scholarly journals Whole genome comparisons reveal panmixia among fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) from diverse locations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina A. Schlum ◽  
Kurt Lamour ◽  
Caroline Placidi de Bortoli ◽  
Rahul Banerjee ◽  
Scott J. Emrich ◽  
...  

AbstractThe fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith)) is a highly polyphagous agricultural pest with long-distance migratory behavior threatening food security worldwide. This pest has a host range of >80 plant species, but two host strains are recognized based on their association with corn (C-strain) or rice and smaller grasses (R-strain). In this study, the population structure and genetic diversity in 55 S. frugiperda samples from Argentina, Brazil, Kenya, Puerto Rico and the United States (USA) were surveyed to further our understanding of whole genome nuclear diversity. Comparisons at the genomic level suggest panmixia in this population, other than a minor reduction in gene flow between the two overwintering populations in the continental USA that also corresponded to genetically distinct host strains. Two maternal lines were detected from analysis of mitochondrial genomes. We found members from the Eastern Hemisphere interspersed within both continental USA overwintering subpopulations, suggesting multiple individuals were likely introduced to Africa. Comparisons between laboratory-reared and field collected S. frugiperda support similar genomic diversity, validating the experimental use of laboratory strains. Our research is the largest diverse collection of United States S. frugiperda whole genome sequences characterized to date, covering eight continental states and a USA territory (Puerto Rico). The genomic resources presented provide foundational information to understand gene flow at the whole genome level among S. frugiperda populations.

BMC Genomics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina A. Schlum ◽  
Kurt Lamour ◽  
Caroline Placidi de Bortoli ◽  
Rahul Banerjee ◽  
Robert Meagher ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith)) is a highly polyphagous agricultural pest with long-distance migratory behavior threatening food security worldwide. This pest has a host range of > 80 plant species, but two host strains are recognized based on their association with corn (C-strain) or rice and smaller grasses (R-strain). The population genomics of the United States (USA) fall armyworm remains poorly characterized to date despite its agricultural threat. Results In this study, the population structure and genetic diversity in 55 S. frugiperda samples from Argentina, Brazil, Kenya, Puerto Rico and USA were surveyed to further our understanding of whole genome nuclear diversity. Comparisons at the genomic level suggest a panmictic S. frugiperda population, with only a minor reduction in gene flow between the two overwintering populations in the continental USA, also corresponding to distinct host strains at the mitochondrial level. Two maternal lines were detected from analysis of mitochondrial genomes. We found members from the Eastern Hemisphere interspersed within both continental USA overwintering subpopulations, suggesting multiple individuals were likely introduced to Africa. Conclusions Our research is the largest diverse collection of United States S. frugiperda whole genome sequences characterized to date, covering eight continental states and a USA territory (Puerto Rico). The genomic resources presented provide foundational information to understand gene flow at the whole genome level among S. frugiperda populations. Based on the genomic similarities found between host strains and laboratory vs. field samples, our findings validate the experimental use of laboratory strains and the host strain differentiation based on mitochondria and sex-linked genetic markers extends to minor genome wide differences with some exceptions showing mixture between host strains is likely occurring in field populations.


2012 ◽  
Vol 105 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Difabachew K. Belay ◽  
Pete L. Clark ◽  
Steven R. Skoda ◽  
David J. Isenhour ◽  
Jaime Molina-Ochoa ◽  
...  

1969 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 21-31
Author(s):  
Bernard A. App

During the period August 1935 to June 1936 studies were made by the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine of the United States Department of Agriculture on insects attacking growing corn in Puerto Rico. These studies were financed from a special fund provided by the Department for the purpose and were conducted in cooperation with the experiment station of the United States Department of Agriculture at Mayagüez and the substation of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Puerto Rico at Isabela. As a result of these studies the following four species of insects were determined to be of prime economic importance to the corn crop of Puerto Rico: The corn leaf hopper (Peregrinus maidis Ashmead), the otitid (ortalid) fly Euxesta stigmatias Loew infecting the ears, the fall armyworm (Laphygma frugiperda (A. and S.)), and the corn earworm (Heliothis armigera (Hbn.)). The corn leaf aphid (Aphis maidis Fitch) and the sugarcane borer (Diatraea saccharalis (F.) ) were found in varying numbers, but little damage by them was noted. Control experiments were conducted with the fall armyworm and the corn earworm.


