compatibility between Asian and African populations of B. dorsalis and ME feeding reduces male mating incompatibility between B. dorsalis (Asian population) and B. carambolae. The data confirmed that Asian and African populations of B. dorsalis are sexually compatible for mating and showed that ME feeding only increased the number of matings. Though ME feeding also increased the number of matings of B. dorsalis (Asian population) and B. carambolae males but the sexual incompatibility between both species was not reduced by treatment with ME. These results conform to the efforts resolving the biological species limits among B. dorsalis complex and have implications for fruit fly control programs in fields and horticultural trade. PMID:26362991

Sequence analysis of mitochondrial ND1 gene can reveal the genetic structure and origin of Bactrocera dorsalis s.s.

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis s.s., is one of the most important quarantine pests in many countries, including China. Although the oriental fruit fly has been investigated extensively, its origins and genetic structure remain disputed. In this study, the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (ND1) gene was used as a genetic marker to examine the genetic diversity, population structure, and gene flow of B. dorsalis s.s. throughout its range in China and southeast Asia. Results Haplotype networks and phylogenetic analysis indicated two distinguishable lineages of the fly population but provided no strong support for geographical subdivision in B. philippinensis. Demographic analysis revealed rapid expansion of B. dorsalis s.s. populations in China and Southeast Asia in the recent years. The greatest amount of genetic diversity was observed in Manila, Pattaya, and Bangkok, and asymmetric migration patterns were observed in different parts of China. The data collected here further show that B. dorsalis s.s. in Yunnan, Guangdong, and Fujian Provinces, and in Taiwan might have different origins within southeast Asia. Conclusions Using the mitochondrial ND1 gene, the results of the present study showed B. dorsalis s.s. from different parts of China to have different genetic structures and origins. B. dorsalis s.s. in China and southeast Asia was found to have experienced rapid expansion in recent years. Data further support the existence of two distinguishable lineages of B. dorsalis s.s. in China and indicate genetic diversity and gene flow from multiple origins. The sequences in this paper have been deposited in GenBank/NCBI under accession numbers KC413034–KC413367. PMID:24655832

Discovering the flight autostabilizer of fruit flies by inducing aerial stumbles

PubMed Central

Ristroph, Leif; Bergou, Attila J.; Ristroph, Gunnar; Coumes, Katherine; Berman, Gordon J.; Guckenheimer, John; Wang, Z. Jane; Cohen, Itai

2010-01-01

Just as the Wright brothers implemented controls to achieve stable airplane flight, flying insects have evolved behavioral strategies that ensure recovery from flight disturbances. Pioneering studies performed on tethered and dissected insects demonstrate that the sensory, neurological, and musculoskeletal systems play important roles in flight control. Such studies, however, cannot produce an integrative model of insect flight stability because they do not incorporate the interaction of these systems with free-flight aerodynamics. We directly investigate control and stability through the application of torque impulses to freely flying fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) and measurement of their behavioral response. High-speed video and a new motion tracking method capture the aerial “stumble,” and we discover that flies respond to gentle disturbances by accurately returning to their original orientation. These insects take advantage of a stabilizing aerodynamic influence and active torque generation to recover their heading to within 2° in < 60 ms. To explain this recovery behavior, we form a feedback control model that includes the fly’s ability to sense body rotations, process this information, and actuate the wing motions that generate corrective aerodynamic torque. Thus, like early man-made aircraft and modern fighter jets, the fruit fly employs an automatic stabilization scheme that reacts to short time-scale disturbances. PMID:20194789

Aerodynamic performance of two-dimensional, chordwise flexible flapping wings at fruit fly scale in hover flight.

PubMed

Sridhar, Madhu; Kang, Chang-kwon

2015-05-06

Fruit flies have flexible wings that deform during flight. To explore the fluid-structure interaction of flexible flapping wings at fruit fly scale, we use a well-validated Navier-Stokes equation solver, fully-coupled with a structural dynamics solver. Effects of chordwise flexibility on a two dimensional hovering wing is studied. Resulting wing rotation is purely passive, due to the dynamic balance between aerodynamic loading, elastic restoring force, and inertial force of the wing. Hover flight is considered at a Reynolds number of Re = 100, equivalent to that of fruit flies. The thickness and density of the wing also corresponds to a fruit fly wing. The wing stiffness and motion amplitude are varied to assess their influences on the resulting aerodynamic performance and structural response. Highest lift coefficient of 3.3 was obtained at the lowest-amplitude, highest-frequency motion (reduced frequency of 3.0) at the lowest stiffness (frequency ratio of 0.7) wing within the range of the current study, although the corresponding power required was also the highest. Optimal efficiency was achieved for a lower reduced frequency of 0.3 and frequency ratio 0.35. Compared to the water tunnel scale with water as the surrounding fluid instead of air, the resulting vortex dynamics and aerodynamic performance remained similar for the optimal efficiency motion, while the structural response varied significantly. Despite these differences, the time-averaged lift scaled with the dimensionless shape deformation parameter γ. Moreover, the wing kinematics that resulted in the optimal efficiency motion was closely aligned to the fruit fly measurements, suggesting that fruit fly flight aims to conserve energy, rather than to generate large forces.

Identification of the ubiquitous antioxidant tripeptide glutathione as a fruit fly semiochemical

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Many insects mark their oviposition sites with a host marking pheromone (HMP) to deter other females from over-exploiting these sites for egg-laying. Previous studies have identified and used HMPs to manage certain fruit fly species. However, few examples are known for African indigenous fruit flie...

Instar- and host-associated differentiation of bacterial communities in the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata

PubMed Central

Campolo, Orlando; Medina, Raul F.; Palmeri, Vincenzo

2018-01-01

Microorganisms are acknowledged for their role in shaping insects’ evolution, life history and ecology. Previous studies have shown that microbial communities harbored within insects vary through ontogenetic development and among insects feeding on different host-plant species. In this study, we characterized the bacterial microbiota of the highly polyphagous Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae), at different instars and when feeding on different host-plant species. Our results show that the bacterial microbiota hosted within the Mediterranean fruit fly differs among instars and host-plant species. Most of the bacteria harbored by the Mediterranean fruit fly belong to the phylum Proteobacteria, including genera of Alphaproteobacteria such as Acetobacter and Gluconobacter; Betaprotobacteria such as Burkholderia and Gammaproteobacteria such as Pseudomonas. PMID:29518170

Effective Trapping of Fruit Flies with Cultures of Metabolically Modified Acetic Acid Bacteria

PubMed Central

Ishii, Yuri; Akasaka, Naoki; Goda, Itsuko; Sakoda, Hisao

2015-01-01

Acetoin in vinegar is an attractant to fruit flies when combined with acetic acid. To make vinegar more effective in attracting fruit flies with increased acetoin production, Komagataeibacter europaeus KGMA0119 was modified by specific gene disruption of the acetohydroxyacid isomeroreductase gene (ilvC). A previously constructed mutant lacking the putative ligand-sensing region in the leucine-responsive regulatory protein (KeLrp, encoded by Kelrp) was also used. The ilvC and Kelrp disruptants (KGMA5511 and KGMA7203, respectively) produced greater amounts of acetoin (KGMA5511, 0.11%; KGMA7203, 0.13%) than the wild-type strain KGMA0119 (0.069%). KGMA7203 produced a trace amount of isobutyric acid (0.007%), but the other strains did not. These strains produced approximately equal amounts of acetic acid (0.7%). The efficiency of fruit fly attraction was investigated with cultured Drosophila melanogaster. D. melanogaster flies (approximately 1,500) were released inside a cage (2.5 m by 2.5 m by 1.5 m) and were trapped with a device containing vinegar and a sticky sheet. The flies trapped on the sticky sheet were counted. The cell-free supernatant from KGMA7203 culture captured significantly more flies (19.36 to 36.96% of released flies) than did KGMA0119 (3.25 to 11.40%) and KGMA5511 (6.87 to 21.50%) cultures. Contrastingly, a 0.7% acetic acid solution containing acetoin (0.13%) and isobutyric acid (0.007%), which mimicked the KGMA7203 supernatant, captured significantly fewer flies (0.88 to 4.57%). Furthermore, the KGMA0119 supernatant with additional acetoin (0.13%) and isobutyric acid (0.007%) captured slightly more flies than the original KGMA0119 supernatant but fewer than the KGMA7203 supernatant, suggesting that the synergistic effects of acetic acid, acetoin, isobutyric acid, and unidentified metabolites achieved the efficient fly trapping of the KGMA7203 supernatant. PMID:25595769

Molecular Techniques for the Detection and Differentiation of Host and Parasitoid Species and the Implications for Fruit Fly Management

PubMed Central

Jenkins, Cheryl; Chapman, Toni A.; Micallef, Jessica L.; Reynolds, Olivia L.

2012-01-01

Parasitoid detection and identification is a necessary step in the development and implementation of fruit fly biological control strategies employing parasitoid augmentive release. In recent years, DNA-based methods have been used to identify natural enemies of pest species where morphological differentiation is problematic. Molecular techniques also offer a considerable advantage over traditional morphological methods of fruit fly and parasitoid discrimination as well as within-host parasitoid identification, which currently relies on dissection of immature parasitoids from the host, or lengthy and labour-intensive rearing methods. Here we review recent research focusing on the use of molecular strategies for fruit fly and parasitoid detection and differentiation and discuss the implications of these studies on fruit fly management. PMID:26466628

Cordyceps sinensis oral liquid prolongs the lifespan of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, by inhibiting oxidative stress.

PubMed

Zou, Yingxin; Liu, Yuxiang; Ruan, Minghua; Feng, Xu; Wang, Jiachun; Chu, Zhiyong; Zhang, Zesheng

2015-10-01

This study investigated the effect of Cordyceps sinensis oral liquid (CSOL) on the lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly). Following the lifelong treatment of fruit flies with CSOL, lifespan was examined. The activity of copper-zinc-containing superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), manganese-containing superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) and catalase (CAT), as well as the lipofuscin (LF) content were determined. The mRNA levels of SOD1, SOD2 and CAT were quantified by qPCR. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and paraquat were used to mimic the effects of damage caused by acute oxidative stress. D-galactose was used to mimic chronic pathological aging. CSOL significantly prolonged the lifespan of the fruit flies under physiological conditions. The activity of SOD1 and CAT was upregulated, and LF accumulation was inhibited by CSOL. CSOL had no effect on the transcriptional levels (mRNA) of these enzymes. The survival time of the fruit flies which were negatively affected by exposure to H2O2 or paraquat was significantly prolonged by CSOL. In fruit flies pathologically aged by epxosure to D-galactose, CSOL also significantly prolonged their lifespan, upregulated the activity of SOD1 and CAT, and inhibited LF accumulation. The findings of our study indicate that CSOL prolongs the lifespan of fruit flies through an anti-oxidative stress pathway involving the upregulation of SOD1 and CAT activity and the inhibition of LF accumulation. CSOL may thus be explored as a novel agent for slowing the human aging process.

Cordyceps sinensis oral liquid prolongs the lifespan of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, by inhibiting oxidative stress

PubMed Central

ZOU, YINGXIN; LIU, YUXIANG; RUAN, MINGHUA; FENG, XU; WANG, JIACHUN; CHU, ZHIYONG; ZHANG, ZESHENG

2015-01-01

This study investigated the effect of Cordyceps sinensis oral liquid (CSOL) on the lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly). Following the lifelong treatment of fruit flies with CSOL, lifespan was examined. The activity of copper-zinc-containing superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), manganese-containing superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) and catalase (CAT), as well as the lipofuscin (LF) content were determined. The mRNA levels of SOD1, SOD2 and CAT were quantified by qPCR. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and paraquat were used to mimic the effects of damage caused by acute oxidative stress. D-galactose was used to mimic chronic pathological aging. CSOL significantly prolonged the lifespan of the fruit flies under physiological conditions. The activity of SOD1 and CAT was upregulated, and LF accumulation was inhibited by CSOL. CSOL had no effect on the transcriptional levels (mRNA) of these enzymes. The survival time of the fruit flies which were negatively affected by exposure to H2O2 or paraquat was significantly prolonged by CSOL. In fruit flies pathologically aged by epxosure to D-galactose, CSOL also significantly prolonged their lifespan, upregulated the activity of SOD1 and CAT, and inhibited LF accumulation. The findings of our study indicate that CSOL prolongs the lifespan of fruit flies through an anti-oxidative stress pathway involving the upregulation of SOD1 and CAT activity and the inhibition of LF accumulation. CSOL may thus be explored as a novel agent for slowing the human aging process. PMID:26239097

Identification of host fruit volatiles from flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) attractive to dogwood-origin Rhagoletis pomonella flies.

PubMed

Nojima, Satoshi; Linn, Charles; Roelofs, Wendell

2003-10-01

Solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography coupled with electroantennographic detection were used to identify volatiles from fruit of flowering dogwood, Cornus florida, as key attractants for Rhagoletis pomonella flies originating from dogwood fruit. A six-component blend containing ethyl acetate (54.9%), 3-methylbutan-1-ol (27.5%), isoamyl acetate (0.9%), dimethyl trisulfide (1.9%), 1-octen-3-ol (9.1%), and beta-caryophyllene (5.8%) was identified from flowering dogwood fruit that gave consistent EAD activity. In a flight tunnel assay there was no significant difference in the response of individual dogwood flies exhibiting upwind anemotactic flight to volatile extracts from dogwood fruit and the six-component synthetic mixture. Dogwood flies also displayed significantly greater levels of upwind flight to sources with the dogwood volatile blend than with previously identified volatile blends from domestic apple or hawthorn fruit. Selected subtraction assays showed that the three-component mixture of 3-methylbutan-1-ol, 1-octen-3-ol, and beta-caryophyllene elicited levels of upwind flight to the source equivalent to the six-component mixture. Our study adds to previous ones showing that populations of Rhagoletis pomonella flies infesting apple, hawthorn, and flowering dogwood fruit are attracted to unique mixtures of fruit volatiles, supporting the hypothesis that host fruit odors could be key traits in sympatric host shifts and establishing host fidelity within members of the Rhagoletis pomonella species complex.

Flight Capacity of Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) Adult Females Based on Flight Mill Studies and Flight Muscle Ultrastructure

PubMed Central

Chen, Peng; Yuan, Ruiling; Wang, Xiaowei; Xu, Jin

2015-01-01

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is considered a major economic threat in many regions worldwide. To better comprehend flight capacity of B. dorsalis and its physiological basis, a computer-monitored flight mill was used to study flight capacity of B. dorsalis adult females of various ages, and the changes of its flight muscle ultrastructures were studied by transmission electron microscopy. The flight capacity (both speed and distance) changed significantly with age of B. dorsalis female adults, peaking at about 15 d; the myofibril diameter of the flight muscle of test insects at 15-d old was the longest, up to 1.56 µm, the sarcomere length at 15-d old was the shortest, averaging at 1.37 µm, volume content of mitochondria of flight muscle at 15-d old reached the peak, it was 32.64%. This study provides the important scientific data for better revealing long-distance movement mechanism of B. dorsalis. PMID:26450591

Preparation and Use of an Easily Constructed, Inexpensive Chamber for Viewing Courtship Behaviors of Fruit Flies, Drosophila sp.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christensen, Timothy J.; Labov, Jay B.

1997-01-01

Details the construction of a viewing chamber for fruit flies that connects to a dissecting microscope and features a design that enables students to easily move fruit flies in and out of the chamber. (DDR)

Phylogenetic, Metabolic, and Taxonomic Diversities Shape Mediterranean Fruit Fly Microbiotas during Ontogeny

PubMed Central

Aharon, Yael; Pasternak, Zohar; Ben Yosef, Michael; Behar, Adi; Lauzon, Carol; Yuval, Boaz

2013-01-01

The Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly) (Ceratitis capitata) lays eggs in fruits, where larvae subsequently develop, causing large-scale agricultural damage. Within its digestive tract, the fly supports an extended bacterial community that is composed of multiple strains of a variety of enterobacterial species. Most of these bacteria appear to be functionally redundant, with most strains sustaining diazotrophy and/or pectinolysis. At least some of these bacteria were shown to be vertically inherited, but colonization, structural, and metabolic aspects of the community's dynamics have not been investigated. We used fluorescent in situ hybridization, metabolic profiling, plate cultures, and pyrosequencing to show that an initial, egg-borne, diverse community expands throughout the fly's life cycle. While keeping “core” diazotrophic and pectinolytic functions, it also harbors diverse and fluctuating populations that express varied metabolic capabilities. We suggest that the metabolic and compositional plasticity of the fly's microbiota provides potential adaptive advantages to the medfly host and that its acquisition and dynamics are affected by mixed processes that include stochastic effects, host behavior, and molecular barriers. PMID:23104413

Bait formulations of attractants and phagostimulants for targeted, area-wide fruit fly control

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Tephritid fruit flies attack hundreds of species of fruits and vegetables and are responsible for trade restrictions wherever they occur. Traps and “bait and kill stations” are important means of monitoring and control and Bob Heath made important contributions to these technologies....

Fruit fly scale robots can hover longer with flapping wings than with spinning wings.

PubMed

Hawkes, Elliot W; Lentink, David

2016-10-01

Hovering flies generate exceptionally high lift, because their wings generate a stable leading edge vortex. Micro flying robots with a similar wing design can generate similar high lift by either flapping or spinning their wings. While it requires less power to spin a wing, the overall efficiency depends also on the actuator system driving the wing. Here, we present the first holistic analysis to calculate how long a fly-inspired micro robot can hover with flapping versus spinning wings across scales. We integrate aerodynamic data with data-driven scaling laws for actuator, electronics and mechanism performance from fruit fly to hummingbird scales. Our analysis finds that spinning wings driven by rotary actuators are superior for robots with wingspans similar to hummingbirds, yet flapping wings driven by oscillatory actuators are superior at fruit fly scale. This crossover is driven by the reduction in performance of rotary compared with oscillatory actuators at smaller scale. Our calculations emphasize that a systems-level analysis is essential for trading-off flapping versus spinning wings for micro flying robots. © 2016 The Author(s).

Fruit fly scale robots can hover longer with flapping wings than with spinning wings

PubMed Central

Lentink, David

2016-01-01

Hovering flies generate exceptionally high lift, because their wings generate a stable leading edge vortex. Micro flying robots with a similar wing design can generate similar high lift by either flapping or spinning their wings. While it requires less power to spin a wing, the overall efficiency depends also on the actuator system driving the wing. Here, we present the first holistic analysis to calculate how long a fly-inspired micro robot can hover with flapping versus spinning wings across scales. We integrate aerodynamic data with data-driven scaling laws for actuator, electronics and mechanism performance from fruit fly to hummingbird scales. Our analysis finds that spinning wings driven by rotary actuators are superior for robots with wingspans similar to hummingbirds, yet flapping wings driven by oscillatory actuators are superior at fruit fly scale. This crossover is driven by the reduction in performance of rotary compared with oscillatory actuators at smaller scale. Our calculations emphasize that a systems-level analysis is essential for trading-off flapping versus spinning wings for micro flying robots. PMID:27707903

More than apples and oranges - Detecting cancer with a fruit fly's antenna

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strauch, Martin; Lüdke, Alja; Münch, Daniel; Laudes, Thomas; Galizia, C. Giovanni; Martinelli, Eugenio; Lavra, Luca; Paolesse, Roberto; Ulivieri, Alessandra; Catini, Alexandro; Capuano, Rosamaria; di Natale, Corrado

2014-01-01

Cancer cells and non-cancer cells differ in their metabolism and they emit distinct volatile compound profiles, allowing to recognise cancer cells by their scent. Insect odorant receptors are excellent chemosensors with high sensitivity and a broad receptive range unmatched by current gas sensors. We thus investigated the potential of utilising the fruit fly's olfactory system to detect cancer cells. Using in vivo calcium imaging, we recorded an array of olfactory receptor neurons on the fruit fly's antenna. We performed multidimensional analysis of antenna responses, finding that cell volatiles from different cell types lead to characteristic response vectors. The distances between these response vectors are conserved across flies and can be used to discriminate healthy mammary epithelial cells from different types of breast cancer cells. This may expand the repertoire of clinical diagnostics, and it is the first step towards electronic noses equipped with biological sensors, integrating artificial and biological olfaction.

Small fruit flies sacrifice temporal acuity to maintain contrast sensitivity.

