The developmental responses of insects to temperature are important considerations in gaining a better understanding of their ecology and life histories. Temperature-dependent phenology models permit examination of the effects of temperature on the geographical distributions, population dynamics, and management of insects. Measurements of insect developmental and survival responses to temperature pose practical challenges that depend on the chosen modality, variability among individuals, and high mortality rates near the lower and upper threshold temperatures. Different temperature levels can significantly affect larval development of Eurema hecabe. The development of E. hecabe reared on leaves of Lespedeza cuneata was investigated at three temperature regimes (20, 25, and 30℃), a relative humidity of 60%, and a light:dark photoperiod of 14:10 h. The developmental time from larva to adult was 34.3, 20.6, and 17.9 d at temperatures of 20, 25, and 30℃, respectively. Pupal rate was 47.6%, 47.6%, and 61.9% at temperatures of 20, 25, and 30℃, respectively. The developmental threshold temperature estimated from larva to pupae was 8.1℃ with 381.7 degree-days. There is an increasing need for a standardized manual for rearing this butterfly species based on adequate knowledge of its ecology.

The genus Acteniceromorphus is taxonomically reviewed for the first time in Korea. From the previously recorded three species, two species, A. selectus (Candèze, 1894) and A. fulvipennis (Lewis, 1894) are confirmed as misidientification of species which are endemic to Japan. Another species, A. chlamydatus (Lewis, 1894) is unavailable any Korean specimens. Additionally, we found A. ferrugineipennis (Candèze, 1879) as new to Korea. We also provide a comparison of DNA barcoding for two species previously misidentified and the newly recorded species, except A. chlamydatus. DNA barcoding result shows that each species is clearly delimited at species-level from each other by large interspecific genetic distance over 7.2%.

1-Deoxynojirimycin (DNJ) has been extensively investigated for its applications as an a-glucosidase inhibitor in postprandial hyperglycemia, and has been applied to nutraceuticals and medicines to prevent or delay the progression of type 2 diabetes. However, the amount of DNJ in mulberry leaves is low (approximately 0.1%), therefore, a more effective extraction method is needed. In this study, microbial DNJ production was developed as an alternative to chemical methods. We identified fermented sericultural products and bacteria that produce DNJ in large quantities using high performance liquid chromatography and thin layer chromatography. The inhibition of a-glucosidase activity was examined with respect to DNJ production or non-production. Crude DNJ from the isolated strains exhibited greater than 70% a-glucosidase activity. An investigation of the effect of mulberry leaf powder concentration (1~5%), using high DNJ producing bacteria, provided evidence for microbial mass production of DNJ.

Rutin is an important bioflavonoid that is consumed in the daily diet. This study compared the functional components of rutin from various silkworm species using a gene database with those of rutin produced by silkworms selectively bred through cross-combinations. We made comparisons between the geographical origin and species of silkworm using a gene database and discovered that rutin activity was ranked in the following order by species, Chinese (C5)> miscellaneous varieties (Jamsaeng 1 Ho) >Japanese (Jam 115) > European (E58) >Korean (Sun 3 ho). However, rutin levels with respect to various genetic traits (blood color, silk color, and egg color) were consistent. In order to study rutin changes that occurred during the cross breeding of the silkworm gene, we bred cross-combinations utilizing Jam 115 and the 4051 silkworms. In conclusion, in order to provide information about the constituents of functional materials contained in silkworm powder, it is imperative that silkworm cross breeding occurs so that the database of functional materials extracted from silkworms will expand.