Author(s):  
E. Douglas Bomberger

On 2 April 1917, President Woodrow Wilson urged Congress to enter the European war, and Congress voted to do so on Friday, 6 April. On the 15th of that month, Victor released the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s record of “Livery Stable Blues” and “Dixieland Jass Band One-Step”; it caused an immediate nationwide sensation. James Reese Europe travelled to Puerto Rico in search of woodwind players for the Fifteenth New York Regiment Band, and the Creole Band ended its vaudeville career when it missed the train to Portland, Maine. German musicians in the United States came under increased scrutiny in the weeks after the declaration of war, as the country prepared to adopt new laws and regulations for wartime.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003464462199600
Author(s):  
Diego Ayala-McCormick

It has become common to compare racial inequality in the United States with a “Latin American” pattern of racial inequality in which egalitarian racial ideologies mask stark socioeconomic inequalities along racial lines. However, relatively few comparative studies exist attempting to analyze variations in degrees of racial inequality in the Americas. To stimulate further research in this area, the following study analyzes census data on racial inequality in unemployment rates, educational attainment, homeownership rates, and income in Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the United States. The results suggest that while Brazil is similar to the United States in displaying large levels of racial inequality in the areas measured, Cuba and Puerto Rico display significantly lower levels of racial inequality and Colombia falls in between, undermining conceptions of a monolithic Latin American racial system.


1970 ◽  
Vol 102 (10) ◽  
pp. 1268-1290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Kogan ◽  
E. F. Legner

AbstractExtensive collections of synanthropic fly parasitoids in animal excrement accumulations in the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Chile, Denmark, Israel, and South Africa yielded seven forms of a Muscidifurax complex which were totally or partially reproductively isolated. Morphological studies of female and male parasitoids coupled with biological and zoogeographical information permitted the identification of five sibling species. Muscidifurax raptor Girault and Sanders 1910 is redescribed and four additional species are described as new: M. zaraptor, from the southwestern United States; M. raptoroides from Central America and Mexico; M. uniraptor from Puerto Rico, and M. raptorellus from Uruguay and Chile. Biological notes are added to the descriptions, and it was postulated that the genus is undergoing a process of speciation with local populations slowly becoming reproductively isolated and eventually giving rise to morphologically distinguishable entities. Most evidence suggests the establishment of Muscidifurax in the New World, concomitant with or shortly following the establishment of muscoid flies in accumulated excrement. Scanning electronmicroscopy was used in the analysis of some morphological structures.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 853-855
Author(s):  
Richard E. Kravath

A 5-month-old boy died of asphyxia from airway obstruction caused by his pacifier. It had been imported from Spain by La Cibeles Inc. of Union City, New Jersey, and had been marketed in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Florida, and Puerto Rico under the brand names Fauna, Flower, Navy, and Texas. It sold for about 50 cents. It is attractive in design, but has characteristics that make it dangerous. Following our report to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission,* the pacifier was recalled. We have been able to find only one similar case in the literature.1 The unnecessary tragedy was due to a preventable hazard and both individual and governmental action should avoid its recurrence.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Úrsula A. Aragunde-Kohl ◽  
Yahaira Segarra-González ◽  
Liza M. Meléndez-Samó ◽  
Ivemarie Hernández-Rivera ◽  
Carolina Quiles-Peña

Abstract The purpose of this research was to better understand the beliefs and practices that the residents of Puerto Rico have regarding cockfighting, including their perception of the recently passed prohibition against nonhuman animal fighting on the island. It had an exploratory descriptive design consisting of three phases, where the qualitative data obtained from phase one would guide the process of identifying variables that could be measured. In the second phase, an instrument was developed, and in the third, it was administered. Most of the participants agreed with the prohibition of cockfighting in Puerto Rico and that it was necessary. The data showed that there is a disconnect between what the federal government of the United States legislated, what the local government and agencies that were supposed to enforce the prohibition did with the legislation, and what the people directly affected by the legislation received for education and guidance.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Zanella-Saenz ◽  
Elisabeth A. Herniou ◽  
Jorge E. Ibarra ◽  
Ma.Cristina Del Rincón-Castro ◽  
Ilse Alejandra Huerta-Arredondo

Abstract Fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith, 1797), is a polyphagous, voracious, and economically important agricultural pest. Biological control of FAW is a strategy that must be further explored. This study evaluated six baculovirus strains isolated from infected FAW larvae from Mexico, Argentina, Honduras, and the United States. Five alphabaculoviruses (SfNPV-An2, SfNPV-Arg, SfNPV-Fx, SfNPV-Ho and SfNPV-Sin) and one betabaculovirus (SfGV-RV), were tested against FAW larvae, showing a wide diversity of virulence levels among strains when their estimated LC50s were compared, being SfNPVArg, SfNPV-Ho and SfNPV-Fx more virulent than SfNPV-An 2 , SfNPV-Sin and SfGV-RV. To determine any virulence difference in vitro studies of these isolates, Sf9 cell cultures were used. Interestingly, only ODVs from four of the test SfNPV strains showed infectivity on Sf9 cell cultures, and some differences in virulence were observed. Genomic restriction analyses and partial sequences of lef-8, lef-9 , and polh/granulin genes showed little variability among alphabaculoviruses, both, among them and with previously reported sequences. However, sequences from SfGV-RV were closer to previously reported sequences from the SfGVVG008 strain than the SfGV-Arg and SfGV-VG014 strains. The great difference in the in vivo virulence was not correlated with great similarity among the isolates. The characterization of these six baculoviruses isolates offers the basis for exploring their potential as biological control agents against S. frugiperda, as well the initial studies on their specific infection mechanisms, evolution, and ecology.


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