PubMed

Currea, John P; Smith, Joshua L; Theobald, Jamie C

2018-06-05

Holometabolous insects, like fruit flies, grow primarily during larval development. Scarce larval feeding is common in nature and generates smaller adults. Despite the importance of vision to flies, eye size scales proportionately with body size, and smaller eyes confer poorer vision due to smaller optics. Variable larval feeding, therefore, causes within-species differences in visual processing, which have gone largely unnoticed due to ad libitum feeding in the lab that results in generally large adults. Do smaller eyes have smaller ommatidial lenses, reducing sensitivity, or broader inter-ommatidial angles, reducing acuity? And to what extent might neural processes adapt to these optical challenges with temporal and spatial summation? To understand this in the fruit fly, we generated a distribution of body lengths (1.67-2.34 mm; n = 24) and eye lengths (0.33-0.44 mm; n = 24), resembling the distribution of wild-caught flies, by removing larvae from food during their third instar. We find smaller eyes (0.19 vs.0.07 mm 2 ) have substantially fewer (978 vs. 540, n = 45) and smaller ommatidia (222 vs. 121 μm 2 ;n = 45) separated by slightly wider inter-ommatidial angles (4.5 vs.5.5°; n = 34). This corresponds to a greater loss in contrast sensitivity (<50%) than spatial acuity (<20%). Using a flight arena and psychophysics paradigm, we find that smaller flies lose little spatial acuity (0.126 vs. 0.118CPD; n = 45), and recover contrast sensitivity (2.22 for both; n = 65) by sacrificing temporal acuity (26.3 vs. 10.8Hz; n = 112) at the neural level. Therefore, smaller flies sacrifice contrast sensitivity to maintain spatial acuity optically, but recover contrast sensitivity, almost completely, by sacrificing temporal acuity neurally. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Isolation and Molecular Characterization of the Transformer Gene From Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Luo, Ya; Zhao, Santao; Li, Jiahui; Li, Peizheng

2017-01-01

transformer (tra) is a switch gene of sex determination in many insects, particularly in Dipterans. However, the sex determination pathway in Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett), a very destructive pest on earth, remains largely uncharacterized. In this study, we have isolated and characterized one female-specific and two male-specific transcripts of the tra gene (Bcutra) of B. cucurbitae. The genomic structure of Bcutra has been determined and the presence of multiple conserved Transformer (TRA)/TRA-2 binding sites in Bcutra has been found. BcuTRA is highly conservative with its homologues in other tephritid fruit flies. Gene expression analysis of Bcutra at different developmental stages demonstrates that the female transcript of Bcutra appears earlier than the male counterparts, indicating that the maternal TRA is inherited in eggs and might play a role in the regulation of TRA expression. The conservation of protein sequence and sex-specific splicing of Bcutra and its expression patterns during development suggest that Bcutra is probably the master gene of sex determination of B. cucurbitae. Isolation of Bcutra will facilitate the development of a genetic sexing strain for its biological control. PMID:28931159

The genetic basis for fruit odor discrimination in Rhagoletis flies and its significance for sympatric host shifts.

PubMed

Dambroski, Hattie R; Linn, Charles; Berlocher, Stewart H; Forbes, Andrew A; Roelofs, Wendell; Feder, Jeffrey L

2005-09-01

Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae) use volatile compounds emitted from the surface of ripening fruit as important chemosensory cues for recognizing and distinguishing among alternative host plants. Host choice is of evolutionary significance in Rhagoletis because these flies mate on or near the fruit of their respective host plants. Differences in host choice based on fruit odor discrimination therefore result in differential mate choice and prezygotic reproductive isolation, facilitating sympatric speciation in the absence of geographic isolation. We test for a genetic basis for host fruit odor discrimination through an analysis of F2 and backcross hybrids constructed between apple-, hawthorn-, and flowering dogwood-infesting Rhagoletis flies. We recovered a significant proportion (30-65%) of parental apple, hawthorn, and dogwood fly response phenotypes in F2 hybrids, despite the general failure of F1 hybrids to reach odor source spheres. Segregation patterns in F2 and backcross hybrids suggest that only a modest number of allelic differences at a few loci may underlie host fruit odor discrimination. In addition, a strong bias was observed for F2 and backcross flies to orient to the natal fruit blend of their maternal grandmother, implying the existence of cytonuclear gene interactions. We explore the implications of our findings for the evolutionary dynamics of sympatric host race formation and speciation.

Analysis of Seasonal Risk for Importation of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae), via Air Passenger Traffic Arriving in Florida and California

PubMed Central

Szyniszewska, A. M.; Leppla, N. C.; Huang, Z.; Tatem, A. J.

2016-01-01

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), is one of the most economically damaging pests in the world and has repeatedly invaded two major agricultural states in the United States, Florida and California, each time requiring costly eradication. The Mediterranean fruit fly gains entry primarily in infested fruit carried by airline passengers and, since Florida and California each receive about 13 million international passengers annually, the risk of Mediterranean fruit fly entering the United States is potentially very high. The risk of passengers bringing the pest into Florida or California from Mediterranean fruit fly-infested countries was determined with two novel models, one estimated seasonal variation in airline passenger number and the other defined the seasonal and spatial variability in Mediterranean fruit fly abundance. These models elucidated relationships among the risk factors for Mediterranean fruit fly introduction, such as amount of passenger traffic, routes traveled, season of travel, abundance of Mediterranean fruit fly in countries where flights departed, and risk of the pest arriving at destination airports. The risk of Mediterranean fruit fly being introduced into Florida was greatest from Colombia, Brazil, Panama, Venezuela, Argentina, and Ecuador during January–August, whereas primarily the risk to California was from Brazil, Panama, Colombia, and Italy in May–August. About three times more Mediterranean fruit flies were intercepted in passenger baggage at airports in Florida than California, although the data were compromised by a lack of systematic sampling and other limitations. Nevertheless, this study achieved the goal of analyzing available data on seasonal passenger flow and Mediterranean fruit fly population levels to determine when surveillance should be intensified at key airports in Florida and California. PMID:27594703

Canola, corn and vegetable oils as alternative for wheat germ oil in fruit fly liquid larval diets

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Four wheat germ oil alternatives (corn oil, vegetable oil, canola oil with 10% vitamin E, and canola oil with 20% vitamin E) purchased from a Hawaii local supermarket were added into a fruit fly liquid larval diet as a supplement for rearing fruit fly larvae and were evaluated for the possibility to...

Evaluation of chromatic cues for trapping Bactrocera tau.

PubMed

Li, Lei; Ma, Huabo; Niu, Liming; Han, Dongyin; Zhang, Fangping; Chen, Junyu; Fu, Yueguan

2017-01-01

Trapping technology based on chromatic cues is an important strategy in controlling Tephritidae (fruit flies). The objectives of this present study were to evaluate the preference of Bactrocera tau for different chromatic cues, and to explore an easy method to print and reproduce coloured paper. Chromatic cues significantly affected the preference of adult B. tau. Wavelengths in the 515-604 nm range were the suitable wavelengths for trapping B. tau. Different-day-old B. tau had different colour preferences. Virtual wavelengths of 595 nm (yellow) and 568 nm (yellowish green) were the optimum wavelengths for trapping 5-7-day-old B. tau and 30-32-day-old B. tau respectively. The trap type and height significantly influenced B. tau attraction efficiency. The number of B. tau on coloured traps hung perpendicular to plant rows was not significantly higher than the number on traps hung parallel to plant rows. The quantisation of colour on the basis of Bruton's wavelength to RGB function can serve as an alternative method for printing and reproducing coloured paper, but a corrected equation should be established between the theoretical wavelength and actual wavelength of coloured paper. Results show that a compound paper coloured yellow (595 nm) and yellowish green (568 nm) installed at 60 and 90 cm above the ground shows the maximum effect for trapping B. tau. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Knockdown of Fruit Flies by Imidacloprid Nanoaerosol.

PubMed

Morozov, Victor N; Kanev, Igor L

2015-10-20

This report describes the effects of nanoaerosol particles (NAPs) from imidacloprid (IMI) on fruit flies. NAPs were produced using a newly developed generator which employs electro-hydrodynamic atomization of IMI solution in ethanol. Exposure of Drosophila melanogaster to the IMI NAPs at a concentration of C = 2.7 ± 0.1 ng/cm(3) caused knockdown in half of the flies in T50 = 88 ± 14 min at 22 °C and in T50 = 36 ± 2 min at 33 °C. A number of special experiments precluded IMI volatilization and contact or oral action of IMI upon exposure to the NAPs. It was shown that only the fraction of NAPs in the size range of 7-300 nm is responsible for the knockdown and that dependence of T50 on the NAPs' fraction mass follows Haber's rule, C × T50 = const. Comparison with the oral doses obtained when flies were fed an IMI-sucrose mixture revealed that the inhaled doses that caused knockdown were 2 orders of magnitude lower than the oral ones. This new technology may be used to quickly eliminate insects with nanoaerosols of nonvolatile insecticides in greenhouses and other closed environments.

The ventral receptacle compression technique as an adjunct to scoring mated status in fruit flies of economic importance

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The determination of mated status in wild female fruit fly detections provides information to program managers that is useful in two respects. Firstly, the mated (or unmated) status, is a factor in triggering quarantine restrictions at the detection location. Invasive female fruit flies that have ma...

Evaluation of imported parasitoid fitness for biocontrol of olive fruit fly in California olives

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A parasitoid, Psyttalia humilis (Silvestri), was reared on irradiated Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly), Ceratitis capitata (Weidemann), at the USDA, APHIS, PPQ, Moscamed biological control laboratory in San Miguel Petapa, Guatemala, and imported into California for biological control of olive fruit ...

Analysis of Seasonal Risk for Importation of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae), via Air Passenger Traffic Arriving in Florida and California.

PubMed

Szyniszewska, A M; Leppla, N C; Huang, Z; Tatem, A J

2016-12-01

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), is one of the most economically damaging pests in the world and has repeatedly invaded two major agricultural states in the United States, Florida and California, each time requiring costly eradication. The Mediterranean fruit fly gains entry primarily in infested fruit carried by airline passengers and, since Florida and California each receive about 13 million international passengers annually, the risk of Mediterranean fruit fly entering the United States is potentially very high. The risk of passengers bringing the pest into Florida or California from Mediterranean fruit fly-infested countries was determined with two novel models, one estimated seasonal variation in airline passenger number and the other defined the seasonal and spatial variability in Mediterranean fruit fly abundance. These models elucidated relationships among the risk factors for Mediterranean fruit fly introduction, such as amount of passenger traffic, routes traveled, season of travel, abundance of Mediterranean fruit fly in countries where flights departed, and risk of the pest arriving at destination airports. The risk of Mediterranean fruit fly being introduced into Florida was greatest from Colombia, Brazil, Panama, Venezuela, Argentina, and Ecuador during January-August, whereas primarily the risk to California was from Brazil, Panama, Colombia, and Italy in May-August. About three times more Mediterranean fruit flies were intercepted in passenger baggage at airports in Florida than California, although the data were compromised by a lack of systematic sampling and other limitations. Nevertheless, this study achieved the goal of analyzing available data on seasonal passenger flow and Mediterranean fruit fly population levels to determine when surveillance should be intensified at key airports in Florida and California. © The Authors 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America

Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) locomotion during a sounding rocket flight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, Mark S.; Keller, Tony S.

2008-05-01

The locomotor activity of young Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) was studied during a Nike-Orion sounding rocket flight, which included a short-duration microgravity exposure. An infrared monitoring system was used to determine the activity level, instantaneous velocity, and continuous velocity of 240 (120 male, 120 female) fruit flies. Individual flies were placed in chambers that limit their motion to walking. Chambers were oriented both vertically and horizontally with respect to the rocket's longitudinal axis. Significant changes in Drosophila locomotion patterns were observed throughout the sounding rocket flight, including launch, microgravity exposure, payload re-entry, and after ocean impact. During the microgravity portion of the flight (3.8 min), large increases in all locomotion measurements for both sexes were observed, with some measurements doubling compared to pad (1 G) data. Initial effects of microgravity were probably delayed due to large accelerations from the payload despining immediately before entering microgravity. The results indicate that short-duration microgravity exposure has a large effect on locomotor activity for both males and females, at least for a short period of time. The locomotion increases may explain the increased male aging observed during long-duration exposure to microgravity. Studies focusing on long-duration microgravity exposure are needed to confirm these findings, and the relationship of increased aging and locomotion.

Application of Nuclear Techniques to Improve the Mass Production and Management of Fruit Fly Parasitoids

PubMed Central

Cancino, Jorge; Ruíz, Lía; Viscarret, Mariana; Sivinski, John; Hendrichs, Jorge

2012-01-01

The use of irradiated hosts in mass rearing tephritid parasitoids represents an important technical advance in fruit fly augmentative biological control. Irradiation assures that fly emergence is avoided in non-parasitized hosts, while at the same time it has no appreciable effect on parasitoid quality, i.e., fecundity, longevity and flight capability. Parasitoids of fruit fly eggs, larvae and pupae have all been shown to successfully develop in irradiated hosts, allowing a broad range of species to be shipped and released without post-rearing delays waiting for fly emergence and costly procedures to separate flies and wasps. This facilitates the early, more effective and less damaging shipment of natural enemies within hosts and across quarantined borders. In addition, the survival and dispersal of released parasitoids can be monitored by placing irradiated sentinel-hosts in the field. The optimal radiation dosages for host-sterility and parasitoid-fitness differ among species, and considerable progress has been made in integrating radiation into a variety of rearing procedures. PMID:26466729

Virtual-reality techniques resolve the visual cues used by fruit flies to evaluate object distances.

PubMed

Schuster, Stefan; Strauss, Roland; Götz, Karl G

2002-09-17

Insects can estimate distance or time-to-contact of surrounding objects from locomotion-induced changes in their retinal position and/or size. Freely walking fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) use the received mixture of different distance cues to select the nearest objects for subsequent visits. Conventional methods of behavioral analysis fail to elucidate the underlying data extraction. Here we demonstrate first comprehensive solutions of this problem by substituting virtual for real objects; a tracker-controlled 360 degrees panorama converts a fruit fly's changing coordinates into object illusions that require the perception of specific cues to appear at preselected distances up to infinity. An application reveals the following: (1) en-route sampling of retinal-image changes accounts for distance discrimination within a surprising range of at least 8-80 body lengths (20-200 mm). Stereopsis and peering are not involved. (2) Distance from image translation in the expected direction (motion parallax) outweighs distance from image expansion, which accounts for impact-avoiding flight reactions to looming objects. (3) The ability to discriminate distances is robust to artificially delayed updating of image translation. Fruit flies appear to interrelate self-motion and its visual feedback within a surprisingly long time window of about 2 s. The comparative distance inspection practiced in the small fruit fly deserves utilization in self-moving robots.

Genome-wide identification of chitinase and chitin deacetylase gene families in the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel).

PubMed

Liu, Shi-Huo; Li, Hong-Fei; Yang, Yang; Yang, Rui-Lin; Yang, Wen-Jia; Jiang, Hong-Bo; Dou, Wei; Smagghe, Guy; Wang, Jin-Jun

2018-05-01

Chitinases (Chts) and chitin deacetylases (CDAs) are important enzymes required for chitin metabolism in insects. In this study, 12 Cht-related genes (including seven Cht genes and five imaginal disc growth factor genes) and 6 CDA genes (encoding seven proteins) were identified in Bactrocera dorsalis using genome-wide searching and transcript profiling. Based on the conserved sequences and phylogenetic relationships, 12 Cht-related proteins were clustered into eight groups (group I-V and VII-IX). Further domain architecture analysis showed that all contained at least one chitinase catalytic domain, however, only four (BdCht5, BdCht7, BdCht8 and BdCht10) possessed chitin-binding domains. The subsequent phylogenetic analysis revealed that seven CDAs were clustered into five groups (group I-V), and all had one chitin deacetylase catalytic domain. However, only six exhibited chitin-binding domains. Finally, the development- and tissue-specific expression profiling showed that transcript levels of the 12 Cht-related genes and 6 CDA genes varied considerably among eggs, larvae, pupae and adults, as well as among different tissues of larvae and adults. Our findings illustrate the structural differences and expression patterns of Cht and CDA genes in B. dorsalis, and provide important information for the development of new pest control strategies based on these vital enzymes. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Adult fruit fly attraction to larvae biases experience and mediates social learning.

PubMed

Durisko, Zachary; Anderson, Blake; Dukas, Reuven

2014-04-01

We investigated whether adult fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) use cues of larvae as social information in their food patch choice decisions. Adult male and female fruit flies showed attraction to odours emanating from foraging larvae, and females preferred to lay eggs on food patches occupied by larvae over similar unoccupied patches. Females learned and subsequently preferred to lay eggs at patches with novel flavours previously associated with feeding larvae over patches with novel flavours previously associated with no larvae. However, when we controlled for the duration of exposure to each flavoured patch, females no longer preferred the flavour previously associated with feeding larvae. This suggests that social learning in this context is indirect, as a result of strong social attraction biasing experience.

Biological and Cultural Control of Olive Fruit Fly in California---Utilization of Parasitoids from USDA-APHIS-PPQ, Guatemala

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The parasitoid Psytallia cf. concolor (Szépligeti) was reared on sterile Mediterranean fruit fly larvae at the USDA-APHIS-PPQ, Petapa Quarantine Laboratory in Guatemala and shipped to the USDA-ARS, Parlier, for wide-spread release and biological control of olive fruit fly in California. As many as 3...

A potential field suppression system for Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We first observed attraction by oriental fruit flies to a basil plant in a yard and confirmed the attractiveness to basil oil (BO) in the laboratory. We subsequently identified the insecticidal compounds from BO that could kill three species of tephritid fruit flies in the laboratory, and discovered...

Segmentation gene expression patterns in Bactrocera dorsalis and related insects: regulation and shape of blastoderm and larval cuticle.

PubMed

Suksuwan, Worramin; Cai, Xiaoli; Ngernsiri, Lertluk; Baumgartner, Stefan

2017-01-01

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, is regarded as a severe pest of fruit production in Asia. Despite its economic importance, only limited information regarding the molecular and developmental biology of this insect is known to date. We provide a detailed analysis of B. dorsalis embryology, as well as the expression patterns of a number of segmentation genes known to act during patterning of Drosophila and compare these to the patterns of other insect families. An anterior shift of the expression of gap genes was detected when compared to Drosophila. This shift was largely restored during the step where the gap genes control expression of the pair-rule genes. We analyzed and compared the shapes of the embryos of insects of different families, B. dorsalis and the blow fly Lucilia sericata with that of the well-characterized Drosophila melanogaster. We found distinct shapes as well as differences in the ratios of the length of the anterior-posterior axis and the dorsal-ventral axis. These features were integrated into a profile of how the expression patterns of the gap gene Krüppel and the pair-rule gene even-skipped were observed along the A-P axis in three insects families. Since significant differences were observed, we discuss how Krüppel controls the even-skipped stripes. Furthermore, we discuss how the position and angles of the segmentation gene stripes differed from other insects. Finally, we analyzed the outcome of the expression patterns of the late acting segment polarity genes in relation to the anlagen of the naked-cuticle and denticle belt area of the B. dorsalis larva.

Compendium of fruit fly host information (CoFFHI), edition 3.0

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Compendium of Fruit Fly Host Information (CoFFHI), edition 3.0 (available at: https://coffhi.cphst.org/), developed through collaborative efforts of scientists in USDA-APHIS, USDA-ARS, and the Center for Integrated Pest Management (CIPM) of North Carolina State University (NCSU), provides centra...

Compendium of fruit fly host information (CoFFHI), edition 2.0

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Compendium of Fruit Fly Host Information (CoFFHI), edition 2.0, developed through collaborative efforts of scientists in USDA-APHIS, USDA-ARS, and the Center for Integrated Pest Management (CIPM) of North Carolina State University (NCSU), provides centralized online documentation of what is know...

Chilled packing systems for fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in the sterile insect technique.

PubMed

Hernández, Emilio; Escobar, Arseny; Bravo, Bigail; Montoya, Pablo

2010-01-01

We evaluated three packing systems (PARC boxes, "GT" screen towers and "MX" screen towers) for the emergence and sexual maturation of sterile fruit flies, at three adult fly densities (1, 1.2 and 1.3 fly/cm²) and three food types. At the lowest density, results showed no significant differences in the longevity and flight ability of adult Anastrepha ludens (Loew) and Anastrepha obliqua Macquart among the three packing systems. Higher densities resulted in a decrease in these parameters. In the evaluation of the three food types, no significant differences were found either on longevity or flight ability of A. ludens. However, the greatest longevity for both sexes A. obliqua was obtained with commercial powdered Mb® and the mix of sugar, protein and corn starch on paper (SPCP) food types. The highest value for flight ability in A. obliqua males was obtained with powdered Mb® and SPCP food types, and for females with Mb® powdered food. Our data indicated that GT and MX screen tower packing systems are an alternative to the PARC boxes, since they were suitable for adult fly sexual maturation without any harm to their longevity or flight ability. The tested foods were equivalent in both fruit fly species, with the exception of the agar type for A. obliqua, which yielded the lowest biological parameters evaluated. Our results contribute to the application of new methods for the packing and release of sterile flies in large-scale programs.

Inquiry-Based Environmental Science Investigations with the Fantastic Fruit Fly

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beals, Ashlie M.; Krall, Rebecca M.

