L1 is the most proliferative autonomous retroelement that comprises about 20% of mammalian genomes. Why L1s have proliferated so extensively in mammalian genomes is an important yet unsolved question. L1 copies are amplified via retrotransposition, in which the DNA cleavage specificity by the L1-encoded endonuclease (EN) primarily dictates sites of insertion. Whereas mammalian L1s show target p...

t a s p c w e e s e P a u a p p l t b We studied the behavior and biology of the Australian parasitoids Syngaster lepidus Brullé and Callibracon limbatus (Brullé) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), which are being introduced into California as biological control agents of the eucalyptus longhorned borer, Phoracantha semipunctata F. (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Studies conducted in Australia revealed tha...

Vascular epiphytes are an understudied and particularly important component of tropical forest ecosystems. However, owing to the difficulties of access, little is known about the properties of epiphyte-host tree communities and the factors structuring them, especially in Asia. We investigated factors structuring the vascular epiphyte-host community and its network properties in a tropical monta...

Animals can adjust their behaviour according to previous experience gained during foraging. In parasitoids, experience plays a key role in host location, a hierarchical process in which air-borne and substrate-borne semiochemicals are used to find hosts. In nature, chemical traces deposited by herbivore hosts when walking on the plant are adsorbed by leaf surfaces and perceived as substrate-bor...

Abstract Dendrophylliidae represents one of the most speciose families scleractinian coral, expressing a wide range morphological and ecological traits. Recent phylogenetic analyses family have indicated that several conventional genera are in need revision. In Gulf Thailand, dendrophylliids predominantly found on hard-substrate reefs pinnacles, or soft-substrate habitats. Soft-substrate habita...

Host cytokine responses to Brucella abortus infection are elicited predominantly by the deployment of a type IV secretion system (T4SS). However, the mechanism by which the T4SS elicits inflammation remains unknown. Here we show that translocation of the T4SS substrate VceC into host cells induces proinflammatory responses. Ectopically expressed VceC interacted with the endoplasmic reticulum (E...

Obligate intracellular pathogens satisfy their nutrient requirements by coupling to host metabolic processes, often modulating these pathways to facilitate access to key metabolites. Such metabolic dependencies represent potential targets for pathogen control, but remain largely uncharacterized for the intracellular protozoan parasite and causative agent of Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi. Pe...