Description of the aberrant Leptopilina lasallei n. sp., with an updated phylogeny of Leptopilina Förster (Hymenoptera: Figitidae: Eucoilinae)

ABSTRACT

In the search for native Asian parasitoids of Drosophila suzukii, the notorious spotted-wing Drosophila (SWD), an odd new species of Eucoilinae was discovered. Leptopilina lasallei sp. nov. is herein described and diagnosed relative to other eucoilines associated with drosophilid hosts. Morphologically, L. lasallei is somewhat aberrant within Leptopilina; phylogenetically, L. lasallei is sister group to the core Leptopilina. In the process of investigating L. lasallei, a de novo molecular phylogeny of Leptopilina was generated and is included here. The integrated approach used for the characterisation of L. lasallei, and the resulting phylogeny of Leptopilina, produced data useful to select parasitoid species for SWD biological control.http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:402D504A-4616-4524-85D7-1C13A6276F06 http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:402D504A-4616-4524-85D7-1C13A6276F06     

Revision of the West Palaearctic species of Rhoptromeris Förster, 1869 (Hymenoptera: Figitidae: Eucoilinae)

The West Palearctic species of Rhoptromeris are revised. A total of 11 species are recognised as valid in this region, including four newly described species: Rhoptromeris dichromata sp. nov., Rhoptromeris koponeni sp. nov., Rhoptromeris leptocornis sp. nov. and Rhoptromeris macaronesiensis sp. nov. Eucoila luteicornis Ionescu, 1959 is synonymised with Rhoptromeris heptoma (Hartig, 1840) syn. nov. A checklist of the Holarctic Rhoptromeris is presented and an identification key to the West Palearctic species is provided. www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8164332C-93E2-4E3F-A408-F5FF5DFB366E     

HOW ARE PRODUCT-SERVICE COMBINED OFFERS PROVIDED IN GERMANY AND ITALY？ ANALYSIS WITH COMPANY SIZES AND COUNTRIES

A new business concept that offers products and services in a different way of traditional product-sales businesses is getting more attention especially in manufacturing industries. This paper investigates how this new business by means of integration of products and services is achieved in Germany and Italy. In addition, it analyzes the differences according to the company sizes. The results include that this type of business is in many cases motivated by their focus on customers and often consists of physical products and their maintenance. The Italian companies, as opposed to the German ones, often design their physical products specifically for this type of offers. From the analysis based on the size difference, small companies are found to achieve specific design for this type of offers while owning physical products. There do not seem to be any established methods or tools developed to support the development of such offers and within such methods/tools there would be room for more adaptation in form of physical product design.     

Genotype, haplotype and copy-number variation in worldwide human populations

Genome-wide patterns of variation across individuals provide a powerful source of data for uncovering the history of migration, range expansion, and adaptation of the human species. However, high-resolution surveys of variation in genotype, haplotype and copy number have generally focused on a small number of population groups. Here we report the analysis of high-quality genotypes at 525,910 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 396 copy-number-variable loci in a worldwide sample of 29 populations. Analysis of SNP genotypes yields strongly supported fine-scale inferences about population structure. Increasing linkage disequilibrium is observed with increasing geographic distance from Africa, as expected under a serial founder effect for the out-of-Africa spread of human populations. New approaches for haplotype analysis produce inferences about population structure that complement results based on unphased SNPs. Despite a difference from SNPs in the frequency spectrum of the copy-number variants (CNVs) detected--including a comparatively large number of CNVs in previously unexamined populations from Oceania and the Americas--the global distribution of CNVs largely accords with population structure analyses for SNP data sets of similar size. Our results produce new inferences about inter-population variation, support the utility of CNVs in human population-genetic research, and serve as a genomic resource for human-genetic studies in diverse worldwide populations.     

Tissue factor and PAR1 promote microbiota-induced intestinal vascular remodelling

The gut microbiota is a complex ecosystem that has coevolved with host physiology. Colonization of germ-free (GF) mice with a microbiota promotes increased vessel density in the small intestine, but little is known about the mechanisms involved. Tissue factor (TF) is the membrane receptor that initiates the extrinsic coagulation pathway, and it promotes developmental and tumour angiogenesis. Here we show that the gut microbiota promotes TF glycosylation associated with localization of TF on the cell surface, the activation of coagulation proteases, and phosphorylation of the TF cytoplasmic domain in the small intestine. Anti-TF treatment of colonized GF mice decreased microbiota-induced vascular remodelling and expression of the proangiogenic factor angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1) in the small intestine. Mice with a genetic deletion of the TF cytoplasmic domain or with hypomorphic TF (F3) alleles had a decreased intestinal vessel density. Coagulation proteases downstream of TF activate protease-activated receptor (PAR) signalling implicated in angiogenesis. Vessel density and phosphorylation of the cytoplasmic domain of TF were decreased in small intestine from PAR1-deficient (F2r(-/-)) but not PAR2-deficient (F2rl1(-/-)) mice, and inhibition of thrombin showed that thrombin-PAR1 signalling was upstream of TF phosphorylation. Thus, the microbiota-induced extravascular TF-PAR1 signalling loop is a novel pathway that may be modulated to influence vascular remodelling in the small intestine.     