2010-01-01

The use of inquiry in life science can be particularly daunting because of the additional management and care living systems require. However, there are some low-maintenance organisms that work well in the classroom. One of these is the common fruit fly, "Drosophila melanogaster." Its small size, low cost, easy availability and maintenance, and…

Performance of methyl eugenol + matrix + toxicant combinations under field conditions in Hawaii and California for trapping Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Jang, Eric B; Ramsey, Amanda; Carvalho, Lori A

2013-04-01

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) is a major pest of many fruit crops worldwide. Current detection programs by federal and state agencies in the United States use a grid of traps consisting of liquid methyl eugenol (lure) and naled (toxicant) applied to cotton wicks and hung inside the trap. In recent years efforts have been made to incorporate these chemicals into various solid-type matrices that could be individually packaged to reduce human exposure to the chemicals and improve handling. New solid formulations containing methyl eugenol and either naled or dichlorovinyl dimethyl phosphate toxicants were compared with the standard formulations on cotton wicks in large scale field evaluation in Hawaii. Two reduced risk toxicants (spinosad and Rynaxypyr) were also evaluated. In one test the solid lure-toxicant-matrix combinations were sent to California to be weathered under California climate conditions and then sent back to Hawaii for evaluation. The polymer matrices with lure and toxicant were found to be as attractive as baited wicks and have the same longevity of attraction regardless of being weathered in Hawaii or in California. The new ingestible toxicants were also effective, although further testing of these ingestible lure + toxicant + matrix products is necessary.

Replication and characterization of the compound eye of a fruit fly for imaging purpose

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Hefu; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 10039; Gong, Xianwei

In this work, we report the replication and characterization of the compound eye of a fruit fly for imaging purpose. In the replication, soft lithography method was employed to replicate the compound eye of a fruit fly into a UV-curable polymer. The method was demonstrated to be effective and the compound eye is replicated into the polymer (NOA78) where each ommatidium has a diameter of about 30 μm and a sag height of about 7 μm. To characterize its optical property, the point spread function of the compound eye was tested and a NA of 0.386 has been obtained for the replicatedmore » polymeric ommatidium. Comparing with the NA of a real fruit fly ommatidium which was measured to be about 0.212, the replicated polymeric ommatidium has a much larger NA due to the refractive index of NOA78 is much higher than that of the material used to form the real fruit fly ommatidium. Furthermore, the replicated compound eye was used to image a photomask patterned with grating structures to test its imaging property. It is shown that the grating with a line width of 20 μm can be clearly imaged. The image of the grating formed by the replicated compound eye was shrunk by about 10 times and therefore a line width of about 2.2 μm in the image plane has been obtained, which is close to the diffraction limited resolution calculated through the measured NA. In summary, the replication method demonstrated is effective and the replicated compound eye has the great potential in optical imaging.« less

Light, heat, action: neural control of fruit fly behaviour.

PubMed

Owald, David; Lin, Suewei; Waddell, Scott

2015-09-19

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has emerged as a popular model to investigate fundamental principles of neural circuit operation. The sophisticated genetics and small brain permit a cellular resolution understanding of innate and learned behavioural processes. Relatively recent genetic and technical advances provide the means to specifically and reproducibly manipulate the function of many fly neurons with temporal resolution. The same cellular precision can also be exploited to express genetically encoded reporters of neural activity and cell-signalling pathways. Combining these approaches in living behaving animals has great potential to generate a holistic view of behavioural control that transcends the usual molecular, cellular and systems boundaries. In this review, we discuss these approaches with particular emphasis on the pioneering studies and those involving learning and memory.

Automated locomotor activity monitoring as a quality control assay for mass-reared tephritid flies.

PubMed

Dominiak, Bernard C; Fanson, Benjamin G; Collins, Samuel R; Taylor, Phillip W

2014-02-01

The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) requires vast numbers of consistently high quality insects to be produced over long periods. Quality control (QC) procedures are critical to effective SIT, both providing quality assurance and warning of operational deficiencies. We here present a potential new QC assay for mass rearing of Queensland fruit flies (Bactrocera tryoni Froggatt) for SIT; locomotor activity monitoring. We investigated whether automated locomotor activity monitors (LAMs) that simply detect how often a fly passes an infrared sensor in a glass tube might provide similar insights but with much greater economy. Activity levels were generally lower for females than for males, and declined over five days in the monitor for both sexes. Female activity levels were not affected by irradiation, but males irradiated at 60 or 70 Gy had reduced activity levels compared with unirradiated controls. We also found some evidence that mild heat shock of pupae results in adults with reduced activity. LAM offers a convenient, effective and economical assay to probe such changes. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.

Isolation and Molecular Characterization of the Transformer Gene From Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Luo, Ya; Zhao, Santao; Li, Jiahui; Li, Peizheng; Yan, Rihui

2017-01-01

transformer (tra) is a switch gene of sex determination in many insects, particularly in Dipterans. However, the sex determination pathway in Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett), a very destructive pest on earth, remains largely uncharacterized. In this study, we have isolated and characterized one female-specific and two male-specific transcripts of the tra gene (Bcutra) of B. cucurbitae. The genomic structure of Bcutra has been determined and the presence of multiple conserved Transformer (TRA)/TRA-2 binding sites in Bcutra has been found. BcuTRA is highly conservative with its homologues in other tephritid fruit flies. Gene expression analysis of Bcutra at different developmental stages demonstrates that the female transcript of Bcutra appears earlier than the male counterparts, indicating that the maternal TRA is inherited in eggs and might play a role in the regulation of TRA expression. The conservation of protein sequence and sex-specific splicing of Bcutra and its expression patterns during development suggest that Bcutra is probably the master gene of sex determination of B. cucurbitae. Isolation of Bcutra will facilitate the development of a genetic sexing strain for its biological control. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America.

Host Plant Record for the Fruit Flies, Anastrepha fumipennis and A. nascimentoi (Diptera, Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Uramoto, Keiko; Martins, David S.; Lima, Rita C. A.; Zucchi, Roberto A.

2008-01-01

The first host plant record for Anastrepha fumipennis Lima (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Geissospermum laeve (Vell.) Baill (Apocynaceae) and for A. nascimentoi Zucchi found in Cathedra bahiensis Sleumer (Olacaceae) was determined in a host plant survey of fruit flies undertaken at the “Reserva Natural da Companhia Vale do Rio Doce”. This reserve is located in an Atlantic Rain Forest remnant area, in Linhares county, state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The phylogenetic relationships of Anastrepha species and their hosts are discussed. The occurrence of these fruit fly species in relation to the distribution range of their host plants is also discussed. PMID:20302458

Seasonal amounts of nutrients in Western cherry fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) and their relation to nutrient availability on cherry plant surfaces.

PubMed

Yee, Wee L; Chapman, Peter S

2008-10-01

Relatively little is known about the nutritional ecology of fruit flies in the genus Rhagoletis. In this study, nutrient amounts in male and female western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran, and availability of nitrogen and sugar on surfaces of leaves, fruit, and extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) of sweet cherry trees, were determined from late May to late June 2005 and of sugar from EFNs from mid-May to late June 2007 in Washington state. Protein amounts in male and female flies did not differ over the season. Nitrogen was present on leaves, fruit, and EFNs during the sampling period, but amounts on leaves and fruit were lower in late May than the rest of the season. Sugar amounts in flies did not differ over the season. Sugar was present on leaf, fruit, and EFN surfaces all season, but amounts on all three were lower in late May than later in the season. Fructose and glucose were the predominant sugars on all plant surfaces, but sucrose was also present in nectar from EFNs. In outdoor and field cage experiments in 2004 and 2006, more flies survived when cherry branches with leaves and fruit were present than absent. Results suggest that R. indifferens maintains stable protein and sugar levels throughout the season because sufficient amounts of nutrients are found in cherry trees during this time and that increases in nutrient availability caused by ripening and damaged cherries later in the season do not result in increased amounts of nutrients in flies.

Variation in Sharwil avocado maturity during the harvest season and resistance to fruit fly infestation.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Technical Abstract: Avocados cannot be exported from Hawaii without a quarantine treatment to prevent the spread of fruit flies. Research on the maturity and infestability of ‘Sharwil’ avocados was conducted to support development of a systems approach for quarantine security of exported fruit. Th...

Noninvasive analysis of microbiome dynamics in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Fink, Christine; Staubach, Fabian; Kuenzel, Sven; Baines, John F; Roeder, Thomas

2013-11-01

The diversity and structure of the intestinal microbial community has a strong influence on life history. To understand how hosts and microbes interact, model organisms with comparatively simple microbial communities, such as the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), offer key advantages. However, studies of the Drosophila microbiome are limited to a single point in time, because flies are typically sacrificed for DNA extraction. In order to test whether noninvasive approaches, such as sampling of fly feces, could be a means to assess fly-associated communities over time on the same cohort of flies, we compared the microbial communities of fly feces, dissected fly intestines, and whole flies across three different Drosophila strains. Bacterial species identified in either whole flies or isolated intestines were reproducibly found in feces samples. Although the bacterial communities of feces and intestinal samples were not identical, they shared similarities and obviously the same origin. In contrast to material from whole flies and intestines, feces samples were not compromised by Wolbachia spp. infections, which are widespread in laboratory and wild strains. In a proof-of-principle experiment, we showed that simple nutritional interventions, such as a high-fat diet or short-term starvation, had drastic and long-lasting effects on the micobiome. Thus, the analysis of feces can supplement the toolbox for microbiome studies in Drosophila, unleashing the full potential of such studies in time course experiments where multiple samples from single populations are obtained during aging, development, or experimental manipulations.

The role of the transformer gene in sex determination and reproduction in the tephritid fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel).

PubMed

Peng, Wei; Zheng, Wenping; Handler, Alfred M; Zhang, Hongyu

2015-12-01

Transformer (tra) is a switch gene in the somatic sex-determination hierarchy that regulates sexual dimorphism based on RNA splicing in many insects. In tephritids, a Y-linked male determining gene (M) controls sex in the sex-determination pathway. Here, homologues of Drosophila tra and transformer-2 (tra-2) genes were isolated and characterized in Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), one of the most destructive agricultural insect pests in many Asian countries. Two male-specific and one female-specific isoforms of B. dorsalis transformer (Bdtra) were identified. The presence of multiple TRA/TRA-2 binding sites in Bdtra suggests that the TRA/TRA-2 proteins are splicing regulators promoting and maintaining, epigenetically, female sex determination by a tra positive feedback loop in XX individuals during development. The expression patterns of female-specific Bdtra transcripts during early embryogenesis shows that a peak appears at 15 h after egg laying. Using dsRNA to knock-down Bdtra expression in the embryo and adult stages, we showed that sexual formation is determined early in the embryo stage and that parental RNAi does not lead to the production of all male progeny as in Tribolium castaneum. RNAi results from adult abdominal dsRNA injections show that Bdtra has a positive influence on female yolk protein gene (Bdyp1) expression and fecundity.

Development of internal COI primers to improve and extend barcoding of fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacini).

PubMed

Krosch, Matt N; Strutt, Francesca; Blacket, Mark J; Batovska, Jana; Starkie, Melissa; Clarke, Anthony R; Cameron, Stephen L; Schutze, Mark K

2018-06-06

Accurate species-level identifications underpin many aspects of basic and applied biology; however, identifications can be hampered by a lack of discriminating morphological characters, taxonomic expertise or time. Molecular approaches, such as DNA 'barcoding' of the cytochrome c oxidase (COI) gene, are argued to overcome these issues. However, nuclear encoding of mitochondrial genes (numts) and poor amplification success of suboptimally preserved specimens can lead to erroneous identifications. One insect group for which these molecular and morphological problems are significant are the dacine fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacini). We addressed these issues associated with COI barcoding in the dacines by first assessing several 'universal' COI primers against public mitochondrial genome and numt sequences for dacine taxa. We then modified a set of four primers that more closely matched true dacine COI sequence and amplified two overlapping portions of the COI barcode region. Our new primers were tested alongside universal primers on a selection of dacine species, including both fresh preserved and decades-old dry specimens. Additionally, Bactrocera tryoni mitochondrial and nuclear genomes were compared to identify putative numts. Four numt clades were identified, three of which were amplified using existing universal primers. In contrast, our new primers preferentially amplified the 'true' mitochondrial COI barcode in all dacine species tested. The new primers also successfully amplified partial barcodes from dry specimens for which full length barcodes were unobtainable. Thus we recommend these new primers be incorporated into the suites of primers used by diagnosticians and quarantine labs for the accurate identification of dacine species. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Isotope Label-Aided Mass Spectrometry Reveals the Influence of Environmental Factors on Metabolism in Single Eggs of Fruit Fly

PubMed Central

Tseng, Te-Wei; Wu, June-Tai; Chen, Yu-Chie; Urban, Pawel L.

2012-01-01

In order to investigate the influence of light/dark cycle on the biosynthesis of metabolites during oogenesis, here we demonstrate a simple experimental protocol which combines in-vivo isotopic labeling of primary metabolites with mass spectrometric analysis of single eggs of fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). First, fruit flies were adapted to light/dark cycle using artificial white light. Second, female flies were incubated with an isotopically labeled sugar (13C6-glucose) for 12 h – either during the circadian day or the circadian night, at light or at dark. Third, eggs were obtained from the incubated female flies, and analyzed individually by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS): this yielded information about the extent of labeling with carbon-13. Since the incorporation of carbon-13 to uridine diphosphate glucose (UDP-glucose) in fruit fly eggs is very fast, the labeling of this metabolite was used as an indicator of the biosynthesis of metabolites flies/eggs during 12-h periods, which correspond to circadian day or circadian night. The results reveal that once the flies adapted to the 12-h-light/12-h-dark cycle, the incorporation of carbon-13 to UDP-glucose present in fruit fly eggs was not markedly altered by an acute perturbation to this cycle. This effect may be due to a relationship between biosynthesis of primary metabolites in developing eggs and an alteration to the intake of the labeled substrate – possibly related to the change of the feeding habit. Overall, the study shows the possibility of using MALDI-MS in conjunction with isotopic labeling of small metazoans to unravel the influence of environmental cues on primary metabolism. PMID:23185587

Light, heat, action: neural control of fruit fly behaviour

PubMed Central

Owald, David; Lin, Suewei; Waddell, Scott

2015-01-01

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has emerged as a popular model to investigate fundamental principles of neural circuit operation. The sophisticated genetics and small brain permit a cellular resolution understanding of innate and learned behavioural processes. Relatively recent genetic and technical advances provide the means to specifically and reproducibly manipulate the function of many fly neurons with temporal resolution. The same cellular precision can also be exploited to express genetically encoded reporters of neural activity and cell-signalling pathways. Combining these approaches in living behaving animals has great potential to generate a holistic view of behavioural control that transcends the usual molecular, cellular and systems boundaries. In this review, we discuss these approaches with particular emphasis on the pioneering studies and those involving learning and memory. PMID:26240426

Deep sequencing of small RNA libraries reveals dynamic expression patterns of microRNAs in multiple developmental stages of Bactrocera dorsalis.

PubMed

Huang, Y; Dou, W; Liu, B; Wei, D; Liao, C Y; Smagghe, G; Wang, J-J

2014-10-01

In eukaryotes, microRNAs (miRNAs) are small, conserved, noncoding RNAs that have emerged as critical regulators of gene expression. The oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis is one of the most economically important fruit fly pests in East Asia and the Pacific. Although transcriptome analyses have greatly enriched our knowledge of its structural genes, little is known about post-transcriptional regulation by miRNAs in this dipteran species. In this study, small RNA libraries corresponding to four B. dorsalis developmental stages (eggs, larvae, pupae and adults) were constructed and sequenced. Approximately 30.7 million reads of 18-30 nucleotides were obtained, with 123 known miRNAs and 60 novel miRNAs identified amongst these libraries. More than half of the miRNAs were stage-specific during the four developmental stages. A set of miRNAs was found to be up- or down-regulated during development by comparison of their reads at different developmental stages. Moreover, a small part of miRNAs owned both miR-#-3p and miR-#-5p types, with enormously variable miR-#-3p/miR-#-5p ratios in the same library and amongst different developmental stages for each miRNA. Taking these findings together, the current study has uncovered a number of miRNAs and provided insights into their possible involvement in developmental regulation by expression profiling of miRNAs. Further analyses of the expression and function of these miRNAs could increase our understanding of regulatory networks in this insect and lead to novel approaches for its control. © 2014 The Royal Entomological Society.

Object preference by walking fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, is mediated by vision and graviperception

PubMed Central

Robie, Alice A.; Straw, Andrew D.; Dickinson, Michael H.

2010-01-01

Walking fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, use visual information to orient towards salient objects in their environment, presumably as a search strategy for finding food, shelter or other resources. Less is known, however, about the role of vision or other sensory modalities such as mechanoreception in the evaluation of objects once they have been reached. To study the role of vision and mechanoreception in exploration behavior, we developed a large arena in which we could track individual fruit flies as they walked through either simple or more topologically complex landscapes. When exploring a simple, flat environment lacking three-dimensional objects, flies used visual cues from the distant background to stabilize their walking trajectories. When exploring an arena containing an array of cones, differing in geometry, flies actively oriented towards, climbed onto, and explored the objects, spending most of their time on the tallest, steepest object. A fly's behavioral response to the geometry of an object depended upon the intrinsic properties of each object and not a relative assessment to other nearby objects. Furthermore, the preference was not due to a greater attraction towards tall, steep objects, but rather a change in locomotor behavior once a fly reached and explored the surface. Specifically, flies are much more likely to stop walking for long periods when they are perched on tall, steep objects. Both the vision system and the antennal chordotonal organs (Johnston's organs) provide sufficient information about the geometry of an object to elicit the observed change in locomotor behavior. Only when both these sensory systems were impaired did flies not show the behavioral preference for the tall, steep objects. PMID:20581279

Biological Control of Tephritid Fruit Flies in Argentina: Historical Review, Current Status, and Future Trends for Developing a Parasitoid Mass-Release Program

PubMed Central

Ovruski, Sergio M.; Schliserman, Pablo

2012-01-01

In Argentina there are two tephritid fruit fly species of major economic and quarantine importance: the exotic Ceratitis capitata that originated from Southeast Africa and the native Anastrepha fraterculus. In recent years, the use of fruit fly parasitoids as biocontrol agents has received renewed attention. This increasing interest has recently led to the establishment of a program for the mass rearing of five million Diachasmimorpha longicaudata parasitoids per week in the BioPlanta San Juan facility, San Juan, Argentina. The first augmentative releases of D. longicaudata in Argentina are currently occurring on commercial fig crops in rural areas of San Juan as part of an integrated fruit fly management program on an area-wide basis. In this context, research is ongoing to assess the suitability of indigenous parasitoid species for successful mass rearing on larvae of either C. capitata or A. fraterculus. The purpose of this article is to provide a historical overview of the biological control of the fruit fly in Argentina, report on the strategies currently used in Argentina, present information on native parasitoids as potential biocontrol agents, and discuss the establishment of a long-term fruit fly biological control program, including augmentative and conservation modalities, in Argentina’s various fruit growing regions. PMID:26466633

Cryopreservation of embryos of the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata Vienna 8 Genetic Sexing Strain

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata, is one of the most serious pests of fruit crops world-wide. During the last decades, area-wide pest management (AW-IPM) approaches with a sterile insect technique (SIT) component have been used to control populations of this pest in an effective and e...

Dispersal of Rhagoletis cerasi in Commercial Cherry Orchards: Efficacy of Soil Covering Nets for Cherry Fruit Fly Control.

PubMed

Daniel, Claudia; Baker, Brian

2013-03-12

Demand for organic cherries offers producers a premium price to improve their commercial viability. Organic standards require that producers find alternatives to pesticides. Soil treatments to control the European cherry fruit fly Rhagoletis cerasi (L.) (Diptera: Tephrididae) appear to be an attractive option. However, soil treatments can only be effective if the migration of flies is low, because mature flies may migrate from near-by trees for oviposition. To examine the general potential of soil treatments and to understand the dispersal and flight behaviour of R. cerasi within orchards, experiments using netting to cover the soil were conducted in two orchards with different pest pressure during two years. The netting reduced flight activity by 77% and fruit infestation by 91%. The data showed that the flies have a dispersal of less than 5 m within orchards, which is very low. The low thresholds for tolerance for infested fruit in the fresh market creates a strong economic incentive for control, therefore, soil covering is a promising strategy for controlling R. cerasi in commercial orchards.

