Biology subjects

Rodriguez, A. R.

Publications and source records attributed to Rodriguez, A. R..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Development of Encarsia tabacivora (Viggiani) (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) in nymphs of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) MEAN 1 (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae)

Encarsia tabacivora Viggiani 1985 (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), is an endoparasitoid of whiteflies, including Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) MEAN 1 (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), reported from southern USA, Caribbean, and Brazil. In field surveys, the natural occurrence of E. tabacivora was confirmed in the Canete valley of Peru. Its biology and development was studied under laboratory conditions at 20{degrees}C and 70-75% RH. The results showed that fertilized females lay their eggs inside nymphs of the 3rd and early 4th instar of B. tabaci MEAN 1. The stages of development are egg, three larval instars, prepupa and pupa. Development from egg to adult lasted 19.3 (SE{+/-}0.17) days for females. No males were produced, which indicates that E. tabacivora exhibits thelytokous parthenogenesis. Parasitized host nymphs exhibited multiple oviposition punctures and several L1-instar wasps were observed in individual host nymphs, indicating superparasitism. However, from the L2-instar onwards only one individual developed to adult stage. E. tabacivora might be a prospective biological control agent for B. tabaci in sweet potato also for minimizing the spread of whitefly-induced plant viruses in Peru and other regions of the world. The knowledge gained might be helpful in establishing mass rearing protocols of E. tabacivora for inoculative releases.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2020

B cells expressing authentic naive human VRC01-class BCRs can be primed and recruited to germinal centers in multiple independent mouse models

Animal models of human antigen-specific B cell receptors (BCR) generally depend on "inferred germline" sequences, and thus their relationship to authentic naive human B cell BCR sequences and affinities is unclear. Here, BCR sequences from authentic naive human VRC01-class B cells from healthy human donors were selected for the generation of three new BCR knock-in mice. The BCRs span the physiological range of affinities found in humans, and use three different light chains (VK3-20, VK1-5, and VK1-33) found among subclasses of naive human VRC01-class B cells and HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs). The germline-targeting HIV immunogen eOD-GT8 60mer is currently in clinical trial as a candidate bnAb vaccine priming immunogen. To attempt to model human immune responses to the eOD-GT8 60mer, we tested each authentic naive human VRC01-class BCR mouse model under rare human physiological B cell precursor frequency conditions. B cells with high (HuGL18HL) or medium (HuGL17HL) affinity BCRs were primed, recruited to germinal centers, accrued substantial somatic hypermutation, and formed memory B cells. Precursor frequency and affinity interdependently influenced responses. Taken together, these experiments utilizing authentic naive human VRC01-class BCRs validate a central tenet of germline-targeting vaccine design and extend the overall concept of the reverse vaccinology approach to vaccine development.

immunology↗