BACKGROUND Recently, there has been interest in establishing a monocot C4 model species with a small genome, short lifecycle, and capacity for genetic transformation. Setaria viridis has been adopted to fill this role, since reports of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in 2010, and sequencing of its genome in 2012. To date, S. viridis has primarily been used to further our understanding of ...

The lady beetle, Curinus coeruleus (Mulsant), a biological control agent of the coconut mealybug, Nipaecoccus nipae (Maskell) and the psyllid, Heteropsylla cubana Crawford, was examined for its ability to consume Aedes albopictus (Skuse) eggs in the laboratory. Most C. coeruleus larvae in this test preyed on A. albopictus eggs (75% for the 2 and 3 instar and 71% for the 4 instar). The 2 and 3 i...

An outbreak of disseminated granulomatous disease occurred in a group of veiled chameleons (Chamaeleo calyptratus) in a zoo collection. An adult female and six offspring developed large granulomas in multiple organs and were euthanized. At necropsy, roughly spherical yellow-to-white nodules 1 to 3 mm in diameter were grossly visible in the liver and other organs. Histopathology revealed fungal ...

Jumping insects develop accelerations that can greatly exceed gravitational acceleration. Although several species have been analysed using different tools, ranging from a purely physical to a morpho-physiological approach, instantaneous dynamic and kinematic data concerning the jumping motion are lacking. This is mainly due to the difficulty in observing in detail events that occur in a few mi...

Acute and chronic toxicity tests were conducted on green mussel (Perna viridis) to determine the adverse effects of lead (Pb). Exposure of organisms to acute toxicity test for 96 h and lethal concentration (LC(50)) was the endpoint of the test. Acute toxicity for 96-h LC(50) and 95% confidence intervals of P. viridis was 2.62 ± 0.12 (2.62-3.24) mg/L Pb. Chronic toxicity tests revealed that surv...

Eukaryotic marine microalgae like Dunaliella spp. have great potential as a feedstock for liquid transportation fuels because they grow fast and can accumulate high levels of triacylgycerides with little need for fresh water or land. Their growth rates vary between species and are dependent on environmental conditions. The cell cycle, starch and triacylglycerol accumulation are controlled by th...

Gene family encoding translationally controlled tumour protein (TCTP) is defined as highly conserved among organisms; however, there is limited knowledge of non-bilateria. In this study, the first TCTP homologue from anthozoan was characterised in the Mediterranean Sea anemone, Anemonia viridis. The release of the genome sequence of Acropora digitifera, Exaiptasia pallida, Nematostella vectensi...

Green alder (Alnus viridis ssp. fruticosa) is a dominant understory shrub during secondary successional development of upland forests throughout interior Alaska, where it contributes substantially to the nitrogen (N) economy through atmospheric N2 fixation. Across a replicated 200? year old vegetation chronosequence, we tested the hypotheses that green alder has strong effects on soil chemical ...