Calliptamus italicus L. is an important pest on the desert and semidesert steppes along the Sino-Kazakh border. To elucidate the molecular mechanism of its continuous outbreaks, we studied 11 different geographic populations of C. italicus to determine: 1) the complete sequences of the entire mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit II (COII) genes, and 2) performed genetic diversity, differentiation, gene flow, and molecular variation analyses. Of the 11 populations, the Yining County (YNX) population had the highest haplotype diversity and Pi values. There are significant differences in Tajima’s D and Fu’s Fs (P < 0.05). The fixation index Fst values of the total C. italicus population were 0.03352, and its gene flow Nm values of the total C. italicus population were 15.32. Taken together, there were five main findings: 1) the current genetic differentiation of C. italicus arose within populations; 2) genetic exchange levels were high between geographical populations; 3) genetic variation level was low; 4) C. italicus populations likely expanded in recently, and 5) there was no significant correlation between genetic distance and geographic distance for any geographic population. Findings from this study indicate that frequent gene exchange between populations may enhance the adaptability of C. italicus along the Sino-Kazakh border, leading to frequent outbreaks.

The house fly (Musca domestica Linnaeus) is an important disease vector. Insecticide resistance is an obstacle to effective house fly control. Previous studies have demonstrated that point mutations in acetylcholinesterase (Ace), carboxylesterase (MdαE7) and voltage-sensitive sodium channel (Vssc), and over-expression of CYP6D1v1 confer insecticide resistance in the house fly. However, information about the status and underlying mechanisms of insecticide resistance in Kazakhstani house flies is lacking. In this study, we investigated the occurrence of genetic mutations associated with insecticide resistance in field house flies collected at six different locations in southern Kazakhstan. Four mutations (V260L, G342A/V, and F407Y) in Ace and three mutations (G137D and W251L/S) in MdαE7 were detected with appreciable frequencies. Notably, haplotypes carrying triple-loci mutations in Ace and double mutations in MdαE7 were found in Kazakhstan. The L1014H and L1014F mutations in Vssc, and CYP6D1v1 resistance allele were detected at a low frequency in some of the six investigated house fly populations. Phylogenetic analyses of haplotypes supported multiple origins of resistance mutations in Ace and MdαE7. These observations suggest that house flies in southern Kazakhstan may exhibit significant resistance to organophosphates and carbamates. Regular monitoring of insecticide resistance is recommended to achieve effective house fly control by chemical agents in southern Kazakhstan.

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Background Calliptamus italicus is a dominant species in the desert and semi-desert grassland. It is widely distributed throughout many regions such as Asia, Europe, North Africa and the Mediterranean, and has enormous destructive potential for agriculture and animal husbandry. The C. italicus overwintering as eggs in the soil through diapause, and the cold tolerance of locust eggs is the key to their ability to survive the winter smoothly to maintain the population. Results Transcriptome analysis of C. italicus eggs was carried out in this paper in constant low temperature acclimation, natural low temperature acclimation and room temperature. The differentially expressed genes related to cold tolerance were screened out, the differences in expression patterns under different low temperature acclimation were analyzed, and the genes in the significantly up-regulated pathways may play an important role in cold tolerance. The results show that different domestication modes can induce C. italicus eggs to express a large number of genes to alleviate low temperature damage, but C. italicus eggs are more sensitive to changes in temperature. Compared with the control, there are 8689 DEGs at constant low temperature and 14,994 DEGs at natural low temperature. KEGG analysis showed that DEGs were mainly enriched in pathways related to metabolism and biological systems under constant low temperature, and were mainly enriched in pathways related to biological systems and environmental information processing under natural low temperature. In addition, RNAi technology was used to further verify the regulation of genes in the significantly enriched up-regulated pathways on C. italicus eggs, and it was confirmed that the hatching rate of C. italicus eggs at low temperature was significantly reduced after interference. Conclusions Transcriptome analysis of C. italicus eggs treated at different temperatures provided a theoretical basis for further understanding the adaptation mechanism of C. italicus eggs to low temperature. In addition, four potential RNAi target genes were verified in the eggs of C. italicus for the first time, providing new ideas for effective control of this species.

Alakol Biosphere Reserve includes Alakol-Sasykkol lake system and is situated in Alakol depression. Its total area is 193 089.9 ha including water areas (529 300 ha): the core zone is 19 712,9 ha, buffer zone – 26 667 ha and transition zone – about 511 300 ha. There are 58 ecosystems in the Reserve’s territory, grouped in 3 orders: terrestrial natural (35 types), aquatic (10 types) and terrestrial anthropogenically transformed (13 types) ecosystems. The largest area is occupied by terrestrial natural ecosystems (49.45%), followed by aquatic ecosystems (44.37%) and anthropogenically transformed ecosystems, which are registered for comparatively large area (13.43%). Terrestrial natural ecosystems are merely touched by human activity and occupy large spaces mainly on the territory of the core and buffer zone of Alakol Reserve, as well as Eastern and South-Eastern parts of the transition zone. Biosphere Reserve as a whole is situated in transition zone between Dzhungar and Northern-Turan desert types, and this is the cause of unique vegetation associations with peculiar floristic composition and different geographic orientation. Zonal spectrum of foothill plains is characterized by the change of ephemeroid-Artemisia deserts on sierozem soils, steppified cereal-Artemisia deserts on brown soils and genuine deserts on gray-brown soils. Central lowest part of Alakol depression is occupied by lakes surrounded by hydromorphous vegetation (meadow and marsh vegetation). The territory of biosphere reserve is located on the Central Asian – Indian bird migration route and is a wetland of world significance as waterbirds’ habitat and aggregation site. The biosphere reserve reflects regional ecosystem and biological diversity and represents rich composition of flora and fauna.