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Parasitic nematodes inflict detrimental effects on a wide range of hosts, including animals, plants, and insects. Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are insect parasitic nematodes. Along with the symbiotic bacteria, EPNs quickly kill their insect hosts by infection. EPN Steinernema carpocapsae releases a cocktail of venom proteins as excretory/secretory products (ESPs) during infection. These ESPs contain various toxic or immunomodulatory protein families, enzymes, and small molecules. Despite the lethal effects of ESPs on various insects, very little is known about the mechanisms behind these interactions. This work focuses on one of the protein families abundantly found in the ESPs of S. carpocapsae, ShK domain-containing protein, and explores the protein’s role in host-parasite interactions. ShK domain-containing proteins are characterized by single or multiple ShK domains, known for diverse biological functions, including neurotoxic, paralytic, immunosuppressive, and hemolytic effects. Many are known to inhibit voltage-gated K+ channels. This work identifies and characterizes two ShK proteins from the ESPs of S. carpocapsae, Sc-ShK-1 (containing four ShK domains) and Sc-ShK-2 (containing three ShK domains). Using the Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) model organism, it was revealed that Sc-ShK-1 protein exhibits toxicity to the flies under high-stress conditions e.g. starvation and desiccation. Behavioral assays on flies showed that Sc-ShK-1 protein negatively impacts the health of fruit flies. Additionally, Sc-ShK-1 protein contributes to host immunomodulation during Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterial co-infections. Sc-ShK-1 protein decreases fly resistance to bacterial infection leading to decreased survival and increased bacterial growth. Investigation into a single ShK domain from another ShK protein, the Sc-ShK-2 protein (referred to as Sc-ShK-2-K1), demonstrated high toxicity to fruit flies even at very low injectable doses. Furthermore, the K+ channel

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) have been identified as promising biocontrol agents for controlling economically important insect pests of agricultural and horticultural crops. The compatibility of entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis indica with 7 CIB registered insecticides was investigated under laboratory conditions. The effect of these insecticides on nematode survival at recommended concentrations was observed after 12, 24, 48, 72 hours upon direct exposure. EPN H. indica was compatible with Imidacloprid 17.8% SL as maximum per cent of live H. indica were observed after 72 h of exposure to this insecticide. Similarly, H. indica was compatible with Fipronil 5% SC up to 48 h of exposure whereas, less than 70% live EPN were there in Thiamethoxam 25% WG, Diafenthiuron 50% WP and Cypermethrin 25% EC resulting these insecticides to be least compatible. Emamectin benzoate 5% SG and chlorpyriphos 20% EC were incompatible with H. indica after 48 h of exposure. The result of this experiment will help in reducing the dependence on chemical insecticides and thus slowing down the development of insecticide resistance and preventing adverse effects on public health and the environment.

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) have been identified as promising biocontrol agents for controlling economically important insect pests of agricultural and horticultural crops. The compatibility of entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis indica with 7 CIB registered insecticides was investigated under laboratory conditions. The effect of these insecticides on nematode survival at recommended concentrations was observed after 12, 24, 48, 72 hours upon direct exposure. EPN H. indica was compatible with Imidacloprid 17.8% SL as maximum per cent of live H. indica were observed after 72 h of exposure to this insecticide. Similarly, H. indica was compatible with Fipronil 5% SC up to 48 h of exposure whereas, less than 70% live EPN were there in Thiamethoxam 25% WG, Diafenthiuron 50% WP and Cypermethrin 25% EC resulting these insecticides to be least compatible. Emamectin benzoate 5% SG and chlorpyriphos 20% EC were incompatible with H. indica after 48 h of exposure. The result of this experiment will help in reducing the dependence on chemical insecticides and thus slowing down the development of insecticide resistance and preventing adverse effects on public health and the environment.

This paper presents an improved way of applying Monte Carlo simulation using the crossentropy method to calculate the risk of capacity deficit of a composite power system. By applying importance sampling for load states in addition to the generation and transmission states in a systematic manner, the proposed method is many orders of magnitude more efficient than the crude Monte Carlo simulation and considerably more efficient than other crossentropy-based algorithms that apply other ways of estimating the importance sampling distributions. An effective performance metric of system states is applied in order to find optimal importance sampling distributions during presimulation that significantly reduces the required computational effort. Simulations, using well-known IEEE reliability test systems, show that even problems that are nearly intractable using crude Monte Carlo simulation become very manageable using the proposed method., QC 20170602

Comparative study of entomopathogenic nematodes isolation with two lepidoptera insect hosts as baiting tramp technique.