Dispersal of Rhagoletis cerasi in Commercial Cherry Orchards: Efficacy of Soil Covering Nets for Cherry Fruit Fly Control

PubMed Central

Daniel, Claudia; Baker, Brian

2013-01-01

Demand for organic cherries offers producers a premium price to improve their commercial viability. Organic standards require that producers find alternatives to pesticides. Soil treatments to control the European cherry fruit fly Rhagoletis cerasi (L.) (Diptera: Tephrididae) appear to be an attractive option. However, soil treatments can only be effective if the migration of flies is low, because mature flies may migrate from near-by trees for oviposition. To examine the general potential of soil treatments and to understand the dispersal and flight behaviour of R. cerasi within orchards, experiments using netting to cover the soil were conducted in two orchards with different pest pressure during two years. The netting reduced flight activity by 77% and fruit infestation by 91%. The data showed that the flies have a dispersal of less than 5 m within orchards, which is very low. The low thresholds for tolerance for infested fruit in the fresh market creates a strong economic incentive for control, therefore, soil covering is a promising strategy for controlling R. cerasi in commercial orchards. PMID:26466801

A Fruitful Endeavor: Modeling ALS in the Fruit Fly

PubMed Central

Casci, Ian; Pandey, Udai Bhan

2014-01-01

For over a century Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as the fruit fly, has been instrumental in genetics research and disease modeling. In more recent years, it has been a powerful tool for modeling and studying neurodegenerative diseases, including the devastating and fatal amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The success of this model organism in ALS research comes from the availability of tools to manipulate gene/protein expression in a number of desired cell-types, and the subsequent recapitulation of cellular and molecular phenotypic features of the disease. Several Drosophila models have now been developed for studying the roles of ALS-associated genes in disease pathogenesis that allowed us to understand the molecular pathways that lead to motor neuron degeneration in ALS patients. Our primary goal in this review is to highlight the lessons we have learned using Drosophila models pertaining to ALS research. PMID:25289585

The Wide Potential Trophic Niche of the Asiatic Fruit Fly Drosophila suzukii: The Key of Its Invasion Success in Temperate Europe?

PubMed Central

Poyet, Mathilde; Le Roux, Vincent; Gibert, Patricia; Meirland, Antoine; Prévost, Geneviève; Eslin, Patrice; Chabrerie, Olivier

2015-01-01

The Asiatic fruit fly Drosophila suzukii has recently invaded Europe and North and South America, causing severe damage to fruit production systems. Although agronomic host plants of that fly are now well documented, little is known about the suitability of wild and ornamental hosts in its exotic area. In order to study the potential trophic niche of D. suzukii with relation to fruit characteristics, fleshy fruits from 67 plant species were sampled in natural and anthropic ecosystems (forests, hedgerows, grasslands, coastal areas, gardens and urban areas) of the north of France and submitted to experimental infestations. A set of fruit traits (structure, colour, shape, skin texture, diameter and weight, phenology) potentially interacting with oviposition choices and development success of D. suzukii was measured. Almost half of the tested plant species belonging to 17 plant families allowed the full development of D. suzukii. This suggests that the extreme polyphagy of the fly and the very large reservoir of hosts producing fruits all year round ensure temporal continuity in resource availability and contribute to the persistence and the exceptional invasion success of D. suzukii in natural habitats and neighbouring cultivated systems. Nevertheless, this very plastic trophic niche is not systematically beneficial to the fly. Some of the tested plants attractive to D. suzukii gravid females stimulate oviposition but do not allow full larval development. Planted near sensitive crops, these “trap plants” may attract and lure D. suzukii, therefore contributing to the control of the invasive fly. PMID:26581101

Construction, implementation and testing of an image identification system using computer vision methods for fruit flies with economic importance (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Wang, Jiang-Ning; Chen, Xiao-Lin; Hou, Xin-Wen; Zhou, Li-Bing; Zhu, Chao-Dong; Ji, Li-Qiang

2017-07-01

Many species of Tephritidae are damaging to fruit, which might negatively impact international fruit trade. Automatic or semi-automatic identification of fruit flies are greatly needed for diagnosing causes of damage and quarantine protocols for economically relevant insects. A fruit fly image identification system named AFIS1.0 has been developed using 74 species belonging to six genera, which include the majority of pests in the Tephritidae. The system combines automated image identification and manual verification, balancing operability and accuracy. AFIS1.0 integrates image analysis and expert system into a content-based image retrieval framework. In the the automatic identification module, AFIS1.0 gives candidate identification results. Afterwards users can do manual selection based on comparing unidentified images with a subset of images corresponding to the automatic identification result. The system uses Gabor surface features in automated identification and yielded an overall classification success rate of 87% to the species level by Independent Multi-part Image Automatic Identification Test. The system is useful for users with or without specific expertise on Tephritidae in the task of rapid and effective identification of fruit flies. It makes the application of computer vision technology to fruit fly recognition much closer to production level. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Evolution of olfactory receptor in oriental fruit fly Dacus dorsalis

PubMed Central

Metcalf, Robert L.; Metcalf, Esther R.; Mitchell, W. C.; Lee, Lena W. Y.

1979-01-01

Male oriental fruit flies (Dacus dorsalis) from colonies in Taiwan and Hawaii were evaluated for limit of response to various analogues of methyl eugenol. The results are interpreted in terms of the geometry and allosteric requirements of the antennal receptor that triggers the characteristic methyl eugenol reflex. This receptor has evolved for complementarity to all portions of the methyl eugenol molecule and responds only to ortho-substituted benzenes with adjacent oxygen atoms or isoelectronic equivalents. Substantial differences in responses of Taiwan and Hawaiian D. dorsalis suggest that perceptible evolution of the receptor protein has occurred during the past 50 years. A plausible scheme for the coevolution of dacini flies with plants containing phenylpropionoid essential oils is outlined. Images PMID:16592640

A Plain English Map of the Chromosomes of the Fruit Fly Drosophila Melanogaster.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Offner, Susan

1996-01-01

Presents a plain English map of the chromosomes of the fruit fly that contains genes from very different kinds of studies. Represents the work of nearly a century by thousands of researchers using a tremendous variety of techniques. (JRH)

Risk of introducing exotic fruit flies, Ceratitis capitata, Ceratitis cosyra, and Ceratitis rosa (Diptera: Tephritidae), into southern China.

PubMed

Li, Baini; Ma, Jun; Hu, Xuenan; Liu, Haijun; Wu, Jiajiao; Chen, Hongjun; Zhang, Runjie

2010-08-01

Exotic fruit flies (Ceratitis spp.) are often serious agricultural pests. Here, we used, pathway analysis and Monte Carlo simulations to assess the risk of introduction of Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), Ceratitis cosyra (Walker), and Ceratitis rosa Karsch, into southern China with fruit consignments and incoming travelers. Historical data, expert opinions, relevant literature, and archives were used to set appropriate parameters in the pathway analysis. Based on the ongoing quarantine/ inspection strategies of China, as well as the interception records, we estimated the annual number of each fruit fly species entering Guangdong province undetected with commercially imported fruit, and the associated risk. We also estimated the gross number of pests arriving at Guangdong ports with incoming travelers and the associated risk. Sensitivity analysis also was performed to test the impact of parameter changes and to assess how the risk could be reduced. Results showed that the risk of introduction of the three fruit fly species into southern China with fruit consignments, which are mostly transported by ship, exists but is relatively low. In contrast, the risk of introduction with incoming travelers is high and hence deserves intensive attention. Sensitivity analysis indicated that either ensuring all shipments meet current phytosanitary requirements or increasing the proportion of fruit imports sampled for inspection could substantially reduce the risk associated with commercial imports. Sensitivity analysis also provided justification for banning importation of fresh fruit by international travelers. Thus, inspection and quarantine in conjunction with intensive detection were important mitigation measures to reduce the risk of Ceratitis spp. introduced into China.

Characterization of Bactrocera dorsalis Serine Proteases and Evidence for Their Indirect Role in Insecticide Tolerance

PubMed Central

Hou, Ming-Zhe; Shen, Guang-Mao; Wei, Dong; Li, Ya-Li; Dou, Wei; Wang, Jin-Jun

2014-01-01

The oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) causes devastating losses to agricultural crops world-wide and is considered to be an economically important pest. Little is known about the digestive enzymes such as serine proteases (SPs) in B. dorsalis, which are important both for energy supply and mitigation of fitness cost associated with insecticide tolerance. In this study, we identified five SP genes in the midgut of B. dorsalis, and the alignments of their deduced amino acid sequences revealed the presence of motifs conserved in the SP superfamily. Phylogenetic analyses with known SPs from other insect species suggested that three of them were trypsin-like proteases. Analyses of the expression profiles among the different developmental stages showed that all five genes were most abundant in larvae than in other stages. When larvae were continuously fed on diet containing 0.33 μg/g β-Cypermethrin, expression of all five genes were upregulated in the midgut but the larval development was delayed. Biochemical assays were consistent with the increased protease activity exhibited by SPs in the midgut after treatment with β-Cypermethrin. Taken together, these findings provide evidence for the hypothesis that enhanced SP activity may play an indirect role in relieving the toxicity stress of insecticide in B. dorsalis. PMID:24566149

Implementing a Spinosad-Based Local Bait Station to Control Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae) in High Rainfall Areas of Reunion Island

PubMed Central

Delpoux, Camille; Deguine, Jean-Philippe

2015-01-01

Three species of fruit flies cause serious damage to cucurbit crops on Reunion Island: Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae) (Coquillett 1899), Dacus ciliatus (Loew 1901), and Dacus demmerezi (Bezzi 1917). To control them, a program of agroecological management of cucurbit flies has been implemented based on the application of Synéis-appât, especially spot sprays on corn borders. However, the high rainfall on Reunion Island limits the long-term efficiency of the bait; in addition, this method cannot be used for large chayote trellises, because corn borders cannot be planted around them. The aim of this study was to design a bait station adapted to prevailing conditions on Reunion Island. An ‘umbrella trap’ tested in Taiwan was used as a reference to compare its efficacy with our local bait station. Experiments were conducted in field cages on B. cucurbitae to test different characteristics of bait stations and to construct one using local materials. Results were validated in the field. The attractiveness of the bait station was related mainly to the color of the external surface, yellow being the most attractive color. The efficacy of the bait station with respect to fly mortality was found to be linked to the accessibility of the bait, and direct application of Synéis-appât on the bait station was found to be the most efficient. In the field, B. cucurbitae were more attracted to the local bait station than to the umbrella trap, while the two other fly species displayed equal attraction to both trap types. Our local bait station is a useful alternative to spot sprays of Synéis-appât and is now included in a local pest management program and is well accepted by farmers. PMID:25688089

Implementing a spinosad-based local bait station to control Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae) in high rainfall areas of Reunion Island.

PubMed

Delpoux, Camille; Deguine, Jean-Philippe

2015-01-01

Three species of fruit flies cause serious damage to cucurbit crops on Reunion Island: Bactrocera cucurbitae (Diptera: Tephritidae) (Coquillett 1899), Dacus ciliatus (Loew 1901), and Dacus demmerezi (Bezzi 1917). To control them, a program of agroecological management of cucurbit flies has been implemented based on the application of Synéis-appât, especially spot sprays on corn borders. However, the high rainfall on Reunion Island limits the long-term efficiency of the bait; in addition, this method cannot be used for large chayote trellises, because corn borders cannot be planted around them. The aim of this study was to design a bait station adapted to prevailing conditions on Reunion Island. An 'umbrella trap' tested in Taiwan was used as a reference to compare its efficacy with our local bait station. Experiments were conducted in field cages on B. cucurbitae to test different characteristics of bait stations and to construct one using local materials. Results were validated in the field. The attractiveness of the bait station was related mainly to the color of the external surface, yellow being the most attractive color. The efficacy of the bait station with respect to fly mortality was found to be linked to the accessibility of the bait, and direct application of Synéis-appât on the bait station was found to be the most efficient. In the field, B. cucurbitae were more attracted to the local bait station than to the umbrella trap, while the two other fly species displayed equal attraction to both trap types. Our local bait station is a useful alternative to spot sprays of Synéis-appât and is now included in a local pest management program and is well accepted by farmers. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Entomological Society of America.

Sublethal effects in pest management: a surrogate species perspective on fruit fly control

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Tephritid fruit flies are economically important orchard pests globally. While much effort has focused on controlling individual species with a combination of pesticides and biological control, less attention has been paid to managing assemblages of species. Although several tephritid species may co...

Phylogeography of West Indian fruit fly, Anastrepha obliqua, inferred with mtDNA sequencing

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart) (Diptera: Tephritidae), the West Indian fruit fly, is a frugivorous pest that occasionally finds its way to commercial growing areas outside its native distribution. It inhabits areas in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean, with occasional infestations...

Nonhost status of mangosteen to Bactrocera dorsalis and Bactrocera carambolae (Diptera:Tephritidae) in Thailand

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Postharvest quarantine treatments (irradiation or vapor heat) are used to control fruit flies and other pests in mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L) exported to the United States and Japan from Thailand. No-choice tests were conducted in the laboratory to determine whether Thai mangosteen is a host f...

Oviposition in Sweet Cherry by Reproductively Mature Western Cherry Fruit Fly (Tephritidae:Diptera) Fed Spinosad and Neonicotinoid Insecticide Baits

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran, is a major pest of cherry, Prunus avium (L.) L., in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. Spinosad bait is applied weekly to kill flies before they develop eggs, but its effects on oviposition by flies that are reproductively mature are unknown. ...

Involvement of Met and Kr-h1 in JH-Mediated Reproduction of Female Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel).

PubMed

Yue, Yong; Yang, Rui-Lin; Wang, Wei-Ping; Zhou, Qi-Hao; Chen, Er-Hu; Yuan, Guo-Rui; Wang, Jin-Jun; Dou, Wei

2018-01-01

Juvenile hormone (JH) prevents metamorphosis during insect larval stages and promotes adult reproductive processes. Krüppel-homolog 1 (Kr-h1), a zinc finger transcription factor assumed to be induced by JH via the JH receptor methoprene-tolerant (Met), mediates the antimetamorphic effect of JH in insects, but its function in JH-mediated reproductive processes has not been fully explored. In this study, Met and Kr-h1 involved in the JH signaling pathway were first cloned and identified from the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis , an important pest infesting fruit and vegetables worldwide. Subsequent spatiotemporal expression analysis revealed that Met and Kr-h1 were both highly expressed in 7-day-old adults and fat body of female adults, respectively. Treatment with a JH analog (methoprene) significantly induced the expression of JH signaling and vitellogenin ( Vg ) genes and accelerated ovary development. RNA interference (RNAi) further revealed that either Met or Kr-h1 depletion at the adult stage of B. dorsalis impeded ovary development, with significantly lower egg production noted as well. In addition, rescue through methoprene application after RNAi stimulated the expression of JH signaling and Vg genes. Although there were still differences in ovary phenotype between rescued insects and the pre-RNAi control, ovary redevelopment with a larger surface area was observed, consistent with the spatiotemporal expression and phenotypes recorded in the original methoprene experiment. Our data reveal the involvement of Met and Kr-h1 in insect vitellogenesis and egg production, thus indicating the crucial role of the JH signaling pathway in insect reproduction.

Semiochemical mediated enhancement of males to complement sterile insect technique in management of the tephritid pest Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt).

PubMed

Khan, Mohammed Abul Monjur; Manoukis, Nicholas C; Osborne, Terry; Barchia, Idris M; Gurr, Geoff M; Reynolds, Olivia L

2017-10-17

Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt), is the most significant pest of Australia's $9 billion horticulture industry. The sterile insect technique (SIT) and cue-lure (a synthetic analogue of raspberry ketone (RK))-based male annihilation technique (MAT) are two of the most effective management tools against this pest. However, combining these two approaches is considered incompatible as MAT kills sterile and 'wild' males indiscriminately. In the present study we tested the effect of pre-release feeding of B. tryoni on RK on their post-release survival and response to MAT in field cages and in a commercial orchard. In both settings, survival was higher for RK supplemented adults compared to control (i.e. RK denied) adults. A lower number of RK supplemented sterile males were recaptured in MAT baited traps in both the field cages and orchard trials compared to RK denied sterile males. The advantage of this novel "male replacement" approach (relatively selective mortality of wild males at lure-baited traps while simultaneously releasing sterile males) is increasing the ratio of sterile to wild males in the field population, with potential for reducing the number of sterile males to be released.

Natural field infestation of Mangifera casturi and M.lalijiwa by oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Mango, Mangifera indica, is a crop cultivated pantropically. There are, however, many other Mangifera spp. (“mango relatives”) which have much more restricted distributions and are poorly known, but have potential to produce mango-like fruits in areas where mangoes do not grow well or could be tapp...

Transcriptomic and metabolomic profiles of Chinese citrus fly, Bactrocera minax (Diptera: Tephritidae), along with pupal development provide insight into diapause program

PubMed Central

Fan, Huan; Xiong, Ke-Cai; Liu, Ying-Hong

2017-01-01

The Chinese citrus fly, Bactrocera minax (Enderlein), is a devastating citrus pest in Asia. This univoltine insect enters obligatory pupal diapause in each generation, while little is known about the course and the molecular mechanisms of diapause. In this study, the course of diapause was determined by measuring the respiratory rate throughout the pupal stage. In addition, the variation of transcriptomic and metabolomic profiles of pupae at five developmental stages (pre-, early-, middle-, late-, and post-diapause) were evaluated by next-generation sequencing technology and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), respectively. A total of 4,808 genes were significantly altered in ten pairwise comparisons, representing major shifts in metabolism and signal transduction as well as endocrine system and digestive system. Gene expression profiles were validated by qRT-PCR analysis. In addition, 48 metabolites were identified and quantified by 1H NMR. Nine of which significantly contributed to the variation in the metabolomic profiles, especially proline and trehalose. Moreover, the samples collected within diapause maintenance (early-, middle-, and late-diapause) only exhibited marginal transcriptomic and metabolomic variation with each other. These findings greatly improve our understanding of B. minax diapause and lay the foundation for further pertinent studies. PMID:28704500

Assessment of susceptibility of olive cultivars to the Bactrocera oleae (Gmelin, 1790) and Camarosporium dalmaticum (Thüm.) Zachos & Tzav.-Klon. attacks in Calabria (Southern Italy).

PubMed

Iannotta, Nino; Noce, Maria E; Ripa, Vincenzo; Scalercio, Stefano; Vizzarri, Veronica

2007-01-01

Within the framework of research concerning the application of techniques alternative to chemical pesticides for control of parasites, the C.R.A. Experimental Institute for Olive Growing for many years has been performing a large investigation in order to detect sources of genetic resistance in olive germplasm. In the present study we observed the behavior related to the olive fly (Bactrocera oleae) infestation and Camarosporium dalmaticum infection of ten olive cultivars farmed under the same agronomic and climatic conditions in Calabria, Southern Italy. The sampling and the data collecting were carried out in three different ripening times. The drupe amount of oleuropein and cyanidine was detected by laboratory analyses in order to verify a possible correlation between these molecules and the level of infestation/infection of the above-mentioned parasites. The obtained data were submitted to analysis of variance. In relation to the fungal infection the results displayed that cvs Tonda nera dolce showed the lowest susceptibility, while the cv Giarraffa turned out to be the most susceptible. The less susceptible cultivars to the phytophagous were Tonda nera dolce and Bhardi Tirana. Since the less susceptible cultivar to olive fly attacks are the same observed in relation to the susceptibility to olive fruit rot, it is suggested a relation between the olive fly infestation and the fungal infection. It suggests the utility to achieve these results both to transfer directly to the farmers' world and to emphasize ecosystem health and biodiversity conservation.

Generic insect repellent detector from the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Syed, Zainulabeuddin; Pelletier, Julien; Flounders, Eric; Chitolina, Rodrigo F; Leal, Walter S

2011-03-16

Insect repellents are prophylactic tools against a number of vector-borne diseases. There is growing demand for repellents outperforming DEET in cost and safety, but with the current technologies R&D of a new product takes almost 10 years, with a prohibitive cost of $30 million dollar in part due to the demand for large-scale synthesis of thousands of test compounds of which only 1 may reach the market. R&D could be expedited and cost dramatically reduced with a molecular/physiological target to streamline putative repellents for final efficacy and toxicological tests. Using olfactory-based choice assay we show here that the fruit fly is repelled by not only DEET, but also IR3535 and picaridin thus suggesting they might have "generic repellent detector(s)," which may be of practical applications in new repellent screenings. We performed single unit recordings from all olfactory sensilla in the antennae and maxillary palps. Although the ab3A neuron in the wild type flies responded to picaridin, it was unresponsive to DEET and IR3535. By contrast, a neuron housed in the palp basiconic sensilla pb1 responded to DEET, IR3535, and picaridin, with apparent sensitivity higher than that of the DEET detectors in the mosquitoes Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti. DmOr42a was transplanted from pb1 to the "empty neuron" and showed to be sensitive to the three insect repellents. For the first time we have demonstrated that the fruit fly avoids not only DEET but also IR3535 and picaridin, and identified an olfactory receptor neuron (ORN), which is sensitive to these three major insect repellents. We have also identified the insect repellent-sensitive receptor, DmOr42a. This generic detector fulfils the requirements for a simplified bioassay for early screening of test insect repellents.

Establishment of the west indian fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) parasitoid Doryctobracon areolatus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)in the Dominican Republic

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The West Indian fruit fly, Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart), infests numerous fruit species, particularly Anacardiaceae and most importantly mango (Mangifera indica L.). Widespread in the Neotropics, it was first reported in Hispaniola nearly 70 years ago. Continental populations are attacked by the op...

Identification of host fruit volatiles from snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), attractive to Rhagoletis zephyria flies from Western United States

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Gas chromatography coupled with electroantennogram detection (GC-EAD) was used to identify volatiles from the fruit of Snowberry, Symphoricarpos albus laevigatus, as key attractants for Rhagoletis zephyria flies reared from snowberry fruit. A nine-component blend containing 3-methylbutan-1-ol (3%), ...

