Amanita exitialis, a deadly mushroom found in eastern Asia, causes the highest death rates among all poisonous mushrooms in China. The aim of the present study was to develop an efficient, accurate, and user-friendly PCRbased method for identifying A. exitialis that could facilitate the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of associated food poisoning. A. exitialis-specific primers and probes were designed based on the internal transcribed spacer region variations of 27 mushroom species. Specificity was confirmed using conventional and real-time PCR for 23 non-target mushroom species, including morphologically similar and closely related species. Compared to conventional PCR, real-time PCR was more sensitive (detectable DNA concentration: 1.36 x 10-2 ng/mu L vs. 1.36 x 10-3) and efficient (analysis time: 1 h vs. 40 min). Furthermore, the real-time PCR results could be immediately visualized using amplification curve analysis. The results present two robust PCR-based methods for A. exitialis identification that can facilitate food safety.

The interactions between plant viruses and insect vectors are very complex. In recent years, RNA sequencing data have been used to elucidate critical genes of Tomato spotted wilt ortho-tospovirus (TSWV) and Frankliniella occidentalis ( F. occidentalis ). However, very little is known about the essential genes involved in thrips acquisition and transmission of TSWV. Based on transcriptome data of F. occidentalis infected with TSWV, we verified the complete sequence of the E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase UBR7 gene ( UBR7 ), which is closely related to virus transmission. Additionally, we found that UBR7 belongs to the E3 ubiquitin–protein ligase family that is highly expressed in adulthood in F. occidentalis . UBR7 could interfere with virus replication and thus affect the transmission efficiency of F. occidentalis . With low URB7 expression, TSWV transmission efficiency decreased, while TSWV acquisition efficiency was unaffected. Moreover, the direct interaction between UBR7 and the nucleocapsid (N) protein of TSWV was investigated through surface plasmon resonance and GST pull-down. In conclusion, we found that UBR7 is a crucial protein for TSWV transmission by F. occidentalis , as it directly interacts with TSWV N. This study provides a new direction for developing green pesticides targeting E3 ubiquitin to control TSWV and F. occidentalis .

对于多数植物病毒而言,其在田间的自然扩散主要依赖昆虫等介体生物,而媒介昆虫的垂直传播是植物病毒长期存在并发生的重要原因.对媒介昆虫垂直传播病毒机制的研究不仅可以为未来开发高效低毒农药奠定基础,更可为植物病毒与昆虫的互作和病毒病的预测预报提供新的视野及角度.媒介昆虫在植物病毒传播过程中的具体作用在近几年被广泛研究.该文综述了近年来植物病毒在昆虫体内垂直传播的研究进展,包括昆虫传播植物病毒的方式、植物病毒在昆虫体内的垂直传播方式以及虫媒病毒垂直传播的可能机制等.在整个垂直传播的过程中,植物病毒的衣壳蛋白、磷蛋白和媒介昆虫唐氏综合症细胞黏附分子、硫酸乙酰肝素糖蛋白、热激蛋白以及卵黄原蛋白,甚至共生菌都有参与.最后,基于媒介昆虫和植物病毒的关系对未来植物病毒病的绿色防控和生物防控进行了展望.

Phytolacca is the largest genus of Phytolaccaceae. Owing to interspecific hybridization, infraspecific variation, and apparent weak genetic control of many qualitative characters, which have obscured boundaries between species, the classification and phylogenetic relationships of this genus are unclear. Native Phytolacca is disjunctly distributed in America, eastern Asia, and Africa, and the biogeographic history of the genus remained unresolved. In this study, we used the whole chloroplast genome and three markers (nrDNA, rbcL, and matK) to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships within Phytolacca, analyze divergence times, and infer biogeographic histories. The phylogenetic results indicate that Phytolacca is monophyletic, which is inconsistent with the infrageneric classification based on morphology. According to the divergence time estimation, Phytolacca began to diversify at approximately 20.30 Ma during the early Miocene. Central America, including Mexico, Costa Rica, and Colombia, is the center of species diversity. Biogeographical analysis indicated five main dispersal events and Phytolacca originated from Central and South America. Birds may be the primary agents of dispersal because of the fleshy fruiting of Phytolacca. This study extended sampling and added more genetic characteristics to infer the evolutionary history of Phytolacca, providing new insights for resolving the classification and elucidating the dispersal events of Phytolacca.