scholarly journals Oral Ingestion of Bacterially Expressed dsRNA Can Silence Genes and Cause Mortality in a Highly Invasive, Tree-Killing Pest, the Emerald Ash Borer

Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramya Shanivarsanthe Leelesh ◽  
Lynne K. Rieske
Keyword(s):  
Insect Pests ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Emerald Ash Borer ◽  
Coli Strain ◽  
Forest Pest ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Invasive Tree ◽  
Ash Trees ◽  
Rnai Response

RNA interference (RNAi) is a naturally occurring process inhibiting gene expression, and recent advances in our understanding of the mechanism have allowed its development as a tool against insect pests. A major challenge for deployment in the field is the development of convenient and efficient methods for production of double stranded RNA (dsRNA). We assessed the potential for deploying bacterially produced dsRNA as a bio-pesticide against an invasive forest pest, the emerald ash borer (EAB). EAB feeds on the cambial tissue of ash trees (Fraxinus spp.), causing rapid death. EAB has killed millions of trees in North America since its discovery in 2002, prompting the need for innovative management strategies. In our study, bacterial expression and synthesis of dsRNA were performed with E. coli strain HT115 using the L4440 expression vector. EAB-specific dsRNAs (shi and hsp) over-expressed in E. coli were toxic to neonate EAB after oral administration, successfully triggering gene silencing and subsequent mortality; however, a non-specific dsRNA control was not included. Our results suggest that ingestion of transformed E. coli expressing dsRNAs can induce an RNAi response in EAB. To our knowledge, this is the first example of an effective RNAi response induced by feeding dsRNA-expressing bacteria in a forest pest.

scholarly journals Challenges, tactics and integrated management of emerald ash borer in North America

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah G McCullough
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Integrated Management ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Emerald Ash Borer ◽  
Interspecific Variation ◽  
Agrilus Planipennis ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Ash Trees ◽  
Invasion Impacts ◽  
Individual Trees

Abstract Emerald ash borer (EAB) (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire), discovered in southeastern Michigan, USA in 2002, has become the most destructive and costly invasive forest insect in North America. This phloem-boring beetle has also invaded Moscow, Russia and continued spread of EAB potentially threatens European ash (Fraxinus spp.) species. This review summarizes EAB life history, including interspecific variation in host preference, invasion impacts and challenges of detecting new infestations and provides an overview of available management tactics. Advances in systemic insecticides, particularly emamectin benzoate products applied via trunk injection, have yielded effective and practical options both to protect individual trees and to slow EAB population growth and ash decline on an area-wide basis without disrupting natural enemies. Economic costs of treating ash are substantially lower than removal costs, retain ecosystem services provided by the trees, reduce sociocultural impacts and conserve genetic diversity in areas invaded by EAB. Girdled ash trees are highly attractive to EAB adults in low-density populations and debarking small girdled trees to locate larval galleries is the most effective EAB detection method. An array of woodpeckers, native larval parasitoids and introduced parasitoids attack EAB life stages but mortality is highly variable. Area-wide management strategies that integrate insecticide-treated trees, girdled ash trap trees and biological control can be adapted for local conditions to slow and reduce EAB impacts.

Review of the emerald ash borer (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), life history, mating behaviours, host plant selection, and host resistance

2015 ◽  
Vol 147 (3) ◽  
pp. 252-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese M. Poland ◽  
Yigen Chen ◽  
Jennifer Koch ◽  
Deepa Pureswaran
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Host Plant ◽  
Host Resistance ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Emerald Ash Borer ◽  
The United States ◽  
Agrilus Planipennis ◽  
Host Plant Selection ◽  
Plant Selection ◽  
Ash Trees

AbstractAs of summer 2014, the invasive emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), has become established in 24 states in the United States of America and has killed tens of millions of ash trees since its introduction into Michigan in the 1990s. Considerable research has been conducted on many aspects of EAB life history, natural history, ecology, and management strategies in an attempt to contain this devastating pest. In this article, we review the life history, mating behaviours, and host plant selection by EAB in North America as well as host resistance to EAB attack.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Ash Tree Symptoms Associated with Emerald Ash Borer Infestation in Urban Forests