Phytosanitary Treatments Against Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae): Current Situation and Future Prospects.

PubMed

Dohino, Toshiyuki; Hallman, Guy J; Grout, Timothy G; Clarke, Anthony R; Follett, Peter A; Cugala, Domingos R; Minh Tu, Duong; Murdita, Wayan; Hernandez, Emilio; Pereira, Rui; Myers, Scott W

2017-02-01

Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is arguably the most important tephritid attacking fruits after Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae). In 2003 it was found in Africa and quickly spread to most of the sub-Saharan part of the continent, destroying fruits and creating regulatory barriers to their export. The insect is causing new nutritional and economic losses across Africa, as well as the losses it has caused for decades in infested areas of Asia, New Guinea, and Hawaii. This new panorama represents a challenge for fruit exportation from Africa. Phytosanitary treatments are required to export quarantined commodities out of infested areas to areas where the pest does not exist and could become established. This paper describes current phytosanitary treatments against B. dorsalis and their use throughout the world, the development of new treatments based on existing research, and recommendations for further research to provide phytosanitary solutions to the problem. © The Authors 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Sperm depletion in singly mated females of the Mexican Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Female Mexican fruit flies, or mexflies, have the capacity to produce more than a thousand eggs over their lifetime but fertility of the eggs will depend on the female’s capacity to store semen and/or to replenish semen through remating. The two parameters are interrelated in that sexual receptivity...

The concentration of some metals (Pb, Cd, Zn and Cu) and delta aminolevulinic acid dehydratase activity of fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) living near lead and zinc smelter ``Trepça'' in Kosova

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elezaj, I. R.; Letaj, K. Rr.; Selimi, Q. I.; Zhushi-Etemi, F.

2003-05-01

The concentration of Pb, Cd, Zn and Cu, δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase activity (ALA-D: EC.4.2.1.24) hemoglobin and protein amount have been determined in three different populations of fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) caught at two urban sites (Mitrovica town, which is situated close to smelter of “Trepça” don close and Prishtina the capital of Kosova) and in Luki village as uncontaminated area. The results show that in the fruit fly of Mitrovica the concentration of Pb, Cd and Zn was significantly higher (P<0.00l) in comparison with that on the f-Liit fly of Prishtina and Luki. The concentration of Pb of fruit fly from Mitrovica was 3.1 times higher in comparison with that on fruit fly of Prishtina and 4.9 times higher in comparison with uncontaminated group of fruit fly. The ALA-D activity was significantly inhibited in the homogenate of fruit fly from Mitrovica in comparison with Prishtina and Luki localities (P<0.00l). ALA-D activity was also inhibited in the homogenate of Prishtina fruit fly in comparison with Luki group (P<0.00l). The amount of proteins was significantly lower in Mitrovica fruit fly in comparison with that in control and Prishtina group. The hemoglobin value was relatively unchanged.

Medhost: An encyclopedic bibliography of the host plants of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), version 3.0

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), causes direct damage to fruits and vegetables through oviposition and larval feeding. Rigorous quarantine procedures are currently enforced to prevent domestic and transnational spread of Medfly. Accessible and reliable informatio...

Neurokernel: An Open Source Platform for Emulating the Fruit Fly Brain

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

We have developed an open software platform called Neurokernel for collaborative development of comprehensive models of the brain of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and their execution and testing on multiple Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Neurokernel provides a programming model that capitalizes upon the structural organization of the fly brain into a fixed number of functional modules to distinguish between these modules’ local information processing capabilities and the connectivity patterns that link them. By defining mandatory communication interfaces that specify how data is transmitted between models of each of these modules regardless of their internal design, Neurokernel explicitly enables multiple researchers to collaboratively model the fruit fly’s entire brain by integration of their independently developed models of its constituent processing units. We demonstrate the power of Neurokernel’s model integration by combining independently developed models of the retina and lamina neuropils in the fly’s visual system and by demonstrating their neuroinformation processing capability. We also illustrate Neurokernel’s ability to take advantage of direct GPU-to-GPU data transfers with benchmarks that demonstrate scaling of Neurokernel’s communication performance both over the number of interface ports exposed by an emulation’s constituent modules and the total number of modules comprised by an emulation. PMID:26751378

A Discrete Fruit Fly Optimization Algorithm for the Traveling Salesman Problem.

PubMed

Jiang, Zi-Bin; Yang, Qiong

2016-01-01

The fruit fly optimization algorithm (FOA) is a newly developed bio-inspired algorithm. The continuous variant version of FOA has been proven to be a powerful evolutionary approach to determining the optima of a numerical function on a continuous definition domain. In this study, a discrete FOA (DFOA) is developed and applied to the traveling salesman problem (TSP), a common combinatorial problem. In the DFOA, the TSP tour is represented by an ordering of city indices, and the bio-inspired meta-heuristic search processes are executed with two elaborately designed main procedures: the smelling and tasting processes. In the smelling process, an effective crossover operator is used by the fruit fly group to search for the neighbors of the best-known swarm location. During the tasting process, an edge intersection elimination (EXE) operator is designed to improve the neighbors of the non-optimum food location in order to enhance the exploration performance of the DFOA. In addition, benchmark instances from the TSPLIB are classified in order to test the searching ability of the proposed algorithm. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the proposed DFOA is compared to that of other meta-heuristic algorithms. The results indicate that the proposed DFOA can be effectively used to solve TSPs, especially large-scale problems.

A Discrete Fruit Fly Optimization Algorithm for the Traveling Salesman Problem

PubMed Central

Jiang, Zi-bin; Yang, Qiong

2016-01-01

The fruit fly optimization algorithm (FOA) is a newly developed bio-inspired algorithm. The continuous variant version of FOA has been proven to be a powerful evolutionary approach to determining the optima of a numerical function on a continuous definition domain. In this study, a discrete FOA (DFOA) is developed and applied to the traveling salesman problem (TSP), a common combinatorial problem. In the DFOA, the TSP tour is represented by an ordering of city indices, and the bio-inspired meta-heuristic search processes are executed with two elaborately designed main procedures: the smelling and tasting processes. In the smelling process, an effective crossover operator is used by the fruit fly group to search for the neighbors of the best-known swarm location. During the tasting process, an edge intersection elimination (EXE) operator is designed to improve the neighbors of the non-optimum food location in order to enhance the exploration performance of the DFOA. In addition, benchmark instances from the TSPLIB are classified in order to test the searching ability of the proposed algorithm. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the proposed DFOA is compared to that of other meta-heuristic algorithms. The results indicate that the proposed DFOA can be effectively used to solve TSPs, especially large-scale problems. PMID:27812175

Molecular architecture of the fruit fly's airway epithelial immune system.

PubMed

Wagner, Christina; Isermann, Kerstin; Fehrenbach, Heinz; Roeder, Thomas

2008-09-29

Airway epithelial cells not only constitute a physical barrier, but also the first line of defence against airborne pathogens. At the same time, they are constantly exposed to reactive oxygen species. Therefore, airway epithelia cells have to possess a sophisticated innate immune system and a molecular armamentarium to detoxify reactive oxygen species. It has become apparent that deregulation of epithelial innate immunity is a major reason for the development of chronic inflammatory lung diseases. To elucidate the molecular architecture of the innate immune system of airway epithelial cells, we choose the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model, because it has the simplest type of airways, consisting of epithelial cells only. Elucidating the structure of the innate immune system of this "airway epithelial cell culture" might enable us to understand why deregulatory processes in innate immune signalling cascades lead to long lasting inflammatory events. All airway epithelial cells of the fruit fly are able to launch an immune response. They contain only one functional signal transduction pathway that converges onto NF-kappaB factors, namely the IMD-pathway, which is homologous to the TNF-alpha receptor pathway. Although vital parts of the Toll-pathway are missing, dorsal and dif, the NF-kappaB factors dedicated to this signalling system, are present. Other pathways involved in immune regulation, such as the JNK- and the JAK/STAT-pathway, are completely functional in these cells. In addition, most peptidoglycan recognition proteins, representing the almost complete collection of pattern recognition receptors, are part of the epithelial cells equipment. Potential effector molecules are different antimicrobial peptides and lysozymes, but also transferrin that can inhibit bacterial growth through iron-depletion. Reactive oxygen species can be inactivated through the almost complete armamentarium of enzymatic antioxidants that has the fly to its disposal. The innate

Molecular genetics of the Wolbachia endosymbionts that infect the parasitoids of tephritid fruit flies.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Limited information exists on the molecular genetics of the Wolbachia endosymbionts that infect the parasitoids of tephritid fruit flies. A better understanding of the bacteria could allow sex ratio manipulations that would improve the mass-rearing of natural enemies. Scientists at the Center for Me...

Effects of polygamy on the activity/rest rhythm of male fruit flies Drosophila melanogaster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vartak, Vivek Rohidas; Varma, Vishwanath; Sharma, Vijay Kumar

2015-02-01

Although polygamy is common in insects, its extent varies enormously among natural populations. Mating systems influence the evolution of reproductive traits and the difference in extent of polygamy between males and females may be a key factor in determining traits which come under the influence of sexual selection. Fruit flies Drosophila melanogaster are promiscuous as both males and females mate with multiple partners. Mating has severe consequences on the physiology and behaviour of flies, and it affects their activity/rest rhythm in a sex-specific manner. In this study, we attempted to discern the effects of mating with multiple partners as opposed to a single partner, or of remaining unmated, on the activity/rest rhythm of flies under cyclic semi-natural (SN) and constant dark (DD) conditions. The results revealed that while evening activity of mated flies was significantly reduced compared to virgins, polygamous males showed a more severe reduction compared to monogamous males. In contrast, though mated females showed reduction in evening activity compared to virgins, activity levels were not different between polygamous and monogamous females. Although there was no detectable effect of mating on clock period, power of the activity/rest rhythm was significantly reduced in mated females with no difference seen between polygamous and monogamous individuals. These results suggest that courtship motivation, represented by evening activity, is successively reduced in males due to mating with one or more partners, while in females, it does not depend on the number of mating partners. Based on these results we conclude that polygamy affects the activity/rest rhythm of fruit flies D. melanogaster in a sex-dependent manner.

Neem derivatives are not effective as toxic bait for tephritid fruit flies.

PubMed

Silva, M A; Bezerra-Silva, G C D; Vendramim, J D; Mastrangelo, T; Forim, M R

2013-08-01

Neem derivatives have been widely touted as replacements for pesticides. A feasible replacement of synthetic insecticides in the management of fruit flies could be to use neem products in baits. This study evaluated the bioactivity of neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss) derivatives in bait for adults of Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann) and Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann). The estimated LCs50 values for A. fraterculus and C. capitata were 7,522 ppm (18.40 ppm of azadirachtin) and 1,368 ppm (3.35 ppm of azadirachtin), respectively, using an aqueous extract of neem seeds in bait after 10 d of experimentation. No significant differences in the mortality of A. fraterculus and C. capitata adults exposed to baits made from different extracts and neem oil were observed after 3 h or 2 or 6 d; differences among the treatments were observed only on the 10th day of the evaluation. We conclude that neem derivatives applied as a bait spray over citrus plants did not demonstrate a toxic effect on A. fraterculus and C. capitata. The reasons for the low efficacy of the neem bait on Tephritid fruit flies are discussed.

Quality management systems for fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) sterile insect technique

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Caceres, C.; Robinson, A.; McInnis, D.

The papers presented in this issue are focused on developing and validating procedures to improve the overall quality of sterile fruit flies for use in area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programs with a sterile insect technique (SIT) component. The group was coordinated and partially funded by the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria, under a five-year Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on 'Quality Assurance in Mass-Reared and Released Fruit Flies for Use in SIT Programmes'. Participants in the CRP from 16 countries came from both basic and applied fields of expertisemore » to ensure that appropriate and relevant procedures were developed. A variety of studies was undertaken to develop protocols to assess strain compatibility and to improve colonization procedures and strain management. Specific studies addressed issues related to insect nutrition, irradiation protocols, field dispersal and survival, field cage behavior assessments, and enhancement of mating competitiveness. The main objective was to increase the efficiency of operational fruit fly programs using sterile insects and to reduce their cost. Many of the protocols developed or improved during the CRP will be incorporated into the international quality control manual for sterile tephritid fruit flies, standardizing key components of the production, sterilization, shipment, handling, and release of sterile insects. (author) [Spanish] Los articulos presentados en este numero se enfocan en el desarrollo y la validacion de procedimientos para mejorar la calidad total de moscas de las frutas esteriles para su uso en programas de manejo integrado de plagas en donde la tecnica del insecto esteril (TIE) es uno de los componentes clave. El grupo fue coordinado y parcialmente financiado por la Division Conjunta de Tecnicas Nucleares para la Alimentacion y la Agricultura de la FAO/OIEA, Viena, Austria, por un periodo

Honey bee foraging preferences, effects of sugars, and fruit fly toxic bait components.

PubMed

Mangan, Robert L; Moreno, Aleena Tarshis

2009-08-01

Field tests were carried out to evaluate the repellency of the Dow AgroSciences fruit fly toxic bait GF-120 (NF Naturalyte) to domestic honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). GF-120 is an organically registered attractive bait for tephritid fruit flies composed of spinosad, hydrolyzed protein (Solulys), high-fructose corn syrup (ADM CornSweet 42 high-fructose corn syrup, referred to as invertose sugar or invertose here), vegetable oils, adjuvants, humectants, and attractants. Tests were carried out with non-Africanized honey bees in February and March 2005 and 2007 during periods of maximum hunger for these bees. In all tests, bees were first trained to forage from plates of 30% honey-water (2005) or 30% invertose (2007). In 2005 bees were offered choices between honey-water and various bait components, including the complete toxic bait. In 2007, similar tests were performed except bees were attracted with 30% invertose then offered the bait components or complete bait as no-choice tests. Initially, the 2005 tests used all the components of GF-120 except the spinosad as the test bait. After we were convinced that bees would not collect or be contaminated by the bait, we tested the complete GF-120. Behavior of the bees indicated that during initial attraction and after switching the baits, the bait components and the complete bait were repellent to honey bees, but the honey-water remained attractive. Invertose was shown to be less attractive to bees, addition of Solulys eliminated almost all bee activity, and addition of ammonium acetate completely eliminated feeding in both choice and no-choice tests. These results confirm previous tests showing that bees do not feed on GF-120 and also show that honey bees are repelled by the fruit fly attractant components of the bait in field tests.

An improved chaotic fruit fly optimization based on a mutation strategy for simultaneous feature selection and parameter optimization for SVM and its applications.

PubMed

Ye, Fei; Lou, Xin Yuan; Sun, Lin Fu

2017-01-01

This paper proposes a new support vector machine (SVM) optimization scheme based on an improved chaotic fly optimization algorithm (FOA) with a mutation strategy to simultaneously perform parameter setting turning for the SVM and feature selection. In the improved FOA, the chaotic particle initializes the fruit fly swarm location and replaces the expression of distance for the fruit fly to find the food source. However, the proposed mutation strategy uses two distinct generative mechanisms for new food sources at the osphresis phase, allowing the algorithm procedure to search for the optimal solution in both the whole solution space and within the local solution space containing the fruit fly swarm location. In an evaluation based on a group of ten benchmark problems, the proposed algorithm's performance is compared with that of other well-known algorithms, and the results support the superiority of the proposed algorithm. Moreover, this algorithm is successfully applied in a SVM to perform both parameter setting turning for the SVM and feature selection to solve real-world classification problems. This method is called chaotic fruit fly optimization algorithm (CIFOA)-SVM and has been shown to be a more robust and effective optimization method than other well-known methods, particularly in terms of solving the medical diagnosis problem and the credit card problem.

Soil moisture and relative humidity effects during post-diapause on emergence of western cherry fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran, is a pest of sweet cherry, Prunus avium (L.) L., in western North America that is found in relatively moist and dry habitats. In this study, fly pupae from Kennewick and Roslyn in Washington state, U.S.A., were used to test the hypotheses tha...

Estimating effective population size from linkage disequilibrium between unlinked loci: theory and application to fruit fly outbreak populations.

PubMed

Sved, John A; Cameron, Emilie C; Gilchrist, A Stuart

2013-01-01

There is a substantial literature on the use of linkage disequilibrium (LD) to estimate effective population size using unlinked loci. The Ne estimates are extremely sensitive to the sampling process, and there is currently no theory to cope with the possible biases. We derive formulae for the analysis of idealised populations mating at random with multi-allelic (microsatellite) loci. The 'Burrows composite index' is introduced in a novel way with a 'composite haplotype table'. We show that in a sample of diploid size S, the mean value of x2 or r2 from the composite haplotype table is biased by a factor of 1-1/(2S-1)2, rather than the usual factor 1+1/(2S-1) for a conventional haplotype table. But analysis of population data using these formulae leads to Ne estimates that are unrealistically low. We provide theory and simulation to show that this bias towards low Ne estimates is due to null alleles, and introduce a randomised permutation correction to compensate for the bias. We also consider the effect of introducing a within-locus disequilibrium factor to r2, and find that this factor leads to a bias in the Ne estimate. However this bias can be overcome using the same randomised permutation correction, to yield an altered r2 with lower variance than the original r2, and one that is also insensitive to null alleles. The resulting formulae are used to provide Ne estimates on 40 samples of the Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni, from populations with widely divergent Ne expectations. Linkage relationships are known for most of the microsatellite loci in this species. We find that there is little difference in the estimated Ne values from using known unlinked loci as compared to using all loci, which is important for conservation studies where linkage relationships are unknown.

Effects of monoterpenes on mortality, growth, fecundity, and ovarian development of Bactrocera zonata (Saunders) (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

El-Minshawy, Abdelaziz M; Abdelgaleil, Samir A M; Gadelhak, Gadelhak G; Al-Eryan, Mohamed A; Rabab, Rafiaa A

2018-06-01

The peach fruit fly (PFF), Bactrocera zonata, is a serious insect pest infesting fruits and vegetables. The insecticidal activity of three monoterpenes, namely, (R)-camphor, (R)-carvone, and (1R,2S,5R)-menthol, was evaluated on the second-instar larvae of B. zonata. In addition, the latent effects of monoterpenes on pupation, adult emergence, deformation, oviposition, adult longevity, and ovarian development were also examined. The three tested monoterpenes showed pronounced insecticidal activity against B. zonata larvae with (R)-carvone being the most potent toxicant. When the second-instar larvae of B. zonata were treated with monoterpenes at concentrations of 20, 50, and 70 mg/kg for 72 h, significant reduction in pupation and adult emergence was observed. The three monoterpenes caused complete suppression of adult emergence at 100 mg/kg. Moreover, monoterpenes induced complete inhibition of egg deposition at all tested concentrations. Some adult deformations were also noticed at 20, 50, and 70 mg/kg. However, (R)-carvone was more effective than (1R,2S,5R)-menthol and (R)-camphor on the examined biological parameters. On the other hand, histological examination of the ovaries of emerged females from larvae that fed on diet treated with (R)-carvone, (1R,2S,5R)-menthol, and (R)-camphor at 20 and 50 mg/L indicated that both concentrations caused retardation in the development of ovarioles. It is clear that all the egg chambers are empty; the germarium region is constricted at base due to the failure of oocyte formation. Many vacant spaces were present between ovarioles.

Development of transgenic strains for the biological control of the Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens, is a highly significant agricultural pest species that has been genetically transformed with a piggyBac¬-based transposon vector system using independent vector and transposase helper plasmids. Estimated germ-line transformation frequencies were approximate...

Wrinkled Peas and White-Eyed Fruit Flies: The Molecular Basis of Two Classical Genetic Traits.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guilfoile, Patrick

1997-01-01

Focuses on bridging the gap between classical and molecular genetics for two traits: wrinkled seeds in garden peas and white eye color in fruit flies. Discusses the molecular details of the underlying basis of these traits. Contains 15 references. (JRH)

Superparasitism in the Fruit Fly Parasitoid Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and the Implications for Mass Rearing and Augmentative Release

PubMed Central

Montoya, Pablo; Pérez-Lachaud, Gabriela; Liedo, Pablo

2012-01-01

Superparasitism, a strategy in which a female lays eggs in/on a previously parasitized host, was attributed in the past to the inability of females to discriminate between parasitized and non-parasitized hosts. However, superparasitism is now accepted as an adaptive strategy under specific conditions. In fruit fly parasitoids, superparasitism has mainly been studied as concerns the new association between Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and the Mexican fruit fly Anastrepha ludens (Loew) (Diptera: Tephritidae), wherein this phenomenon is a common occurrence in both mass rearing and field conditions. Studies of this species have shown that moderate levels of superparasitism result in a female-biased sex ratio and that both massreared and wild females superparasitize their hosts without detrimental effects on offspring demographic parameters, including longevity and fecundity. These studies suggest that superparasitism in this species is advantageous. In this paper, we review superparasitism in D. longicaudata, discuss these findings in the context of mass rearing and field releases and address the possible implications of superparasitism in programs employing augmentative releases of parasitoids for the control of fruit fly pests. PMID:26466718

Limit-cycle-based control of the myogenic wingbeat rhythm in the fruit fly Drosophila

PubMed Central

Bartussek, Jan; Mutlu, A. Kadir; Zapotocky, Martin; Fry, Steven N.