The Asian cavity-nesting honeybee, Apis cerana (Hymenoptera: Apidae), has been extensively studied for its biogeography and genetic diversity, but the molecules utilized in past studies were mainly ~90 bp long mitochondrial non-coding sequences, located between and COII. Thus, additional molecular markers may enrich our understanding of the biogeography and genetic diversity of this valuable bee species. In this study, we reviewed the public genome database to find introns of cDNA sequences, with the assumption that these introns may have less evolutionary constraints. The six introns selected were subjected to preliminary tests. Thereafter, two introns, titled White gene and MRJP9 gene, were selected. Sequencing of 552 clones from 184 individual bees showed a total of 222 and 141 sequence types in the White gene and MRJP9 gene introns, respectively. The sequence divergence ranged from 0.6% to 7.9% and from 0.26% to 17.6% in the White gene and the MRJP9 introns, respectively, indicating higher sequence divergence in both introns. Analysis of population genetic diversity for 16 populations originating from Korea, China, Vietnam, and Thailand shows that nucleotide diversity (π) ranges from 0.003117 to 0.025837 and from 0.016541 to 0.052468 in the White gene and MRJP9 introns, respectively. The highest π was found in a Vietnamese population for both intron sequences, whereas the nine Korean populations showed moderate to low sequence divergence. Considering the variability and diversity, these intron sequences can be useful as non-mitochondrial DNA-based molecular markers for future studies of population genetics.

The current market size of insect industry in Korea is estimated at 300 million dollars and more than 500 local farms are related to many insect industry. One of the strong candidates for insect industry is Korean horn beetle, Allomyrina dichotoma. Early this year, we reported a viral disease extremely fatal to A. dichotoma larvae. While we were proceeding a nationwide investigation of this disease, it was informed that similar disease symptom has been occurred occasionally during past over 10 years. The symptom can be easily confused with early stage of bacterial infection or physiological damage such as low temperature and high humidity. A peroral infection with the purified virus to healthy larvae produced a result that only 21% of larvae survived and became pupae. Although some of the survived adult beetle was deformational, many of them had no abnormal appearance and even succeeded in mating. Later, these beetles were examined if they were carrying the virus, and all except one were confirmed as live virus carrier. This implies that these beetles may fly out and spread the disease to the nature. We found the evidence for this possibility by collecting a few wild A. dichotoma larvae which were virus infected, near two local farms rearing A. dichotoma larvae. So far, transovarial transmission of this virus to the eggs, or horizontal transmission to other commercially reared insects is not known yet.

The white-spotted chafer, Protaetia brevitarsis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), is an economically important insect in Korea. Traditionally, it has been regarded as a medicine for preventing liver-related diseases and suppressing liver cancer. Recently, this beetle was enlisted as a temporal food ingredient by Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Therefore, this beetle is focused as a one of the important insects that are commercially reared and sold in Korea. As the economic importance of this beetle is growing, the suitable rearing conditions are needed for more detailed investigation. In this study, we compared three temperature conditions and two food additives, rice chaff and soybean cake, for its effects on the body weight change of third instar larvae of P. brevitarsis. Temperature is a major environmental factor that has tremendous effects on rearing insects. In additions, rice chaff and soybean cake are byproducts of other agricultural activities. Therefore, it is easy to get, and the price is comparatively low. However, they still have meaningful amount of nutrients. With four different kinds of feed and three temperature conditions on the third instar larvae of beetles, the body weight change was tracked for 14 wk. We concluded that 27.5℃ is the optimal temperature to rear the third instar larvae among three temperatures (25, 27.5, and 30℃). Among four different feeds, conventional fermented oak saw dust with rice chaff and soybean cake was the best feed for larval weight gain during 14 wk. However, feed with soybean cake at 30 ℃ was the best condition for rearing P. brevitarsis larvae when temperatures and feeds were compared at the same time.

A new cecropin-like antimicrobial peptide (Px-CLP) gene was isolated from the immunechallenged larvae of the swallowtail butterfly, Papilio xuthus, by employing annealing control primer (ACP)-based GeneFishing PCR. The full-length cDNA of Px-CLP is 310 nucleotides encoding a 70 amino acid precursor that contains a putative 22-residue signal peptide, a 4-residue propeptide, a presumed 37-residue mature peptide, and an uncommon 7-residue acidic pro-region at the C-terminus. The deduced amino acid sequence of Px-CLP showed significant identities with other Lepidopteran cecropin D type peptides. RT-PCR revealed that the Px-CLP transcript was detected at significant level after injection with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The peptides with or without C-terminal acidic sequence region were synthesized on-solid phage and submitted to antibacterial activity assay. The synthetic 37-mer peptide (Px-CLPa), which removed C-terminal acidic sequence region, was showed exclusively antibacterial activity against E. coli ML35; meanwhile, a 44-mer peptide (Px-CLPb) with C-terminal acidic peptide region was not active. This result suggests that Px-CLP is produced as a larger precursor containing a C-terminal pro-region that is subsequently removed by C-terminal modification.

