• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 2016

Climate change has been regarded as one of main factors to change Korean insect pest fauna. Especially, a global warming model predicts to expand habitat for insect pests originated from tropical or subtropical regions. Two insect pests, the beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua) and the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), are known to overwinter in some greenhouse conditions without diapause induction in Korea. There was a clear difference between these two insects in seasonal occurrence. P. xylostella occurred only at early spring and fall seasons, but did not occur during summer. In contrast, S. exigua maintained their occurrence from late spring to fall seasons. This study set up a hypothesis that the difference in the seasonal occurrence may be resulted from variation in susceptibility to high temperature. To test the hypothesis, heat tolerance was compared between these two insects. Exposure to $42^{\circ}C$ for 40 min killed 100% individuals of P. xylostella larvae. However, most larvae of S. exigua survived in response to $42^{\circ}C$ even for 80 min. Heat tolerance varied among developmental stages in both insects. Highest tolerant stages were $4^{th}$ instar larvae and adults for P. xylostella, but $1^{st}$ instar larvae for S. exigua. Pre-exposure to $37^{\circ}C$ for 30 min significantly increased heat tolerance in both insects. Induction of heat tolerance accompanied with significant increase of glycerol contents in the hemolymph in both insects and up-regulation of three heat shock protein expressions in S. exigua. These results suggest that the differential susceptibility to high temperature explains the disappearance of P. xylostella during summer, at which S. exigua maintains its occurrence.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1607-1611
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• 2011

To analyze the role of Bombyx mori transferrin (BmTf) in response to microbes or oxidative stress, we investigated the level of BmTf transcripts in B. mori treated with various microbes and oxidative stress inducers. BmTf mRNA was mainly expressed in the epidermis and fat in the bodies of B. mori injected with Escherichia coli, and up regulated in response to microbes such as bacteria, fungi, or viruses, but was hardly altered in response to oxidative stress inducers such as $H_2O_2$, Cu, or $FeCl_3$. We also confirmed that BmTf mRNA expression was increased in Bm5 cells treated with ERK, PLC, PKA, PI3K, MAPK, or JNK inhibitors, respectively. To identify the major inducer of BmTf expression, we analyzed the amount of serum iron in the hemolymph of B. mori after injection or feeding with E. coli or $FeCl_3$. The results showed that the amount of serum iron was not changed by injection and feeding with E. coli, although BmTf mRNA was increased by injection with E. coli. On the contrary, injection and feeding with $FeCl_3$ significantly increased the amount of serum iron, although they did not alter the BmTf mRNA level. On the basis of these results, we assume that up-regulation of BmTf in B. mori is closely related to the defense of microorganism, and BmTf may be expressed at the basal constitutive level when it plays a role in iron metabolism by maintaining iron homeostasis and in the insect defense mechanism against oxidative stress.