Bursaphelenchus mucronatus (Nematoda: Parasitaphelenchidae) associated with Monochamus galloprovincialis from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia.

Bursaphelenchus mucronatus was detected in association with the pine sawyer beetle (Monochamus galloprovincialis) during the implementation and testing of cross traps with insect attractants as an efficient tool for detection survey for pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia in 2017 and 2018, respectively. This nematode was characterized by morphological, morphometric and molecular features. This is the first report of B. mucronatus in association with a M. galloprovincialis in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Georgia.

Redescription of Diastolaimus grossus (Truskova & Eroshenko, 1977) Andrássy, 1984 (Rhabditida, Chambersiellidae) from Europe and comments on its phylogenetic position.

Two populations of the species Diastolaimus grossus have been obtained from bark of trees in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Czech Republic. The species is described and characterized in detail using morphological techniques (light and electron scanning microscopy) and morphometrical (Gower General Similarity coefficient of morphological characters) and molecular analyses, including phylogenetic analysis of all related and already sequenced species of the family Chambersiellidae. Morphological and molecular analyses, based on 18S and 28S ribosomal DNA sequences, show that the family Chambersiellidae is polyphyletic, being the subfamily Chambersiellinae related with Cephalobomorpha and Tylenchomorpha, and the subfamily Macrolaiminae is located into Panagrolaimomorpha. The genus Diastolaimus, previously belonging to Macrolaiminae, is transferred to Chambersiellinae. Diastolaimus mexicanus is proposed as a junior synonym of D. grossus.

Redescription of Macrolaimus canadensis Sanwal, 1960 and M. ruehmi Andrássy, 1966 (Nematoda, Rhabditida, Chambersiellidae), and new data on M. crucis Maupas, 1900.

Three species belonging to the genus Macrolaimus, namely M. canadensis, M. crucis and M. ruehmi, have been obtained from areas of natural vegetation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Corsica (France), the Czech Republic and Spain. These three species are characterized by the body length of males and females, stomatal proportion of the gymnostom and cheilostom, excretory pore position, postvulval uterine sac length, male and female tail length and morphology, and the length and morphology of the spicules and gubernacula. The occurrence of M. crucis in Spain has, as a result of this study, now also been expanded to a larger area of the southern Iberian Peninsula. Morphological and morphometrical analyses showed that M. canadensis and M. ruehmi are very similar, sharing apomorphic characters. In contrast, M. crucis has plesiomorphic characters. Description, measurements and illustrations are provided for these three species.

Domestic estimated breeding values and genomic enhanced breeding values of bulls in comparison with their foreign genomic enhanced breeding values.

Estimated breeding values (EBVs) and genomic enhanced breeding values (GEBVs) for milk production of young genotyped Holstein bulls were predicted using a conventional BLUP - Animal Model, a method fitting regression coefficients for loci (RRBLUP), a method utilizing the realized genomic relationship matrix (GBLUP), by a single-step procedure (ssGBLUP) and by a one-step blending procedure. Information sources for prediction were the nation-wide database of domestic Czech production records in the first lactation combined with deregressed proofs (DRP) from Interbull files (August 2013) and domestic test-day (TD) records for the first three lactations. Data from 2627 genotyped bulls were used, of which 2189 were already proven under domestic conditions. Analyses were run that used Interbull values for genotyped bulls only or that used Interbull values for all available sires. Resultant predictions were compared with GEBV of 96 young foreign bulls evaluated abroad and whose proofs were from Interbull method GMACE (August 2013) on the Czech scale. Correlations of predictions with GMACE values of foreign bulls ranged from 0.33 to 0.75. Combining domestic data with Interbull EBVs improved prediction of both EBV and GEBV. Predictions by Animal Model (traditional EBV) using only domestic first lactation records and GMACE values were correlated by only 0.33. Combining the nation-wide domestic database with all available DRP for genotyped and un-genotyped sires from Interbull resulted in an EBV correlation of 0.60, compared with 0.47 when only Interbull data were used. In all cases, GEBVs had higher correlations than traditional EBVs, and the highest correlations were for predictions from the ssGBLUP procedure using combined data (0.75), or with all available DRP from Interbull records only (one-step blending approach, 0.69). The ssGBLUP predictions using the first three domestic lactation records in the TD model were correlated with GMACE predictions by 0.69, 0.64 and 0.61 for milk yield, protein yield and fat yield, respectively.

Identification and Characterization of Pale Potato Cyst Nematode (Globodera pallida) in Teplá, the Czech Republic.

