No abstract

Aphid parasitoids are often observed to gather around borages (Borago officinalis) used as banker plants in strawberry greenhouse. The attraction of Aphidius colemani as a model aphid parasitoid was observed in response to borage. An aphid generalist parasitoid, A. colemani, shows a preference based on their experience after hatching from mummies of the host-plant volatiles on which their host aphids are reared. A. colemani colonies reared on three host plant-aphid systems (borage/green peach aphid; Japanese radish/green peach aphid; barley/oat bird cherry aphid). A 4-arm olfactometer was used to test the preference of female A. colemani for several plants (infested Japanese radish; infested barley; infested, uninfested and mechanically-damaged borage). Females from each group showed a preference for the plant on which their hosts had been reared and also infested borage regardless of the host plant/aphid system. These results suggested that volatiles from aphid-infested borage attract A. colemani.

In the developing cerebellum, the medio-lateral compartmentalization of the adult cerebellum is preceded by the transient expression of factors which divide the cortex into similar parasagittal stripes. Here we report that COUP-TF2, an orphan member of the nuclear receptor family which suppresses RA actions by forming heterodimers with RXR, shows a pattern of sagittal bands in developing mouse cerebellum. The band pattern changes according to the developmental stage. At embryonic day 13 it is expressed in the lateral half of the cerebellum, but at later stages the expression is divided into several parasagittal bands. By postnatal day 5 the COUP-TF2 expression substantially decreases to low, but detectable, levels.