2013-01-01

In many animals, rhythmic motor activity is governed by neural limit cycle oscillations under the control of sensory feedback. In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the wingbeat rhythm is generated myogenically by stretch-activated muscles and hence independently from direct neural input. In this study, we explored if generation and cycle-by-cycle control of Drosophila's wingbeat are functionally separated, or if the steering muscles instead couple into the myogenic rhythm as a weak forcing of a limit cycle oscillator. We behaviourally tested tethered flying flies for characteristic properties of limit cycle oscillators. To this end, we mechanically stimulated the fly's ‘gyroscopic’ organs, the halteres, and determined the phase relationship between the wing motion and stimulus. The flies synchronized with the stimulus for specific ranges of stimulus amplitude and frequency, revealing the characteristic Arnol'd tongues of a forced limit cycle oscillator. Rapid periodic modulation of the wingbeat frequency prior to locking demonstrates the involvement of the fast steering muscles in the observed control of the wingbeat frequency. We propose that the mechanical forcing of a myogenic limit cycle oscillator permits flies to avoid the comparatively slow control based on a neural central pattern generator. PMID:23282849

Proteomics/qPCR approach on estimating physical ages of wild male oriental fruit flies

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Male fruit flies reared in the laboratory in DKI-PBARC rearing facility in Hilo, Hawaii, were collected and whole insects were run through standard proteomic analysis. An odorant binding protein 99b (OBP) (Bdor0907381) located at molecular weight between 9226 dalton and PI 4.56 was identified throug...

Forest fragments as barriers to fruit fly dispersal: Anastrepha (Diptera: Tephritidae) populations in orchards and adjacent forest fragments in Puerto Rico.

PubMed

Jenkins, David A; Kendra, Paul E; Van Bloem, Skip; Whitmire, Stefanie; Mizell, Russ; Goenaga, Ricardo

2013-04-01

McPhail-type traps baited with ammonium acetate and putrescine were used to monitor populations of Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart) and Anastrepha suspensa (Loew) in two orchards with hosts of these flies (mango, Mangifera indica L., and carambola, Averrhoa carambola L.), as well as in forest fragments bordering these orchards. Contour maps were constructed to measure population distributions in and around orchards. Our results indicate that Anastrepha populations are focused around host fruit in both space and time, that traps do not draw fruit flies away from hosts, even when placed within 15 m of the host, and that lures continue to function for 6 mo in the field. The contour mapping analyses reveal that populations of fruit flies are focused around ovipositional hosts. Although the trapping system does not have a very long effective sampling range, it is ideal, when used in combination with contour analyses, for assessing fine-scale (on the order of meters) population distributions, including identifying resources around which fly populations are focused or, conversely, assessing the effectiveness of management tools. The results are discussed as they pertain to monitoring and detecting Anastrepha spp. with the McPhail-type trap and ammonium acetate and putrescine baiting system and the dispersal of these flies within Puerto Rico.

Identification of host fruit volatiles from domestic apple (Malus domestica), native black hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii) and introduced ornamental hawthorn (C. monogyna) attractive to Rhagoletis pomonella flies from the western United States.

PubMed

Cha, Dong H; Yee, Wee L; Goughnour, Robert B; Sim, Sheina B; Powell, Thomas H Q; Feder, Jeffrey L; Linn, Charles E

2012-03-01

The apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella, infests apple (Malus domestica) and hawthorn species (most notably the downy hawthorn, Crataegus mollis) in the eastern USA. Evidence suggests that the fly was introduced into the western USA sometime in the last 60 years. In addition to apple, R. pomonella also infests two species of hawthorns in the western USA as major hosts: the native black hawthorn (C. douglasii) and the introduced ornamental English hawthorn, C. monogyna. Apple and downy hawthorn-origin flies in the eastern USA use volatile blends emitted from the surface of their respective ripening fruit to find and discriminate among host trees. To test whether the same is true for western flies, we used coupled gas chromatography and electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) and developed a 7-component apple fruit blend for western apple-origin flies, an 8-component black hawthorn fruit blend for flies infesting C. douglasii, and a 9-component ornamental hawthorn blend for flies from C. monogyna. Crataegus douglasii and C. monogyna-origin flies showed similar levels of upwind directed flight to their respective natal synthetic fruit blends in flight tunnel assays compared to whole fruit adsorbent extracts, indicating that the blends contain all the behaviorally relevant fruit volatiles to induce maximal response levels. The black and ornamental hawthorn blends shared four compounds in common including 3-methylbutan-1-ol, which appears to be a key volatile for R. pomonella populations in the eastern, southern, and western USA that show a preference for fruit from different Crataegus species. However, the blends also differed from one another and from domesticated apple in several respects that make it possible that western R. pomonella flies behaviorally discriminate among fruit volatiles and form ecologically differentiated host races, as is the case for eastern apple and hawthorn flies.

Resolution of inter and intra-species relationships of the West Indian fruit fly Anastrepha obliqua

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The West Indian fruit fly, Anastrepha obliqua (Macquart) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is an economically important pest that inhabits areas of South and Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean with occasional infestations in the southern United States. We examine intra-specific variation within Anastre...

The Complete Nucleotide Sequence of the Mitochondrial Genome of Bactrocera minax (Diptera: Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Zhang, Bin; Nardi, Francesco; Hull-Sanders, Helen; Wan, Xuanwu; Liu, Yinghong

2014-01-01

The complete 16,043 bp mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Bactrocera minax (Diptera: Tephritidae) has been sequenced. The genome encodes 37 genes usually found in insect mitogenomes. The mitogenome information for B. minax was compared to the homologous sequences of Bactrocera oleae, Bactrocera tryoni, Bactrocera philippinensis, Bactrocera carambolae, Bactrocera papayae, Bactrocera dorsalis, Bactrocera correcta, Bactrocera cucurbitae and Ceratitis capitata. The analysis indicated the structure and organization are typical of, and similar to, the nine closely related species mentioned above, although it contains the lowest genome-wide A+T content (67.3%). Four short intergenic spacers with a high degree of conservation among the nine tephritid species mentioned above and B. minax were observed, which also have clear counterparts in the control regions (CRs). Correlation analysis among these ten tephritid species revealed close positive correlation between the A+T content of zero-fold degenerate sites (P0FD), the ratio of nucleotide substitution frequency at P0FD sites to all degenerate sites (zero-fold degenerate sites, two-fold degenerate sites and four-fold degenerate sites) and amino acid sequence distance (ASD) were found. Further, significant positive correlation was observed between the A+T content of four-fold degenerate sites (P4FD) and the ratio of nucleotide substitution frequency at P4FD sites to all degenerate sites; however, we found significant negative correlation between ASD and the A+T content of P4FD, and the ratio of nucleotide substitution frequency at P4FD sites to all degenerate sites. A higher nucleotide substitution frequency at non-synonymous sites compared to synonymous sites was observed in nad4, the first time that has been observed in an insect mitogenome. A poly(T) stretch at the 5′ end of the CR followed by a [TA(A)]n-like stretch was also found. In addition, a highly conserved G+A-rich sequence block was observed in front of the

The Essential Role of Vitellogenin Receptor in Ovary Development and Vitellogenin Uptake in Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel)

PubMed Central

Cong, Lin; Yang, Wen-Jia; Jiang, Xuan-Zhao; Niu, Jin-Zhi; Shen, Guang-Mao; Ran, Chun; Wang, Jin-Jun

2015-01-01

The vitellogenin receptor (VgR) functions as an essential component in uptaking and transporting vitellogenin (Vg) in female adults, which is involved in ovary development and oviposition. This study aimed to clarify the molecular characteristics and function of VgR in the oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel). Here, we identified the full-length of BdVgR (GenBank Accession No. JX469118), encoding a 1925 residue (aa) protein with a 214.72 kDa molecular mass and several typical motifs of low-density lipoprotein receptor superfamily (LDLR). Phylogenic analysis suggested that BdVgR was evolutionary conserved with other Dipteran VgRs. The expression of BdVgR was exclusively detected in the ovaries rather than head, thorax or other tissues. The developmental expression patterns showed that the signal of BdVgR was detectable in very beginning of adult stage, and positively correlated with the growth rate of ovaries and the expression levels of its ligands. In addition, we also demonstrated that the expression level of BdVgR, and ovary development were significantly suppressed after being injected with BdVgR-targeted dsRNA. Together, all of these results indicated that BdVgR was critical for yolk protein absorption and ovary maturation in B. dorsalis, playing a vital role in female reproduction. PMID:26262609

An improved chaotic fruit fly optimization based on a mutation strategy for simultaneous feature selection and parameter optimization for SVM and its applications

PubMed Central

Lou, Xin Yuan; Sun, Lin Fu

2017-01-01

This paper proposes a new support vector machine (SVM) optimization scheme based on an improved chaotic fly optimization algorithm (FOA) with a mutation strategy to simultaneously perform parameter setting turning for the SVM and feature selection. In the improved FOA, the chaotic particle initializes the fruit fly swarm location and replaces the expression of distance for the fruit fly to find the food source. However, the proposed mutation strategy uses two distinct generative mechanisms for new food sources at the osphresis phase, allowing the algorithm procedure to search for the optimal solution in both the whole solution space and within the local solution space containing the fruit fly swarm location. In an evaluation based on a group of ten benchmark problems, the proposed algorithm’s performance is compared with that of other well-known algorithms, and the results support the superiority of the proposed algorithm. Moreover, this algorithm is successfully applied in a SVM to perform both parameter setting turning for the SVM and feature selection to solve real-world classification problems. This method is called chaotic fruit fly optimization algorithm (CIFOA)-SVM and has been shown to be a more robust and effective optimization method than other well-known methods, particularly in terms of solving the medical diagnosis problem and the credit card problem. PMID:28369096

A visual horizon affects steering responses during flight in fruit flies.

PubMed

Caballero, Jorge; Mazo, Chantell; Rodriguez-Pinto, Ivan; Theobald, Jamie C

2015-09-01

To navigate well through three-dimensional environments, animals must in some way gauge the distances to objects and features around them. Humans use a variety of visual cues to do this, but insects, with their small size and rigid eyes, are constrained to a more limited range of possible depth cues. For example, insects attend to relative image motion when they move, but cannot change the optical power of their eyes to estimate distance. On clear days, the horizon is one of the most salient visual features in nature, offering clues about orientation, altitude and, for humans, distance to objects. We set out to determine whether flying fruit flies treat moving features as farther off when they are near the horizon. Tethered flies respond strongly to moving images they perceive as close. We measured the strength of steering responses while independently varying the elevation of moving stimuli and the elevation of a virtual horizon. We found responses to vertical bars are increased by negative elevations of their bases relative to the horizon, closely correlated with the inverse of apparent distance. In other words, a bar that dips far below the horizon elicits a strong response, consistent with using the horizon as a depth cue. Wide-field motion also had an enhanced effect below the horizon, but this was only prevalent when flies were additionally motivated with hunger. These responses may help flies tune behaviors to nearby objects and features when they are too far off for motion parallax. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

OpenFlyData: an exemplar data web integrating gene expression data on the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Miles, Alistair; Zhao, Jun; Klyne, Graham; White-Cooper, Helen; Shotton, David

2010-10-01

Integrating heterogeneous data across distributed sources is a major requirement for in silico bioinformatics supporting translational research. For example, genome-scale data on patterns of gene expression in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster are widely used in functional genomic studies in many organisms to inform candidate gene selection and validate experimental results. However, current data integration solutions tend to be heavy weight, and require significant initial and ongoing investment of effort. Development of a common Web-based data integration infrastructure (a.k.a. data web), using Semantic Web standards, promises to alleviate these difficulties, but little is known about the feasibility, costs, risks or practical means of migrating to such an infrastructure. We describe the development of OpenFlyData, a proof-of-concept system integrating gene expression data on D. melanogaster, combining Semantic Web standards with light-weight approaches to Web programming based on Web 2.0 design patterns. To support researchers designing and validating functional genomic studies, OpenFlyData includes user-facing search applications providing intuitive access to and comparison of gene expression data from FlyAtlas, the BDGP in situ database, and FlyTED, using data from FlyBase to expand and disambiguate gene names. OpenFlyData's services are also openly accessible, and are available for reuse by other bioinformaticians and application developers. Semi-automated methods and tools were developed to support labour- and knowledge-intensive tasks involved in deploying SPARQL services. These include methods for generating ontologies and relational-to-RDF mappings for relational databases, which we illustrate using the FlyBase Chado database schema; and methods for mapping gene identifiers between databases. The advantages of using Semantic Web standards for biomedical data integration are discussed, as are open issues. In particular, although the performance of open

Food selection in larval fruit flies: dynamics and effects on larval development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwarz, Sebastian; Durisko, Zachary; Dukas, Reuven

2014-01-01

Selecting food items and attaining a nutritionally balanced diet is an important challenge for all animals including humans. We aimed to establish fruit fly larvae ( Drosophila melanogaster) as a simple yet powerful model system for examining the mechanisms of specific hunger and diet selection. In two lab experiments with artificial diets, we found that larvae deprived of either sucrose or protein later selectively fed on a diet providing the missing nutrient. When allowed to freely move between two adjacent food patches, larvae surprisingly preferred to settle on one patch containing yeast and ignored the patch providing sucrose. Moreover, when allowed to move freely between three patches, which provided either yeast only, sucrose only or a balanced mixture of yeast and sucrose, the majority of larvae settled on the yeast-plus-sucrose patch and about one third chose to feed on the yeast only food. While protein (yeast) is essential for development, we also quantified larval success on diets with or without sucrose and show that larvae develop faster on diets containing sucrose. Our data suggest that fruit fly larvae can quickly assess major nutrients in food and seek a diet providing a missing nutrient. The larvae, however, probably prefer to quickly dig into a single food substrate for enhanced protection over achieving an optimal diet.

Influence of irradiation on development of Caribbean fruit fly (diptera: tephritidae) larvae

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nation, J.L.; Milne, K.; Dykstra, T.M.

1995-05-01

Larvae of the Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa (Loew), were irradiated at hatching with 0, 5, 10, 20, 50, 75, 100 and 150 Gy doses from a Cesium-137 source and dissected for measurements of the supraesophageal ganglion (brain) and proventriculus (B/Prv) as mature third instars. Cross-sectional area of a plane through the brain and proventriculus, and simple dorsal width measurements of the two organs were evaluated as indicators of radiation exposure. Brain area, brain width, and brain/proventriculus (B/Prv) ratios were significantly different from controls in insects treated with a dose {ge}20 Gy. Detailed dissections of hatching larvae exposed to 50more » Gy revealed reductions in brain growth, small and misshapen compound eye and leg imaginal disks, and a ventral nerve cord that was elongated and sinuous. Larvae irradiated on the 1st d of each of the three instars had smaller brains, with the percentage of reduction in brain size being greater the younger the larvae were at the time of exposure. Brain and proventriculus measurements and calculated B/Prv values are indicative of irradiation in Caribbean fruit fly larvae, but the procedure may not be adaptable for routine use by quarantine inspectors. 14 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs.« less

Comparative Proteomic Profiling Reveals Molecular Characteristics Associated with Oogenesis and Oocyte Maturation during Ovarian Development of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel)

PubMed Central

Li, Ran; Zhang, Meng-Yi; Liu, Yu-Wei; Zhang, Zheng; Smagghe, Guy; Wang, Jin-Jun

2017-01-01

Time-dependent expression of proteins in ovary is important to understand oogenesis in insects. Here, we profiled the proteomes of developing ovaries from Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) to obtain information about ovarian development with particular emphasis on differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) involved in oogenesis. A total of 4838 proteins were identified with an average peptide number of 8.15 and sequence coverage of 20.79%. Quantitative proteomic analysis showed that a total of 612 and 196 proteins were differentially expressed in developing and mature ovaries, respectively. Furthermore, 153, 196 and 59 potential target proteins were highly expressed in early, vitellogenic and mature ovaries and most tested DEPs had the similar trends consistent with the respective transcriptional profiles. These proteins were abundantly expressed in pre-vitellogenic and vitellogenic stages, including tropomyosin, vitellogenin, eukaryotic translation initiation factor, heat shock protein, importin protein, vitelline membrane protein, and chorion protein. Several hormone and signal pathway related proteins were also identified during ovarian development including piRNA, notch, insulin, juvenile, and ecdysone hormone signal pathways. This is the first report of a global ovary proteome of a tephritid fruit fly, and may contribute to understanding the complicate processes of ovarian development and exploring the potentially novel pest control targets. PMID:28665301

Sexual harassment induces a temporary fitness cost but does not constrain the acquisition of environmental information in fruit flies.

PubMed

Teseo, Serafino; Veerus, Liisa; Moreno, Céline; Mery, Frédéric

2016-01-01

Across animals, sexual harassment induces fitness costs for females and males. However, little is known about the cognitive costs involved, i.e. whether it constrains learning processes, which could ultimately affect an individual's fitness. Here we evaluate the acquisition of environmental information in groups of fruit flies challenged with various levels of male sexual harassment. We show that, although high sexual harassment induces a temporary fitness cost for females, all fly groups of both sexes exhibit similar levels of learning. This suggests that, in fruit flies, the fitness benefits of acquiring environmental information are not affected by the fitness costs of sexual harassment, and that selection may favour cognition even in unfavourable social contexts. Our study provides novel insights into the relationship between sexual conflicts and cognition and the evolution of female counterstrategies against male sexual harassment. © 2016 The Author(s).

Y-Linked markers for improved population control of the tephritid fruit fly pest, Anastrepha suspensa

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Insect pest control programs incorporating the sterile insect technique (SIT) rely on the mass production and release of sterilized insects to reduce the wild-type population through infertile matings. Most effective programs release only males to avoid any crop damage caused by female fruit flies o...

Chilling and host plant/site associated eclosion times of western cherry fruit fly (Diptera:Tephritidae) and a host-specific parasitoid

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran (Diptera: Tephritidae), is native to bitter cherry, Prunus emarginata (Douglas ex Hooker) Eaton, but ~100 years ago established on earlier-fruiting domesticated sweet cherry, Prunus avium (L.) L. Here, we determined if eclosion times of ad...

Behavioral evidence for fruit odor discrimination and sympatric host races of Rhagoletis pomonella flies in the Western United States.

PubMed

Linn, Charles E; Yee, Wee L; Sim, Sheina B; Cha, Dong H; Powell, Thomas H Q; Goughnour, Robert B; Feder, Jeffrey L

2012-11-01

The recent shift of Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae) from its native host downy hawthorn, Crataegus mollis, to introduced domesticated apple, Malus domestica, in the eastern United States is a model for sympatric host race formation. However, the fly is also present in the western United States, where it may have been introduced via infested apples within the last 60 years. In addition to apple, R. pomonella also infests two hawthorns in the West, one the native black hawthorn, C. douglasii, and the other the introduced English ornamental hawthorn, C. monogyna. Here, we test for behavioral evidence of host races in the western United States. through flight tunnel assays of western R. pomonella flies to host fruit volatile blends. We report that western apple, black hawthorn, and ornamental hawthorn flies showed significantly increased levels of upwind-directed flight to their respective natal compared to nonnatal fruit volatile blends, consistent with host race status. We discuss the implications of the behavioral results for the origin(s) of western R. pomonella, including the possibility that western apple flies were not introduced, but may represent a recent shift from local hawthorn fly populations. © 2012 The Author(s). Evolution© 2012 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Detection of fruit-fly infestation in olives using X-ray imaging: Algorithm development and prospects

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

An algorithm using a Bayesian classifier was developed to automatically detect olive fruit fly infestations in x-ray images of olives. The data set consisted of 249 olives with various degrees of infestation and 161 non-infested olives. Each olive was x-rayed on film and digital images were acquired...

Rearing the Fruit Fly Drosophila melanogaster Under Axenic and Gnotobiotic Conditions.

PubMed

Koyle, Melinda L; Veloz, Madeline; Judd, Alec M; Wong, Adam C-N; Newell, Peter D; Douglas, Angela E; Chaston, John M

2016-07-30

The influence of microbes on myriad animal traits and behaviors has been increasingly recognized in recent years. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is a model for understanding microbial interactions with animal hosts, facilitated by approaches to rear large sample sizes of Drosophila under microorganism-free (axenic) conditions, or with defined microbial communities (gnotobiotic). This work outlines a method for collection of Drosophila embryos, hypochlorite dechorionation and sterilization, and transfer to sterile diet. Sterilized embryos are transferred to sterile diet in 50 ml centrifuge tubes, and developing larvae and adults remain free of any exogenous microbes until the vials are opened. Alternatively, flies with a defined microbiota can be reared by inoculating sterile diet and embryos with microbial species of interest. We describe the introduction of 4 bacterial species to establish a representative gnotobiotic microbiota in Drosophila. Finally, we describe approaches for confirming bacterial community composition, including testing if axenic Drosophila remain bacteria-free into adulthood.

