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This study examines the bushfire (wildland fire) risk to the built environment in Australia. The most salient result is that the annual probability of building destruction has remained almost constant over the last century despite large demographic and social changes as well as improvements in fire fighting technique and resources. Most historical losses have taken place in a few extreme fires which if repeated are likely to overwhelm even the most professional of fire services. We also calculate the average annual probability of a random home on the urban-bushland interface being destroyed by a bushfire to be of the order of 1 in 6500, a factor 6.5 times lower than the ignition probability of a structural house fire. Thus on average and if this risk was perceived rationally, the incentive for individual homeowners to mitigate and reduce the bushfire danger even further is low. This being the case and despite predictions of an increasing likelihood of conditions favouring bushfires under global climate change, we suspect that building losses due to bushfires are unlikely to alter materially in the near future. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Functions of myosin heavy chain (myosin) family genes are poorly understood in some insects. To address this, we determined the expression and function of myosin family genes in Tribolium castaneum. TcMyo15 is predominantly expressed in early embryos, late larvae and early adults, but TcMyo7B transcripts significantly increased in late larvae. TcMyo20 transcripts are abundant in pre-adults, whereas TcMhc1 is highly expressed in post-embryonic stages. TcMhc2 shows peak expression in late pupae. TcMyo9 transcripts reached their highest levels in late pupae. TcMyo15 , TcMyo7B and TcMhc2 are abundantly expressed in the adult epidermis, gut and testis, respectively. TcMyo9 and TcMyo20 are highly expressed in the epidermis, fat body and ovary, and TcMhc1 exhibits high mRNA levels in the epidermis and accessory gland. TcMyo20 RNAi reduced wing and leg size, fertility and egg hatchability. TcMyo9 knockdown completely inhibited eclosion and fecundity, but TcMyo15 or TcMhc1 silencing only impaired eclosion. TcMhc2 RNAi affected pupation and wing development. This study suggests myosin genes as potential targets of pesticides due to their critical roles in insect development and reproduction. • TcMyo20 regulates wing and leg growth, fertility and egg hatchability in T. castaneum. • Tcmyo15 or Tcmhc1 is required for adult eclosion in T. castaneum. • TcMyo9 has essential roles in eclosion and fecundity. • Knockdown of TcMhc2 impairs pupation and adult wing development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth and development in Tribolium castaneum were poorly understood at the transcriptome level. Currently, we identified 15,756, 9941 and 10,080 differentially expressed transcripts between late eggs VS early larvae, late larvae VS early pupae, and late pupae VS early adults of T. castaneum by RNA-seq, which was confirmed by qRT-PCR analysis on nine genes expression. Functional enrichment analysis indicated that DNA replication, cell cycle and insect hormone biosynthesis significantly enriched differentially expressed genes. The transcription of DNA replication and cell cycle genes decreased after hatching but increased after pupation. The juvenile hormone (JH) and ecdysteroid biosynthesis genes decreased after hatching, and the JH degradation genes were stimulated after pupation and eclosion while the ecdysteroid degradation gene CYP18A1 decreased after pupation. Silencing CYP18A1 elevated the titer of ecdysteroids and caused developmental arrest at the late larval stage. This study promotes the understanding of insect growth and development. • The transcription of DNA replication and cell cycle genes decreased after hatching but increased after pupation. • The JH and 20E biosynthesis genes decreased after hatching, and the JH degradation genes were stimulated after metamorphosis. • The ecdysteroid degradation gene CYP18A1 decreased after pupation. • Silencing CYP18A1 elevated the titer of ecdysteroids and caused developmental arrest at the late larval stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To investigate the molecular mechanism of silkworm resistance to BmNPV infection, we constructed a near-isogenic line (BC8) with BmNPV resistance using highly resistant (NB) and highly susceptible parental strains (306). We investigated variations in the gene expression in the midguts of BmNPV-infected BC8 and 306 at 12h pi using the microarray. 92 differentially expressed genes were identified. Real-time qPCR analysis confirmed that 10 genes were significantly up-regulated or down-regulated in the midguts of BC8 and NB compared to 306. To our knowledge, we first defined the role of the amino acid transporter and 26S proteasome in insect antiviral. However, serine protease was not completely consistent with data of reported previously in insect antiviral. The role of the 5 genes (Bm123, Bm122, COP β′, aquaporin, glycoside hydrolases) was also demonstrated in insect antiviral. Our results provided new insights into the molecular mechanism of the Bombyx mori immune response against BmNPV infection. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]