This peptide has antibacterial activity against several Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Bombyx mori cecropinB1(BmCecB1) is antimicrobial peptides from Bombyx mori and belongs to cecropin family. Antimicrobial peptides are important components of the innate immune systems in all living organism. To produce the BmCecB1 antimicrobial peptide, we constructed transgenic silkworm that expressed BmCecB1 gene under the control BmA3 promoter using piggyBac vector. The use of the 3xP3-driven EGFP cDNA as a marker allowed us to rapidly distinguish transgenic silkworm. Mixtures of the donor vector and helper vector were micro-injected into 600 eggs of bivoltin silkworms, Baegokjam. In total, 49 larvae (G0) were hatched and allowed to develop into moths. The resulting G1 generation consisted of 22 broods, and we selected 2 broods containing at least 1 EGFP-positive embryo. The rate of successful transgenesis for the G1 broods was 9%. We identified 9 EGFP-positive G1 moths and these were backcrossed with wild-type moths. With the aim of identifying a BmCecB1 as antimicrobial peptide, we investigated the Radical diffusion Assay (RDA) and then demonstrated that BmCecB1 possesses high antibacterial activities against Gram-negative bacteria.

Several insects have been shown to exert a strong influence positively on peoples` emotions. Insect-mediated mental healthcare program was designed to help meet the physical, behavioral and developmental needs of adolescents. They were provided with an insectmediated mental healthcare program for a total of 10 sessions, one session per wk, at 1 h per session, accompanied by a pre- and post-test for emotion. Significant differences and correlations were found according to the individual participants` planning, subjective quality of life, self-reported depression and self-worth, respectively. The results indicated that adolescents who participated in the insect-mediated healthcare program group once showed significant improvement in their planning, subjective quality of life and self-worth. However, most of all participants` self-reported depression was not influenced. These findings suggest that pet-insects positively affect adolescent`s emotional health via an insect-mediated healthcare program.

Insects are heterotherms that exhibit a close relationship between their ecology (especially temperature changes) and physiology. In the present study, selected genes associated with cell death and temperature were examined to determine gene expression in Bombyx mori in high and low temperature environments. We determined the amount of dsRNA, different concentrations of dsRNA, and different type of cells to set the conditions most efficient for RNAi. We then prepared dsRNA transcripts of the genes associated with cell death and temperature response. We analyzed cell damage via Trypan blue staining and found that cell viability was reduced after knockdown of these genes. The special transduced cell lines produced in the present study can be applied in various research fields. We also expect that these cell lines can be used as a research tool for the precise functional analysis of various genes.

The oriental tobacco budworm, Helicoverpa assulta (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is classified as a quarantine pest that must be controlled for the exportation of Korean paprika to the USA. We performed a confirmatory test of gamma irradiation against the last-instar larvae and pupae of H. assulta in paprika. Previous, small-scale gamma irradiation at a dose of 100 Gy to the last-instar larvae allowed emergence of adults, though they were abnormal, but 200 Gy prevented adult emergence completely. For pupae, irradiation of 5- to 6-day-old pupae with 300 Gy prevented normal emergence completely. To gather confirmatory data applicable to phytosanitary quarantine regulations, larvae and pupae were placed inside paprika in a box and were irradiated with 200 Gy and 300 Gy, respectively. After irradiation with 200 Gy (measured doses 170-199 Gy) of 2,186 individuals of the last-instar larvae, 10.84% survived, but either formed abnormal pupae (7.57%) or died during the pupal stage (3.27%), resulting in no emergence of normal adults. For pupae, the dose of 300 Gy (measured doses 276-319 Gy) given to 1,200 pupae allowed 10.75% to survive and 9.17% to emerge with deformity. However, 1.58% of irradiated pupae emerged normally, requiring an increased dose for complete prevention of normal emergence. Subsequently, an increased dose of 400 Gy (measured doses 340-402 Gy) to 1,005 pupae allowed 88.35% to emerge, but all emerged with deformity. Thus, irradiation treatment with a minimum dose of 400 Gy will provide quarantine security for all premature H. assulta in exported paprika.