Exposure to tea tree oil enhances the mating success of male Mediterranean fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The aroma of various plant essential oils has been shown to enhance the mating competitiveness of males of the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann). Laboratory observations revealed that male medflies show strong short-range attraction to tea tree oil (TTO hereafter) deri...

Developmental study of mercury effects on the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster).

PubMed

Abnoos, Hamideh; Fereidoni, Masoud; Mahdavi-Shahri, Naser; Haddad, Farhang; Jalal, Razieh

2013-03-01

Environmental pollution caused by heavy metals such as mercury is one of the most important human problems. It might have severe teratogenic effects on embryonic development. Some pharmacological and physiological aspects of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) are similar to humans. So the stages of egg to adult fruit fly, as a developmental model, were employed in the study. Wild adult insects were maintained in glass dishes containing standard medium at 25 °C in complete darkness. Five pairs of 3-day old flies were then transferred to standard culture dishes containing different concentrations of mercury ion. They were removed after 8 hours. We considered the following: The rate of larvae becoming pupae and pupae to adults; the time required for the development; the hatching rate in the second generation without mercury in the culture; the morphometric changes during development in both length and width of the eggs through two generations; larvae, pupae and adult thorax length and width. The results showed that mercury in culture (20-100 mg/l) increase the duration of larvae (p<0.01) and pupae (p<0.01) development, the rate of larvae becoming pupae (p<0.001); pupae maturation (p<0.05), the hatching rate (p<0.01), the length (p<0.05) and width of larvae (p<0.01) and pupae (p<0.001) and the length in the adult thorax (p<0.01) decreased significantly. There was no effect upon the size of eggs. There were also no larvae hatching in concentrations of 200 mg/l of mercury. Negative effects of mercury as a heavy metal are possibly due to the interference of this metal in cellular signaling pathways, such as: Notch signaling and protein synthesis during the period of development. Since it bonds chemically with the sulfur hydride groups of proteins, it causes damage to the cell membrane and decreases the amount of RNA. This is the cause of failure of many enzyme mechanisms.

Transcriptome analysis to identify genes for peptides and proteins involved in immunity and reproduction from male accessory glands and ejaculatory duct of Bactrocera dorsalis.

PubMed

Wei, Dong; Tian, Chuan-Bei; Liu, Shi-Huo; Wang, Tao; Smagghe, Guy; Jia, Fu-Xian; Dou, Wei; Wang, Jin-Jun

2016-06-01

In the male reproductive system of insects, the male accessory glands and ejaculatory duct (MAG/ED) are important organs and their primary function is to enhance the fertility of spermatozoa. Proteins secreted by the MAG/ED are also known to induce post-mating changes and immunity responses in the female insect. To understand the gene expression profile in the MAG/ED of the oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), that is an important pest in fruits, we performed an Illumina-based deep sequencing of mRNA. This yielded 54,577,630 clean reads corresponding to 4.91Gb total nucleotides that were assembled and clustered to 30,669 unigenes (average 645bp). Among them, 20,419 unigenes were functionally annotated to known proteins/peptides in Gene Orthology, Clusters of Orthologous Groups, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway databases. Typically, many genes were involved in immunity and these included microbial recognition proteins and antimicrobial peptides. Subsequently, the inducible expression of these immunity-related genes was confirmed by qRT-PCR analysis when insects were challenged with immunity-inducible factors, suggesting their function in guaranteeing fertilization success. Besides, we identified some important reproductive genes such as juvenile hormone- and ecdysteroid-related genes in this de novo assembly. In conclusion, this transcriptomic sequencing of B. dorsalis MAG/ED provides insights to facilitate further functional research of reproduction, immunity and molecular evolution of reproductive proteins in this important agricultural pest. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Differential Microbial Diversity in Drosophila melanogaster: Are Fruit Flies Potential Vectors of Opportunistic Pathogens?

PubMed Central

Maldonado-Morales, Génesis; Bayman, Paul

2017-01-01

Drosophila melanogaster has become a model system to study interactions between innate immunity and microbial pathogens, yet many aspects regarding its microbial community and interactions with pathogens remain unclear. In this study wild D. melanogaster were collected from tropical fruits in Puerto Rico to test how the microbiota is distributed and to compare the culturable diversity of fungi and bacteria. Additionally, we investigated whether flies are potential vectors of human and plant pathogens. Eighteen species of fungi and twelve species of bacteria were isolated from wild flies. The most abundant microorganisms identified were the yeast Candida inconspicua and the bacterium Klebsiella sp. The yeast Issatchenkia hanoiensis was significantly more common internally than externally in flies. Species richness was higher in fungi than in bacteria, but diversity was lower in fungi than in bacteria. The microbial composition of flies was similar internally and externally. We identified a variety of opportunistic human and plant pathogens in flies such as Alcaligenes faecalis, Aspergillus flavus, A. fumigatus, A. niger, Fusarium equiseti/oxysporum, Geotrichum candidum, Klebsiella oxytoca, Microbacterium oxydans, and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. Despite its utility as a model system, D. melanogaster can be a vector of microorganisms that represent a potential risk to plant and public health. PMID:29234354

Fate of Escherichia coli O157:H7 on Fresh-Cut Apple Tissue and Its Potential for Transmission by Fruit Flies

PubMed Central

Janisiewicz, W. J.; Conway, W. S.; Brown, M. W.; Sapers, G. M.; Fratamico, P.; Buchanan, R. L.

1999-01-01

Pathogenic Escherichia coli O157:H7, as well as nonpathogenic strains ATCC 11775 and ATCC 23716, grew exponentially in wounds on Golden Delicious apple fruit. The exponential growth occurred over a longer time period on fruit inoculated with a lower concentration of the bacterium than on fruit inoculated with a higher concentration. The bacterium reached the maximum population supported in the wounds regardless of the initial inoculum concentrations. Populations of E. coli O157:H7 in various concentrations of sterilized apple juice and unsterilized cider declined over time and declined more quickly in diluted juice and cider. The decline was greater in the unsterilized cider than in juice, which may have resulted from the interaction of E. coli O157:H7 with natural populations of yeasts that increased with time. Experiments on the transmission of E. coli by fruit flies, collected from a compost pile of decaying apples and peaches, were conducted with strain F-11775, a fluorescent transformant of nonpathogenic E. coli ATCC 11775. Fruit flies were easily contaminated externally and internally with E. coli F-11775 after contact with the bacterium source. The flies transmitted this bacterium to uncontaminated apple wounds, resulting in a high incidence of contaminated wounds. Populations of the bacterium in apple wounds increased significantly during the first 48 h after transmission. Further studies under commercial conditions are necessary to confirm these findings. PMID:9872751

Can consumption of antioxidant rich mushrooms extend longevity?: antioxidant activity of Pleurotus spp. and its effects on Mexican fruit flies' (Anastrepha ludens) longevity.

PubMed

Sánchez, José E; Jiménez-Pérez, Gabriela; Liedo, Pablo

2015-12-01

The variability of antioxidant capacity of 14 strains of the edible oyster mushroom Pleurotus spp. was determined, and the effect of selected mushroom supplements on the longevity of the Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens, was evaluated. The antioxidant capacity of the fruiting bodies was determined by three different methods, measuring the free radical scavenging activity of methanolic extracts, the OH radical scavenging capacity, and the total phenol content. The inhibition percentage of the DPPH radical varied between 32.6 and 85.7% and total phenols varied between 30.6 and 143.3 mg/g. The strains with the highest (Pleurotus djamor ECS-0142) and lowest (Pleurotus ostreatus ECS-1123) antioxidant capacity were selected to study their effect on the survival, life expectancy, and mortality of the Mexican fruit fly A. ludens. The results demonstrated differing responses between male and female flies. High concentrations of mushrooms (5 and 20%) in the diet resulted in a decrease in life expectancy. However, flies on the diet with 1% P. djamor ECS-0142 showed slightly but significantly greater survival than those on the control diet. The possible adverse effect of protein content in mushroom extracts is discussed.

Comparison of brown sugar, hot water, and salt methods for detecting western cherry fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) larvae in sweet cherry

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Brown sugar or hot water methods have been developed to detect larvae of tephritid fruit flies in post-harvest fruit in order to maintain quarantine security. It would be useful to determine if variations of these methods can yield better results and if less expensive alternatives exist. This stud...

Automatic image analysis and spot classification for detection of fruit fly infestation in hyperspectral images of mangoes

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

An algorithm has been developed to identify spots generated in hyperspectral images of mangoes infested with fruit fly larvae. The algorithm incorporates background removal, application of a Gaussian blur, thresholding, and particle count analysis to identify locations of infestations. Each of the f...

Phenotypes, antioxidant responses, and gene expression changes accompanying a sugar-only diet in Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Chen, Er-Hu; Hou, Qiu-Li; Wei, Dan-Dan; Jiang, Hong-Bo; Wang, Jin-Jun

2017-08-17

Diet composition (yeast:carbohydrate ratio) is an important determinant of growth, development, and reproduction. Recent studies have shown that decreased yeast intake elicits numerous transcriptomic changes and enhances somatic maintenance and lifespan, which in turn reduces reproduction in various insects. However, our understanding of the responses leading to a decrease in yeast ratio to 0% is limited. In the present study, we investigated the effects of a sugar-only diet (SD) on the gene expression patterns of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), one of the most economically important pests in the family Tephritidae. RNA sequencing analyses showed that flies reared on an SD induced significant changes in the expression levels of genes associated with specific metabolic as well as cell growth and death pathways. Moreover, the observed upregulated genes in energy production and downregulated genes associated with reproduction suggested that SD affects somatic maintenance and reproduction in B. dorsalis. As expected, we observed that SD altered B. dorsalis phenotypes by significantly increasing stress (starvation and desiccation) resistance, decreasing reproduction, but did not extend lifespan compared to those that received a normal diet (ND) regime. In addition, administration of an SD resulted in a reduction in antioxidant enzyme activities and an increase in MDA concentrations, thereby suggesting that antioxidants cannot keep up with the increase in oxidative damage induced by SD regime. The application of an SD diet induces changes in phenotypes, antioxidant responses, and gene expressions in B. dorsalis. Previous studies have associated extended lifespan with reduced fecundity. The current study did not observe a prolongation of lifespan in B. dorsalis, which instead incurred oxidative damage. The findings of the present study improve our understanding of the molecular, biochemical, and phenotypic response of B. dorsalis to an SD diet.

Identification of host fruit volatiles from three mayhaw species (Crataegus series Aestivales) attractive to mayhaw-origin Rhagoletis pomonella flies in the southern United States.

PubMed

Cha, Dong H; Powell, Thomas H Q; Feder, Jeffrey L; Linn, Charles E

2011-09-01

The apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella, infests several hawthorn species in the southern USA. Here, we tested the hypothesis that these populations could serve as reservoirs for fruit odor discrimination behaviors facilitating sympatric host race formation and speciation, specifically the recent shift from downy hawthorn (Crataegus mollis) to domestic apple (Malus domestica) in the northern USA. Coupled gas chromatography and electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD), gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and flight tunnel bioassays were used to identify the behaviorally active natal fruit volatile blends for three of the five major southern hawthorns: C. opaca (western mayhaw), C. aestivalis (eastern mayhaw), and C. rufula (a possible hybrid between C. opaca and C. aestivalis). A 6-component blend was developed for C. opaca (3-methylbutan-1-ol [44%], pentyl acetate [6%], butyl butanoate [6%], propyl hexanoate [6%], butyl hexanoate [26%], and hexyl butanoate [12%]); an 8-component blend for C. aestivalis (3-methylbutan-1-ol [2%], butyl acetate [47%], pentyl acetate [2%], butyl butanoate [12%], propyl hexanoate [1%], butyl hexanoate [25%], hexyl butanoate [9%], and pentyl hexanoate [2%]); and a 9-component blend for C. rufula (3-methylbutan-1-ol [1%], butyl acetate [57%], 3-methylbutyl acetate [3%], butyl butanoate [5%], propyl hexanoate [1%], hexyl propionate [1%], butyl hexanoate [23%], hexyl butanoate [6%], and pentyl hexanoate [3%]). Crataegus aestivalis and C. opaca-origin flies showed significantly higher levels of upwind directed flight to their natal blend in flight tunnel assays compared to the non-natal blend and previously developed apple, northern downy hawthorn, and flowering dogwood blends. Eastern and western mayhaw flies also were tested to the C. rufula blend, with eastern flies displaying higher levels of upwind flight compared with the western flies, likely due to the presence of butyl acetate in the C. aestivalis and C. rufula

Comparison of two synthetic food-odor lures for captures of feral Mexican fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Mexico and implications regarding use of irradiated flies to assess lure efficacy.

PubMed

Robacker, David C; Thomas, Donald B

2007-08-01

Feral Mexican fruit flies, Anastrepha ludens (Loew) (Diptera: Tephritidae), were trapped in a citrus orchard in Mexico by using two types of synthetic food-odor lures, the AFF lure (Anastrepha fruit fly lure, APTIV, Inc., Portland, OR) and the BioLure (two-component MFF lure, Suterra LLC, Inc., Bend, OR). In Multilure traps (Better World Manufacturing, Inc., Miami, FL) containing water, BioLures captured about the same numbers of flies as AFF lures. In Multilure traps containing antifreeze solution, BioLures captured 2 and 5 times more flies than AFF lures in two experiments. BioLures, and AFF lures did not differ in attractiveness when used on sticky traps (Intercept trap, APTIV, Inc.; and sticky cylinder trap). Multilure traps captured >4 times as many flies as sticky traps with the exception that captures of females did not differ between Multilure and sticky traps baited with AFF lures. The percentage of females captured in Multilure traps was greater when traps were baited with BioLures compared with AFF lures, but the reverse was true for sticky traps. Sticky cylinder traps captured a higher percentage of females than Multilure traps. The most effective trap/lure combination was the Multilure trap baited with BioLure and antifreeze. In comparison with tests of these two lures in Texas, results were similar for Multilure traps, but they differed for sticky cylinder traps in that AFF lures were consistently more attractive than BioLures in Texas, but not in Mexico.

Temperature-mediated kill and oviposition of Western Cherry Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) in the presence of Spinosad

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran (Diptera: Tephritidae), is a quarantine pest of sweet cherry (Prunus avium (L.) L.) that is managed using insecticides, including spinosad, an organic compound that can be applied in low spray volumes. Identifying factors that can increase the...

Antennal responses of West Indian and Caribbean fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) to ammonium bicarbonate and putrescine lures

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Efforts to monitor and detect tephritid fruit flies in the genus Anastrepha currently involve MultiLure traps baited with two food-based synthetic attractants; ammonium acetate and putrescine (1,4-diaminobutane). These baits are used in Central America, Florida, Texas, and the Caribbean, each region...

Different methods of methyl eugenol application enhance the mating success of male Oriental fruit fly (Dipera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Haq, Ihsan Ul; Cáceres, Carlos; Meza, José S; Hendrichs, Jorge; Vreysen, Marc J B

2018-04-16

Males of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) are strongly attracted to methyl eugenol (ME) (1,2-dimethoxy-4-(2-propenyl)benzene), a phenylpropanoid compound occurring in many plant species. Feeding on ME is known to enhance male B. dorsalis mating competitiveness, which can increase the effectiveness of the sterile insect technique (SIT) manifold. However, currently used systems for holding the mass-reared males in fly emergence and release facilities before release, do not allow for application of ME through feeding. Therefore, the current study was designed to evaluate different delivery systems of ME that would be applicable for large-scale application to sterile males held in such facilities. Males of a genetic sexing strain (GSS) of B. dorsalis treated by ME-aromatherapy or ME-airblown-aromatherapy that were competing with ME-fed males achieved a similar level of mating success in walk-in field cages, but the mating success was significantly higher when compared to untreated males. The results confirm the feasibility of developing ME-airblown-aromatherapy as a practical way of large scale ME delivery to enhance the mating competitiveness of sterile B. dorsalis males.

Towards understanding temporal and spatial dynamics of Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) infestations using decade-long agrometeorological time series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marchi, Susanna; Guidotti, Diego; Ricciolini, Massimo; Petacchi, Ruggero

2016-11-01

Insect dynamics depend on temperature patterns, and therefore, global warming may lead to increasing frequencies and intensities of insect outbreaks. The aim of this work was to analyze the dynamics of the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), in Tuscany (Italy). We profited from long-term records of insect infestation and weather data available from the regional database and agrometeorological network. We tested whether the analysis of 13 years of monitoring campaigns can be used as basis for prediction models of B. oleae infestation. We related the percentage of infestation observed in the first part of the host-pest interaction and throughout the whole year to agrometeorological indices formulated for different time periods. A two-step approach was adopted to inspect the effect of weather on infestation: generalized linear model with a binomial error distribution and principal component regression to reduce the number of the agrometeorological factors and remove their collinearity. We found a consistent relationship between the degree of infestation and the temperature-based indices calculated for the previous period. The relationship was stronger with the minimum temperature of winter season. Higher infestation was observed in years following warmer winters. The temperature of the previous winter and spring explained 66 % of variance of early-season infestation. The temperature of previous winter and spring, and current summer, explained 72 % of variance of total annual infestation. These results highlight the importance of multiannual monitoring activity to fully understand the dynamics of B. oleae populations at a regional scale.

Spatial dynamics of two oriental fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) parasitoids, Fopius arisanus (Sonan) and Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead)(Hymenoptera: Braconidae), in a guava orchard in Hawaii

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We examined temporal and spatial patterns of both sexes of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) and its two most abundant parasitoids, Fopius arisanus (Sonan) and Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead) in a commercial guava orchard. Bactrocera dorsalis spatial patterns were initially random, but became high...

Using modified fruit fly optimisation algorithm to perform the function test and case studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Wen-Tsao

2013-06-01

Evolutionary computation is a computing mode established by practically simulating natural evolutionary processes based on the concept of Darwinian Theory, and it is a common research method. The main contribution of this paper was to reinforce the function of searching for the optimised solution using the fruit fly optimization algorithm (FOA), in order to avoid the acquisition of local extremum solutions. The evolutionary computation has grown to include the concepts of animal foraging behaviour and group behaviour. This study discussed three common evolutionary computation methods and compared them with the modified fruit fly optimization algorithm (MFOA). It further investigated the ability of the three mathematical functions in computing extreme values, as well as the algorithm execution speed and the forecast ability of the forecasting model built using the optimised general regression neural network (GRNN) parameters. The findings indicated that there was no obvious difference between particle swarm optimization and the MFOA in regards to the ability to compute extreme values; however, they were both better than the artificial fish swarm algorithm and FOA. In addition, the MFOA performed better than the particle swarm optimization in regards to the algorithm execution speed, and the forecast ability of the forecasting model built using the MFOA's GRNN parameters was better than that of the other three forecasting models.

Molecular cloning and expression of nanos in the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae).

PubMed

Ogaugwu, Christian E; Wimmer, Ernst A

2013-01-01

The gene nanos (nos) is a maternal-effect gene that plays an important role in posterior patterning and germ cell development in early stage embryos. nos is known from several diverse insect species, but has so far not been described for any Tephritid fruit fly. Here, we report the molecular cloning and expression pattern of the nos orthologous gene, Ccnos, in the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata, which is a destructive pest of high agricultural importance. CcNOS contains 398 amino acids and has a C-terminal region with two conserved CCHC zinc-binding motifs known to be essential for NOS function. Transcripts of Ccnos were confirmed by in situ hybridization to be maternally-derived and localized to the posterior pole of early stage embryos. Regulatory regions of nos have been employed in genetic engineering in some dipterans such as Drosophila and mosquitoes. Given the similarity in spatial and temporal expression between Ccnos and nos orthologs from other dipterans, its regulatory regions will be valuable to generate additional genetic tools that can be applied for engineering purposes to improve the fight against this devastating pest. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mate choice in fruit flies is rational and adaptive.

PubMed

Arbuthnott, Devin; Fedina, Tatyana Y; Pletcher, Scott D; Promislow, Daniel E L

2017-01-17

According to rational choice theory, beneficial preferences should lead individuals to sort available options into linear, transitive hierarchies, although the extent to which non-human animals behave rationally is unclear. Here we demonstrate that mate choice in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster results in the linear sorting of a set of diverse isogenic female lines, unambiguously demonstrating the hallmark of rational behaviour, transitivity. These rational choices are associated with direct benefits, enabling males to maximize offspring production. Furthermore, we demonstrate that female behaviours and cues act redundantly in mate detection and assessment, as rational mate choice largely persists when visual or chemical sensory modalities are impaired, but not when both are impaired. Transitivity in mate choice demonstrates that the quality of potential mates varies significantly among genotypes, and that males and females behave in such a way as to facilitate adaptive mate choice.

Epicuticular chemistry reinforces the new taxonomic classification of the Bactrocera dorsalis species complex (Diptera: Tephritidae, Dacinae).