2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anand Persad ◽  
Patrick Tobin
Keyword(s):  
Early Detection ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Emerald Ash Borer ◽  
Adult Emergence ◽  
Prior History ◽  
Proactive Management ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Ash Trees ◽  
History Of ◽  
Study Sites

The emerald ash borer (EAB), first discovered in North America in Michigan in 2002, continues to expand its distributional range. Early detection of EAB remains a major caveat in efforts to implement proactive management strategies. Past reports have shown that ash trees infested with EAB have an increased risk of branch failure and other symptoms associated with tree decline. Therefore, early detection efforts could be improved if a suite of tree symptoms—prior to visible signs of EAB infestation—can be identified. Researchers initiated a four-year study in Ohio, U.S. (2009– 2012) to investigate and document symptoms associated with the EAB–ash tree complex in urban sites. The prior history of EAB at the study sites ranged from ash trees with no visible evidence of infestation to those that were infested for more than two years. In trees shown to be recently colonized by EAB, visible signs of infestation, such as adult emergence holes, presence of EAB galleries, bark loss, and canopy loss were not always apparent. However, in EAB-positive trees, there was a significant tendency for the presence of cracks in scaffold branches, branch fractures within the upper canopy, and branch fractures specifically located closer to the union with the stem as opposed to at the branch tip or at the branch’s center of gravity. This study highlights tree symptoms associated with the initial colonization of EAB when host trees are still apparently healthy, which could greatly facilitate future detection efforts for EAB.

scholarly journals Container Wall Porosity and Root Pruning Influence on Swietenia mahogani Root Ball Architecture and Anchorage After Planting

2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Gilman ◽  
Maria Paz ◽  
Chris Harchick
Keyword(s):  
Early Detection ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Emerald Ash Borer ◽  
Adult Emergence ◽  
Prior History ◽  
Root Pruning ◽  
Proactive Management ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Ash Trees ◽  
Study Sites

The emerald ash borer (EAB), first discovered in North America in Michigan in 2002, continues to expand its distributional range. Early detection of EAB remains a major caveat in efforts to implement proactive management strategies. Past reports have shown that ash trees infested with EAB have an increased risk of branch failure and other symptoms associated with tree decline. Therefore, early detection efforts could be improved if a suite of tree symptoms—prior to visible signs of EAB infestation—can be identified. Researchers initiated a four-year study in Ohio, U.S. (2009– 2012) to investigate and document symptoms associated with the EAB–ash tree complex in urban sites. The prior history of EAB at the study sites ranged from ash trees with no visible evidence of infestation to those that were infested for more than two years. In trees shown to be recently colonized by EAB, visible signs of infestation, such as adult emergence holes, presence of EAB galleries, bark loss, and canopy loss were not always apparent. However, in EAB-positive trees, there was a significant tendency for the presence of cracks in scaffold branches, branch fractures within the upper canopy, and branch fractures specifically located closer to the union with the stem as opposed to at the branch tip or at the branch’s center of gravity. This study highlights tree symptoms associated with the initial colonization of EAB when host trees are still apparently healthy, which could greatly facilitate future detection efforts for EAB.

scholarly journals Hedonic Analysis of Forest Pest Invasion: the Case of Emerald Ash Borer

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li ◽  
Holmes ◽  
Boyle ◽  
Crocker ◽  
Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Property Values ◽  
Emerald Ash Borer ◽  
Invasive Pest ◽  
Residential Property ◽  
Forest Pest ◽  
Property Value ◽  
Value Analysis ◽  
Property Owners ◽  
Ash Trees ◽  
The Impact