Potato cyst nematode poses a significant threat to potato producers in the Czech Republic. Both species of potato cyst nematodes (Globodera rostochiensis and G. pallida) are listed as quarantine pests in the Czech Republic and also by the European Union, European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization, and North American Plant Protection Organization. To date, G. rostochiensis was responsible for all damage to potatoes caused by cyst nematodes in the Czech Republic, while G. pallida was recorded only once in the Czech Republic (2) 8 years ago. It is important to note that this occurrence of G. pallida was not located in the free-cultivation area. In July 2011, soil samples from a potato field located in the area of Teplá (Karlovy Vary Region) were collected, and the cysts extracted were identified as G. pallida according to microscopic observation of cyst fenestra and morphology of juveniles (1). Cyst morphometrics (means from 10 cysts) included: fenestra diameter 21.2 µm, distance fenestra to anus 56.8 µm, Granek's ratio 2.7, number of cuticular ridges between fenestra and anus 14; while second stage juvenile morphometrics (means of 13 specimens) were: L 466.7 µm, stylet 24.2 µm, tail 53.2 µm, body width at anus 13.2, h 28.6, c 8.8, c' 4.0. Terminus of juvenile tails was rounded, and stylet knobs possessed distinct forward projections. Total DNA was extracted from single cysts using the TriPure reagent (Roche), and the DNA samples were used to amplify cistron rDNA with the following primers: 18S, 5'-TTGATTAGGTCCCTGCCCTTT-3', and 21S, 5'-TTTCACTCGCCGTTACTAAGG-3'. The amplified region contains the 3' end of the 18S gene, ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2, and the 5' end of the 28S gene. Pfu DNA polymerase (Fermentas) was used for accurate amplification. A PCR product of approximately 1.0 kb was amplified from three individual cysts. The PCR amplicons were cloned into pJET1.2 using the CloneJET PCR Cloning Kit (Fermentas) and sequenced in both directions. The sequences of representative isolates were deposited in GenBank (Accession Nos. JQ692592, JQ692593, and JQ692594). The resultant 1.0 kb sequences showed 99% nucleotide identity to sequences of G. pallida from Canada (GenBank Accession Nos. GQ294522.1, GQ355975.1, and GQ294523.1), thus confirming the results of the morphological analyses. To our knowledge, this is the first detection of G. pallida in the free-cultivation area of Karlovy Vary Region, and only the second in the Czech Republic since the first report in 2003 (2). References: (1) M. W. Brzeski. Page 237 in: Nematodes of Tylenchina in Poland and Temperate Europe. Muzeum I Instytut Zoologii Polska Akademia Nauk, Warszawa 1998. (2) M. Zouhar et al. Plant Disease, 87:98, 2003.

Melanocyte fate in neural crest is triggered by Myb proteins through activation of c-kit.

The c-myb proto-oncogene and its oncogenic derivative v-mybAMV encode transcriptional regulators engaged in the commitment of hematopoietic cells. While the c-Myb protein is important for the formation and differentiation of various progenitors, the v-MybAMV oncoprotein induces in chicks a progression and transformation of the single (monoblastic) cell lineage. Here we present the first evidence of cell fate-directing abilities of c-Myb and v-MybAMV proteins in avian neural crest (NC), where both proteins determine melanocytogenesis. The increased concentration of c-Myb induces progression into dendritic melanocytes and differentiation. The v-myb oncogene converts essentially all NC cells into melanocytes and causes their transformation. Both Myb proteins activate in NC cells expression of the c-kit gene and stem cell factor c-Kit signaling--one of the essential pathways in melanocyte development. These observations suggest that the c-myb-c-kit pathway represents a common regulatory scheme for both hematopoietic and neural progenitors and establishes a novel experimental model for studies of melanocytogenesis and melanocyte transformation.

The leucine zipper region of Myb oncoprotein regulates the commitment of hematopoietic progenitors.

The development of blood cells proceeds from pluripotent stem cells through multipotent progenitors into mature elements belonging to at least 8 different lineages. The lineage choice process during which stem cells and progenitors commit to a particular lineage is regulated by a coordinated action of extracellular signals and transcription factors. Molecular mechanisms controlling commitment are largely unknown. Here, the transcription factor v-Myb and its leucine zipper region (LZR) are identified as regulators of the commitment of a common myeloid progenitor and progenitors restricted to the myeloid lineage. It is demonstrated that wild-type v-Myb with the intact LZR directs development of progenitors into the macrophage lineage. Mutations in this region compromise commitment toward myeloid cells and cause v-Myb to also support the development of erythroid cells, thrombocytes, and granulocytes, similar to the c-Myb protein. In agreement with that, the wild-type v-Myb induces high expression of myeloid factors C/EBP beta, PU.1, and Egr-1 in its target cells, whereas SCL, GATA-1, and c-Myb are more abundant in cells expressing the v-Myb LZR mutant. It is proposed that Myb LZR can function as a molecular switch, affecting expression of lineage-specifying transcription factors and directing the development of hematopoietic progenitors into either myeloid or erythroid lineages.