PubMed

Vaníčková, Lucie; Nagy, Radka; Pompeiano, Antonio; Kalinová, Blanka

2017-01-01

Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta & White, Bactrocera papayae Drew & Hancock, and Bactrocera philippinensis Drew & Hancock, key pest species within the Bactrocera dorsalis species complex, have been recently synonymized under the name Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel). The closely related Bactrocera carambolae Drew & Hancock remains as a discrete taxonomic entity. Although the synonymizations have been accepted by most researchers, debate about the species limits remains. Because of the economic importance of this group of taxa, any new information available to support or deny the synonymizations is valuable. We investigated the chemical epicuticle composition of males and females of B. dorsalis, B. invadens, B. papayae, B. philippinensis, and B. carambolae by means of one- and two-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, followed by multiple factor analyses and principal component analysis. Clear segregation of complex cuticule profiles of both B. carambolae sexes from B. dorsalis (Hendel) was observed. In addition to cuticular hydrocarbons, abundant complex mixtures of sex-specific oxygenated lipids (three fatty acids and 22 fatty acid esters) with so far unknown function were identified in epicuticle extracts from females of all species. The data obtained supports both taxonomic synonymization of B. invadens, B. papayae, and B. philippinensis with B. dorsalis, as well as the exclusion of B. carambolae from B. dorsalis.

Epicuticular chemistry reinforces the new taxonomic classification of the Bactrocera dorsalis species complex (Diptera: Tephritidae, Dacinae)

PubMed Central

Vaníčková, Lucie; Nagy, Radka; Pompeiano, Antonio

2017-01-01

Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta & White, Bactrocera papayae Drew & Hancock, and Bactrocera philippinensis Drew & Hancock, key pest species within the Bactrocera dorsalis species complex, have been recently synonymized under the name Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel). The closely related Bactrocera carambolae Drew & Hancock remains as a discrete taxonomic entity. Although the synonymizations have been accepted by most researchers, debate about the species limits remains. Because of the economic importance of this group of taxa, any new information available to support or deny the synonymizations is valuable. We investigated the chemical epicuticle composition of males and females of B. dorsalis, B. invadens, B. papayae, B. philippinensis, and B. carambolae by means of one- and two-dimensional gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, followed by multiple factor analyses and principal component analysis. Clear segregation of complex cuticule profiles of both B. carambolae sexes from B. dorsalis (Hendel) was observed. In addition to cuticular hydrocarbons, abundant complex mixtures of sex-specific oxygenated lipids (three fatty acids and 22 fatty acid esters) with so far unknown function were identified in epicuticle extracts from females of all species. The data obtained supports both taxonomic synonymization of B. invadens, B. papayae, and B. philippinensis with B. dorsalis, as well as the exclusion of B. carambolae from B. dorsalis. PMID:28873446

The Hungry Fly: Hydrodynamics of feeding in the common house fly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prakash, Manu; Steele, Miles

2010-11-01

A large number of insect species feed primarily on a fluid diet. To do so, they must overcome the numerous challenges that arise in the design of high-efficiency, miniature pumps. Although the morphology of insect feeding structures has been described for decades, their dynamics remain largely unknown even in the most well studied species (e.g. fruit fly). Here, we use invivo imaging and microsurgery to elucidate the design principles of feeding structures of the common house fly. Using high-resolution X-ray microscopy, we record invivo flow of sucrose solutions through the body over many hours during fly feeding. Borrowing from microsurgery techniques common in neurophysiology, we are able to perturb the pump to a stall position and thus evaluate function under load conditions. Furthermore, fluid viscosity-dependent feedback is observed for optimal pump performance. As the gut of the fly starts to fill up, feedback from the stretch receptors in the cuticle dictates the effective flow rate. Finally, via comparative analysis between the house fly, blow fly, fruit fly and bumble bees, we highlight the common design principles and the role of interfacial phenomena in feeding.

Independently Controlled Wing Stroke Patterns in the Fruit Fly Drosophila melanogaster

PubMed Central

Chakraborty, Soma; Bartussek, Jan; Fry, Steven N.; Zapotocky, Martin

2015-01-01

Flies achieve supreme flight maneuverability through a small set of miniscule steering muscles attached to the wing base. The fast flight maneuvers arise from precisely timed activation of the steering muscles and the resulting subtle modulation of the wing stroke. In addition, slower modulation of wing kinematics arises from changes in the activity of indirect flight muscles in the thorax. We investigated if these modulations can be described as a superposition of a limited number of elementary deformations of the wing stroke that are under independent physiological control. Using a high-speed computer vision system, we recorded the wing motion of tethered flying fruit flies for up to 12 000 consecutive wing strokes at a sampling rate of 6250 Hz. We then decomposed the joint motion pattern of both wings into components that had the minimal mutual information (a measure of statistical dependence). In 100 flight segments measured from 10 individual flies, we identified 7 distinct types of frequently occurring least-dependent components, each defining a kinematic pattern (a specific deformation of the wing stroke and the sequence of its activation from cycle to cycle). Two of these stroke deformations can be associated with the control of yaw torque and total flight force, respectively. A third deformation involves a change in the downstroke-to-upstroke duration ratio, which is expected to alter the pitch torque. A fourth kinematic pattern consists in the alteration of stroke amplitude with a period of 2 wingbeat cycles, extending for dozens of cycles. Our analysis indicates that these four elementary kinematic patterns can be activated mutually independently, and occur both in isolation and in linear superposition. The results strengthen the available evidence for independent control of yaw torque, pitch torque, and total flight force. Our computational method facilitates systematic identification of novel patterns in large kinematic datasets. PMID:25710715

Independently controlled wing stroke patterns in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Chakraborty, Soma; Bartussek, Jan; Fry, Steven N; Zapotocky, Martin

2015-01-01

Flies achieve supreme flight maneuverability through a small set of miniscule steering muscles attached to the wing base. The fast flight maneuvers arise from precisely timed activation of the steering muscles and the resulting subtle modulation of the wing stroke. In addition, slower modulation of wing kinematics arises from changes in the activity of indirect flight muscles in the thorax. We investigated if these modulations can be described as a superposition of a limited number of elementary deformations of the wing stroke that are under independent physiological control. Using a high-speed computer vision system, we recorded the wing motion of tethered flying fruit flies for up to 12,000 consecutive wing strokes at a sampling rate of 6250 Hz. We then decomposed the joint motion pattern of both wings into components that had the minimal mutual information (a measure of statistical dependence). In 100 flight segments measured from 10 individual flies, we identified 7 distinct types of frequently occurring least-dependent components, each defining a kinematic pattern (a specific deformation of the wing stroke and the sequence of its activation from cycle to cycle). Two of these stroke deformations can be associated with the control of yaw torque and total flight force, respectively. A third deformation involves a change in the downstroke-to-upstroke duration ratio, which is expected to alter the pitch torque. A fourth kinematic pattern consists in the alteration of stroke amplitude with a period of 2 wingbeat cycles, extending for dozens of cycles. Our analysis indicates that these four elementary kinematic patterns can be activated mutually independently, and occur both in isolation and in linear superposition. The results strengthen the available evidence for independent control of yaw torque, pitch torque, and total flight force. Our computational method facilitates systematic identification of novel patterns in large kinematic datasets.

DISC1 Causes Associative Memory and Neurodevelopmental Defects in Fruit Flies

PubMed Central

Furukubo-Tokunaga, Katsuo; Kurita, Kazuki; Honjo, Ken; Pandey, Himani; Ando, Tetsuya; Takayama, Kojiro; Arai, Yuko; Mochizuki, Hiroaki; Ando, Mai; Kamiya, Atsushi; Sawa, Akira

2016-01-01

Originally found in a Scottish family with diverse mental disorders, the DISC1 protein has been characterized as an intracellular scaffold protein that associates with diverse binding partners in neural development. To explore its functions in a genetically tractable system, we expressed the human DISC1 in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). As in mammalian neurons, DISC1 is localized to diverse subcellular domains of developing fly neurons including the nuclei, axons and dendrites. Overexpression of DISC1 impairs associative memory. Experiments with deletion/mutation constructs have revealed the importance of amino terminal domain (46–290) for memory suppression whereas carboxyl domain (598–854) and the amino terminal residues (1–45) including the nuclear localization signal (NLS1) are dispensable. DISC1 overexpression also causes suppression of axonal and dendritic branching of mushroom body neurons, which mediate a variety of cognitive functions in the fly brain. Analyses with deletion constructs reveal that protein domains 598–854 and 349–402 are both required for the suppression of axonal branching while amino-terminal domains including NLS1 are dispensable. In contrast, NLS1 was required for the suppression of dendritic branching, suggesting a mechanism involving gene expression. Moreover, domain 403–596 is also required for the suppression of dendritic branching. We also show that overexpression of DISC1 suppresses glutamatergic synaptogenesis in developing neuromuscular junctions. Deletion/mutation experiments have revealed the importance of protein domains 403–596 and 349–402 for synaptic suppression, while amino terminal domains including NLS1 are dispensable. Finally, we show that DISC1 functionally interacts with the fly homolog of Dysbindin (DTNBP1) via direct protein-protein interaction in developing synapses. PMID:26976042

Suppression of mediterranean fruit fly(Diptera: Tephritidae) with trimedlure(TML) dispensers and biolure in coffee(Coffea arabica L)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Solid Trimedlure[TML] dispensers and novel solid triple lure dispensers[TMR] without insecticides were tested as “attract and kill” devices alone and in combination with Biolure mass trapping to evaluate suppression of Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata(Wiedemann) in a large coffee plantati...

Performance of Psyttalia humilis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) reared from irradiated host on olive fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) in California

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The parasitoid Psytallia humilis (Silvestri) was reared on Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), larvae irradiated at different doses from 0-70 Gy at the USDA, APHIS, PPQ, Moscamed biological control laboratory in San Miguel Petapa, Guatemala and shipped to the USDA, ARS, Parlier,...

An Evaluation of Alternative Insecticides to Diazinon for Control of Tephritid Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Soil

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Diazinon has been used extensively in the past as part of California eradication programs for tephritid fruit flies, but is being phased out for this purpose in the United States. Therefore, in this study, the toxicity of Platinum®, Force®, Admire®, Regent®, and Warrior® was estimated after applica...

Attraction and Electroantennography responses of the male Mediterranean Fruit Fly, Ceratitis capitata, to natural essential oils and synthetic blends.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Field experiments and long range bioassays were used to understand the difference in attractiveness among various natural essential oils for the Mediterranean Fruit Fly, Ceratitis capitata. Using electroantennography, we have selected various antennally active chemicals and tested their role in the ...

Impact of prolonged absence of low temperature on adult eclosion patterns of western cherry fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens (Curran) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is a serious pest of cherries (Prunus spp.) in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.A. Previous research suggests that R. indifferens is unlikely to establish in commercial cherry production areas in California and in ...

The first complete mitochondrial genome of Dacus longicornis (Diptera: Tephritidae) using next-generation sequencing and mitochondrial genome phylogeny of Dacini tribe

PubMed Central

Jiang, Fan; Pan, Xubin; Li, Xuankun; Yu, Yanxue; Zhang, Junhua; Jiang, Hongshan; Dou, Liduo; Zhu, Shuifang

2016-01-01

The genus Dacus is one of the most economically important tephritid fruit flies. The first complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Dacus species – D. longicornis was sequenced by next-generation sequencing in order to develop the mitogenome data for this genus. The circular 16,253 bp mitogenome is the typical set and arrangement of 37 genes present in the ancestral insect. The mitogenome data of D. longicornis was compared to all the published homologous sequences of other tephritid species. We discovered the subgenera Bactrocera, Daculus and Tetradacus differed from the subgenus Zeugodacus, the genera Dacus, Ceratitis and Procecidochares in the possession of TA instead of TAA stop codon for COI gene. There is a possibility that the TA stop codon in COI is the synapomorphy in Bactrocera group in the genus Bactrocera comparing with other Tephritidae species. Phylogenetic analyses based on the mitogenome data from Tephritidae were inferred by Bayesian and Maximum-likelihood methods, strongly supported the sister relationship between Zeugodacus and Dacus. PMID:27812024

Anatomic and Physiologic Heterogeneity of Subgroup-A Auditory Sensory Neurons in Fruit Flies.

PubMed

Ishikawa, Yuki; Okamoto, Natsuki; Nakamura, Mizuki; Kim, Hyunsoo; Kamikouchi, Azusa

2017-01-01

The antennal ear of the fruit fly detects acoustic signals in intraspecific communication, such as the courtship song and agonistic sounds. Among the five subgroups of mechanosensory neurons in the fly ear, subgroup-A neurons respond maximally to vibrations over a wide frequency range between 100 and 1,200 Hz. The functional organization of the neural circuit comprised of subgroup-A neurons, however, remains largely unknown. In the present study, we used 11 GAL4 strains that selectively label subgroup-A neurons and explored the diversity of subgroup-A neurons by combining single-cell anatomic analysis and Ca 2+ imaging. Our findings indicate that the subgroup-A neurons that project into various combinations of subareas in the brain are more anatomically diverse than previously described. Subgroup-A neurons were also physiologically diverse, and some types were tuned to a narrow frequency range, suggesting that the response of subgroup-A neurons to sounds of a wide frequency range is due to the existence of several types of subgroup-A neurons. Further, we found that an auditory behavioral response to the courtship song of flies was attenuated when most subgroup-A neurons were silenced. Together, these findings characterize the heterogeneous functional organization of subgroup-A neurons, which might facilitate species-specific acoustic signal detection.

Anatomic and Physiologic Heterogeneity of Subgroup-A Auditory Sensory Neurons in Fruit Flies

PubMed Central

Ishikawa, Yuki; Okamoto, Natsuki; Nakamura, Mizuki; Kim, Hyunsoo; Kamikouchi, Azusa

2017-01-01

The antennal ear of the fruit fly detects acoustic signals in intraspecific communication, such as the courtship song and agonistic sounds. Among the five subgroups of mechanosensory neurons in the fly ear, subgroup-A neurons respond maximally to vibrations over a wide frequency range between 100 and 1,200 Hz. The functional organization of the neural circuit comprised of subgroup-A neurons, however, remains largely unknown. In the present study, we used 11 GAL4 strains that selectively label subgroup-A neurons and explored the diversity of subgroup-A neurons by combining single-cell anatomic analysis and Ca2+ imaging. Our findings indicate that the subgroup-A neurons that project into various combinations of subareas in the brain are more anatomically diverse than previously described. Subgroup-A neurons were also physiologically diverse, and some types were tuned to a narrow frequency range, suggesting that the response of subgroup-A neurons to sounds of a wide frequency range is due to the existence of several types of subgroup-A neurons. Further, we found that an auditory behavioral response to the courtship song of flies was attenuated when most subgroup-A neurons were silenced. Together, these findings characterize the heterogeneous functional organization of subgroup-A neurons, which might facilitate species-specific acoustic signal detection. PMID:28701929

Costly Nutritious Diets do not Necessarily Translate into Better Performance of Artificially Reared Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae)

PubMed Central

Pascacio-Villafán, C.; Williams, T.; Sivinski, J.; Birke, A.; Aluja, M.

2015-01-01

Protein, lipid, carbohydrate, and energy contents of three artificial diets (Xal2, Met1, and Met2) used for laboratory-rearing and mass-rearing the Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens (Loew), for a sterile insect technique program were measured. The larval survival, pupation, pupal weight, adult emergence, sex ratio, and flight capacity of the flies reared on each of these diets were also quantified. The diet with the highest nutrient and energy content was Xal2 followed by Met2 and Met1, but larval recovery and percent pupation was significantly higher in flies reared on either the Met1 or Met2 diets. A. ludens reared on Xal2 exhibited the highest proportion of adults capable of flight. No other response variable differed significantly among the three diets tested. This suggests that a high content of nutrients and multiple sources of protein (dried yeast and wheat germ in the case of the Xal2 diet) do not necessarily improve overall performance or fly quality. We conclude that nutritious diets for A. ludens can be modified to reduce their cost without compromising the performance of artificially reared flies. PMID:26470103

Perturbation analysis of 6DoF flight dynamics and passive dynamic stability of hovering fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Gao, Na; Aono, Hikaru; Liu, Hao

2011-02-07

Insects exhibit exquisite control of their flapping flight, capable of performing precise stability and steering maneuverability. Here we develop an integrated computational model to investigate flight dynamics of insect hovering based on coupling the equations of 6 degree of freedom (6DoF) motion with the Navier-Stokes (NS) equations. Unsteady aerodynamics is resolved by using a biology-inspired dynamic flight simulator that integrates models of realistic wing-body morphology and kinematics, and a NS solver. We further develop a dynamic model to solve the rigid body equations of 6DoF motion by using a 4th-order Runge-Kutta method. In this model, instantaneous forces and moments based on the NS-solutions are represented in terms of Fourier series. With this model, we perform a systematic simulation-based analysis on the passive dynamic stability of a hovering fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, with a specific focus on responses of state variables to six one-directional perturbation conditions during latency period. Our results reveal that the flight dynamics of fruit fly hovering does not have a straightforward dynamic stability in a conventional sense that perturbations damp out in a manner of monotonous convergence. However, it is found to exist a transient interval containing an initial converging response observed for all the six perturbation variables and a terminal instability that at least one state variable subsequently tends to diverge after several wing beat cycles. Furthermore, our results illustrate that a fruit fly does have sufficient time to apply some active mediation to sustain a steady hovering before losing body attitudes. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Achilles, a New Family of Transcriptionally Active Retrotransposons from the Olive Fruit Fly, with Y Chromosome Preferential Distribution

PubMed Central

Tsoumani, Konstantina T.; Drosopoulou, Elena; Bourtzis, Kostas; Gariou-Papalexiou, Aggeliki; Mavragani-Tsipidou, Penelope; Zacharopoulou, Antigone; Mathiopoulos, Kostas D.

2015-01-01

Sex chromosomes have many unusual features relative to autosomes. The in depth exploration of their structure will improve our understanding of their origin and divergence (degeneration) as well as the evolution of genetic sex determination pathways which, most often are attributed to them. In Tephritids, the structure of Y chromosome, where the male-determining factor M is localized, is largely unexplored and limited data concerning its sequence content and evolution are available. In order to get insight into the structure and organization of the Y chromosome of the major olive insect pest, the olive fly Bactrocera oleae, we characterized sequences from a Pulse Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE)-isolated Y chromosome. Here, we report the discovery of the first olive fly LTR retrotransposon with increased presence on the Y chromosome. The element belongs to the BEL-Pao superfamily, however, its sequence comparison with the other members of the superfamily suggests that it constitutes a new family that we termed Achilles. Its ~7.5 kb sequence consists of the 5’LTR, the 5’non-coding sequence and the open reading frame (ORF), which encodes the polyprotein Gag-Pol. In situ hybridization to the B. oleae polytene chromosomes showed that Achilles is distributed in discrete bands dispersed on all five autosomes, in all centromeric regions and in the granular heterochromatic network corresponding to the mitotic sex chromosomes. The between sexes comparison revealed a variation in Achilles copy number, with male flies possessing 5–10 copies more than female (CI range: 18–38 and 12–33 copies respectively per genome). The examination of its transcriptional activity demonstrated the presence of at least one intact active copy in the genome, showing a differential level of expression between sexes as well as during embryonic development. The higher expression was detected in male germline tissues (testes). Moreover, the presence of Achilles-like elements in different

Towards understanding temporal and spatial dynamics of Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) infestations using decade-long agrometeorological time series.

PubMed

Marchi, Susanna; Guidotti, Diego; Ricciolini, Massimo; Petacchi, Ruggero

2016-11-01

Insect dynamics depend on temperature patterns, and therefore, global warming may lead to increasing frequencies and intensities of insect outbreaks. The aim of this work was to analyze the dynamics of the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), in Tuscany (Italy). We profited from long-term records of insect infestation and weather data available from the regional database and agrometeorological network. We tested whether the analysis of 13 years of monitoring campaigns can be used as basis for prediction models of B. oleae infestation. We related the percentage of infestation observed in the first part of the host-pest interaction and throughout the whole year to agrometeorological indices formulated for different time periods. A two-step approach was adopted to inspect the effect of weather on infestation: generalized linear model with a binomial error distribution and principal component regression to reduce the number of the agrometeorological factors and remove their collinearity. We found a consistent relationship between the degree of infestation and the temperature-based indices calculated for the previous period. The relationship was stronger with the minimum temperature of winter season. Higher infestation was observed in years following warmer winters. The temperature of the previous winter and spring explained 66 % of variance of early-season infestation. The temperature of previous winter and spring, and current summer, explained 72 % of variance of total annual infestation. These results highlight the importance of multiannual monitoring activity to fully understand the dynamics of B. oleae populations at a regional scale.

Evaluation of the Mating Competitiveness of the Adult Oriental Fruit Fly Reared as Larvae in Liquid vs. Those Raised on Standard Wheat-based Diets

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Three strains (standard lab, DTWP pupal color sexing strain and wild strain) of adult oriental fruit flies, which were reared as larvae on a liquid diet, mill feed diet (Tanaka’s diet), or natural host fruit diet, were evaluated for mating competitiveness in both indoor and outdoor Boller’s mating c...