The emerald ash borer (EAB) was first detected in North America in 2002, and since its introduction, this invasive pest has killed millions of ash trees. While EAB kills native North American ash trees in all settings, its impacts have been especially large in urban areas where ash has been a dominant street tree, especially in residential areas. While some management costs, such as insecticide treatment, tree removal, or tree replacement, are relatively straightforward to compute, the impact that EAB has had on residential property values is less clear. To better understand the economic cost of EAB in urban settings, we conducted a hedonic property value analysis to evaluate the impact of ash tree damages due to EAB infestation on housing sales prices. This study was conducted in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which had high stocking levels of ash trees prior to EAB’s arrival. The objectives of the study are to investigate: (1) how EAB-infested ash trees affect property values; (2) whether the benefits from healthy ash trees to property value change after arrival of EAB; and (3) whether healthy ash trees located within infested neighborhoods provide the same benefits as the healthy ash trees located outside of infested neighborhoods. In general, our results show that the EAB outbreak has had a negative impact on home values for properties located in close proximity to the ash tree component of the urban forest. This result holds true for neighborhoods where EAB does not yet pose an imminent threat, and is amplified for neighborhoods where EAB has been detected. Our results highlight the early stages of a dynamic economic process that impacts urban residential property owners subject to the risk of EAB or other tree pests and diseases. In general, we find that forward-looking behavior of residential property owners is capitalized into property values during the process of forest pest infestation.

scholarly journals Sequencing of E. coli strain UTI89 on multiple sequencing platforms

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon N. Fenlon ◽  
Yuemin Celina Chee ◽  
Jacqueline Lai Yuen Chee ◽  
Yeen Hui Choy ◽  
Alexis Jiaying Khng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coli Strain ◽  
Whole Genome Sequencing Data ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Sequencing Technologies ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Oxford Nanopore ◽  
Validation Set ◽  
Sequencing Platforms

Abstract Objectives The availability of matched sequencing data for the same sample across different sequencing platforms is a necessity for validation and effective comparison of sequencing platforms. A commonly sequenced sample is the lab-adapted MG1655 strain of Escherichia coli; however, this strain is not fully representative of more complex and dynamic genomes of pathogenic E. coli strains. Data description We present six new sequencing data sets for another E. coli strain, UTI89, which is an extraintestinal pathogenic strain isolated from a patient suffering from a urinary tract infection. We now provide matched whole genome sequencing data generated using the PacBio RSII, Oxford Nanopore MinION R9.4, Ion Torrent, ABI SOLiD, and Illumina NextSeq sequencers. Together with other publically available datasets, UTI89 has a nearly complete suite of data generated on most second- and third-generation sequencers. These data can be used as an additional validation set for new sequencing technologies and analytical methods. More than being another E. coli strain, however, UTI89 is pathogenic, with a 10% larger genome, additional pathogenicity islands, and a large plasmid, features that are common among other naturally occurring and disease-causing E. coli isolates. These data therefore provide a more medically relevant test set for development of algorithms.

Transport of escherichia coli through soil to groundwater traced by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)

1997 ◽  
Vol 35 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 351-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Rothmaier ◽  
A. Weidenmann ◽  
K. Botzenhart
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Random Amplified Polymorphic Dna ◽  
Coli Strain ◽  
Soil Samples ◽  
Test Field ◽  
Liquid Manure ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Rapd Pattern ◽  
Geological Situation ◽  
Different Strains

Isolates (50) of E. coli obtained from liquid manure (20 bovine, 20 porcine) were genotyped using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Typing revealed 9 and 14 different strains in bovine and porcine liquid manure respectively with no strains in common. One porcine strain, showing a simple RAPD pattern, was subcultured and spread on a test field (1.5l/m2 at 1010 cfu/l) in a drinking water protection zone with loamy to sandy sediments in the Donauried area, Baden-Wurttemberg. Soil samples and groundwaters were collected at monthly intervals October 1994 – June 1995 during which 114 E. coli isolates were recovered. The first occurrence and maximum concentration of E. coli in soil samples taken from more than 20cm depth was in January 1995, declining rapidly with depth and time. All isolates from soil and only one from groundwater showed the RAPD pattern of the spread E. coli strain. The results could not demonstrate a severe negative impact of the spreading of liquid manure on the bacteriological quality of the groundwater in the given geological situation. The distinct strain patterns found in different kinds of liquid manure suggest that genotyping of E. coli by RAPD may be an adequate tool for tracing sources of faecal contamination.

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