Jeong Seon Yu

Production of antibacterial Bombyx mori cecropin A in mealworm‑pathogenic Beauveria bassiana ERL1170

Efforts are underway to produce antimicrobial peptides in yellow mealworms (Tenebrio molitor), which can be developed as more effective and safer animal feed additives. In this work, we expressed Bombyx mori (Bm) cecropin-A in mealworms by the infection of transformed entomopathogenic Beauveria bassiana ERL1170. The active domain of Bm cecropin A gene was tagged with a signal sequence of B. bassiana for extracellular secretion, and the fragment was inserted into ERL1170 by the restriction enzyme-mediated integration method. Transformant D-6 showed antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis and Listeria monocytogenes. Against T. molitor larvae, D-6 had similar mortality to wild-type, and D6-infected mealworm suspension showed strong antibacterial activity against the two bacteria, but not in the wild-type-infected mealworms, thereby increasing the value of mealworms as animal feed additives.

Eco-Friendly Organic Pesticides (EFOP)-Mediated Management of Persimmon Pests, Stathmopoda masinissa and Riptortus pedestris

Chemical pesticides have been used to control persimmon pests, however the overuse of the pesticides caused insect resistance, followed by failure in pest management and residual problems. Herein we investigate the potential of eco-friendly organic pesticides (EFOP) on the control persimmon pests, Stathmopoda masinissa (persimmon fruit moth) and Riptortus pedestris (bean bug). Ten commercially available plant-derived organic pesticides and one microbial pesticide were sprayed on the target insects in laboratory conditions. The chemical pesticide, buprofezin+dinotefuran wettable powder served as a positive control. In the first bioassay against persimmon fruit moth, alternatively Plutella xylostella larvae were used due to the lack of persimmon fruit moth population from fields, and three organic pesticides showed high control efficacy, such as pyroligneous liquor (EFOP-1), the mixture of Chinese scholar tree extract, goosefoot and subtripinnata extracts (EFOP-2) and Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. aizawai NT0423 (EFOP-11). When the three selected organic pesticides were treated on the persimmon fruit moths, the EFOP-2 treatment showed the highest control efficacy: 27.7% (5 days), 13.3% (7 days) and 6.7% (10 days) of survival rates. In the bioassay against bean bugs, the mixture of Chinese scholar tree, goosefoot and subtripinnata extracts (EFOP-2 and EFOP-9) and the extracts of sophora and derris (EFOP-10) showed high control efficacy, particularly the highest in the treatment of EFOP-2: 20.0% (5 days) and 16.7% (10 days) of survival rates. These results suggest that the mixture of Chinese scholar tree, goosefoot and subtripinnata extracts (EFOP-2) has high and multiple potential in the management of the persimmon pests.