Endophytes provide multifarious benefits such as promotion of plant growth and yield, suppression of phyto-pathogens, phosphate solubilising and fixation nitrogen. A study has been carried out to explore growth promotion and antifungal activities of endophytes of mulberry (Morus spp.). Endophytic bacteria were isolated from mulberry plants and studied their cultural, morphological characters, growth promotion as well as their antifungal activity against Rhizoctonia bataticola and Fusarium oxysporum , two mulberry root rot associated pathogens. Except two isolates, all bacteria were colourless and the colony size of eight isolates was small. The margin of five isolates was irregular and the consistency of three isolates was creamy, six isolates was slimy and one was mucoid. Texture of seven isolates was convex and others were flat. Eight isolates were gram positive and the rest Gram negative, five were cocci and others were bacilli (rod shaped). Four isolates were motile and all were catalase positive and only three isolates were oxidase positive. Spore staining was positive only for two isolates. The growth promotion study showed that there was significant difference in root length and seedling length. The antagonistic effect of the bacterial isolates was tested against R. bataticola showed significant (p <0.05) influence of the bacteria, days after inoculation and their interaction on the inhibition of fungal growth. The isolate En-7 completely inhibited the fungus followed by En-5 (66.67%). The bacterial isolates significantly (p <0.05) inhibited growth of F. oxysporum in PDA. The mean inhibition was higher (70.45%) in case of En-7 followed by En-8 (68.65%) and En-10 (66.44%). The study reveals that some endophytic bacteria associated with mulberry have growth promotion and antifungal activity and could be explored for promotion of mulberry growth and managing root rot disease.

The tropical climate prevailing in India adversely affects temperate bivoltine silkworm rearing and causes crop loss especially during summer. Identification of high temperature tolerant bivoltine breeds by screening for thermotolerance in the silkworm, Bombyx mori (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae) is an essential prerequisite for the development of thermotolerant bivoltine breeds / hybrids. Therefore, in this study, 20 silkworm breeds were reared at different temperatures (25 ± 1℃,32 ± 1℃, 34 ± 1℃ and 36 ± 1℃) for 6 h every day from 3^rd d of 5^th instar to till spinning. Significant differences (p < 0.01) were found among all the rearing traits over temperature. Based on pupation percentage, SK4C and BHR3 were identified as thermotolerant bivoltine breeds. Hierarchical clustering analysis based on rearing traits at tested temperatures grouped 20 silkworm breeds in four clusters which included one cluster each of susceptible and tolerant, and two clusters of moderately tolerant silkworm breeds. This suggests that clustering based on rearing data at high temperatures by using Euclidean distance can be an effective approach in classifying the silkworm breeds on their thermotolerance capacity. The identified breeds would be used for development of thermo tolerant bivoltine silkworm breeds / hybrids.

Oak silkworm, Antheraea yamamai (A. yamamai), has been used for clothing and surgical suture and considered as biomaterial due to RGD tripeptide. This paper reported the degumming conditions of A. yamamai using sodium oleate, high pressure and temperature, and sodium carbonate. Degumming ratio of A. yamamai cocoon using sodium oleate was less than 10%. High pressure and temperature treatment induced 30% weight loss of A. yamamai cocoon. The concentration, treatment temperature and time using sodium carbonate was examined and revealed the following conditions for degumming; 5% owf, 60 min at 100℃. The degummed solution was confirmed using UV and FT-IR spectrometer. Our results can be used to handle A. yamamai silkworm cocoon for further application including material processing.