Dll4 signalling through Notch1 regulates formation of tip cells during angiogenesis

In sprouting angiogenesis, specialized endothelial tip cells lead the outgrowth of blood-vessel sprouts towards gradients of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A. VEGF-A is also essential for the induction of endothelial tip cells, but it is not known how single tip cells are selected to lead each vessel sprout, and how tip-cell numbers are determined. Here we present evidence that delta-like 4 (Dll4)-Notch1 signalling regulates the formation of appropriate numbers of tip cells to control vessel sprouting and branching in the mouse retina. We show that inhibition of Notch signalling using gamma-secretase inhibitors, genetic inactivation of one allele of the endothelial Notch ligand Dll4, or endothelial-specific genetic deletion of Notch1, all promote increased numbers of tip cells. Conversely, activation of Notch by a soluble jagged1 peptide leads to fewer tip cells and vessel branches. Dll4 and reporters of Notch signalling are distributed in a mosaic pattern among endothelial cells of actively sprouting retinal vessels. At this location, Notch1-deleted endothelial cells preferentially assume tip-cell characteristics. Together, our results suggest that Dll4-Notch1 signalling between the endothelial cells within the angiogenic sprout serves to restrict tip-cell formation in response to VEGF, thereby establishing the adequate ratio between tip and stalk cells required for correct sprouting and branching patterns. This model offers an explanation for the dose-dependency and haploinsufficiency of the Dll4 gene, and indicates that modulators of Dll4 or Notch signalling, such as gamma-secretase inhibitors developed for Alzheimer's disease, might find usage as pharmacological regulators of angiogenesis.     

A worldwide survey of haplotype variation and linkage disequilibrium in the human genome

Recent genomic surveys have produced high-resolution haplotype information, but only in a small number of human populations. We report haplotype structure across 12 Mb of DNA sequence in 927 individuals representing 52 populations. The geographic distribution of haplotypes reflects human history, with a loss of haplotype diversity as distance increases from Africa. Although the extent of linkage disequilibrium (LD) varies markedly across populations, considerable sharing of haplotype structure exists, and inferred recombination hotspot locations generally match across groups. The four samples in the International HapMap Project contain the majority of common haplotypes found in most populations: averaging across populations, 83% of common 20-kb haplotypes in a population are also common in the most similar HapMap sample. Consequently, although the portability of tag SNPs based on the HapMap is reduced in low-LD Africans, the HapMap will be helpful for the design of genome-wide association mapping studies in nearly all human populations.     

Structure of insect community in the fungus Inonotus radiatus in riparian boreal forests

Basidiomes of polypore fungi host many insects. Yet systematic information about insect assemblages from most fungal species is lacking. We studied the insect community associated with the wood-decaying fungus Inonotus radiatus (Sowerby: Fr.) P. Karst. (Hymenochaetales). More specifically, we studied the effect of successional stage and weight of basidiomes, as well as shore exposition (north or south), on species richness and composition, as well as occurrence and abundance of the most abundant fungivores. Basidiomes were collected from riparian forests at five lakes in Sweden. Insects were reared out from the basidiomes in the laboratory. A total of 5645 adult insect individuals of 117 taxa were obtained. Among these, 2782 specimens of 36 taxa use Inonotus radiatus basidiomes as breeding habitat. Eight species of parasitic wasps were new to Sweden. The most abundant fungivore was Ennearthron cornutum (Ciidae), which is a generalist breeding in many polypore species. Based on our material and literature, the melandryid beetles Abdera affinis and A. flexuosa seem to be specialists on the order Hymenochaetales. Other frequent fungivores were Dorcatoma dresdensis (Ptinidae), and the lepidopterans Archinemapogon yildizae, Nemapogon cloacellus and N. picarellus (Tineidae). The parasitoid community associated with the tineid moths was similar to the community associated with the other polypore species in the order Polyporales. In contrast, the parasitoids associated with Dorcatoma (and/or Abdera) were different from the other Polyporales species, suggesting that the fungal host species is more important for these parasitoid species than the beetle host species itself. The most abundant and frequent parasitoids were the braconids Diospilus dispar and Colastes fritzeni, which both parasitise Dorcatoma. Species richness was significantly smaller in fresh than in more decayed basidiomes, but species composition did not differ. There was no difference in species composition or richness between north and south shorelines.