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Section: Genomics ; Topics: Genetics/genomics

Draft genome and transcriptomic sequence data of three invasive insect species

Lombaert, Eric; Klopp, Christophe; Blin, Aurélie; Annonay, Gwenolah; Iampietro, Carole; Lluch, Jérôme; Sallaberry, Marine; Valière, Sophie; Poloni, Riccardo; Joron, Mathieu; Deleury, Emeline

10.24072/pcjournal.568 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 5 (2025), article no. e65.
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Cydalima perspectalis (the box tree moth), Leptoglossus occidentalis (the western conifer seed bug), and Tecia solanivora (the Guatemalan tuber moth) are three economically harmful invasive insect species. This study presents their genomic and transcriptomic sequences, generated through whole-genome sequencing, RNA-seq transcriptomic data, and Hi-C sequencing. The resulting genome assemblies exhibit good quality, providing valuable insights into these species. The genome sizes are 500.4 Mb for C. perspectalis, 1.74 Gb for L. occidentalis, and 623.3 Mb for T. solanivora. These datasets are available in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (BioProject PRJNA1140410) and serve as essential resources for population genomics studies and the development of effective pest management strategies, addressing significant gaps in the understanding of invasive insect species.
Section: Zoology ; Topics: Agricultural sciences, Ecology

Intra- and interspecific variations in flight performance of oak-associated Agrilinae (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) using computerised flight mills

Le Souchu, Elodie; Sallé, Aurélien; Bankhead-Dronnet, Stéphanie; Laparie, Mathieu; Sauvard, Daniel

10.24072/pcjournal.560 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 5 (2025), article no. e64.
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Several Agrilinae species (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) are thermophilous forest borers, and some are also major invasive pests. They are expected to be favoured by climate change and the global deterioration of forest health, and expand their range and damage. Flight behaviour and performance of these insects are poorly known despite their critical role in dispersal and their relevance to management. This study aimed to assess intra- and interspecific variability in active flight of several Agrilinae species and effects of sex and mass on this variability. We assessed the flight performance of eleven oak-associated species (nine Agrilus, one Coraebus, one Meliboeus) plus one herb-associated Agrilus. Computer-monitored flight mills were used to measure flight parameters of 250 beetles. Overall, flight capacities were rather homogeneous among species, with a dominance of poor flyers and only Coraebus undatus showed outstanding performance. Beetles generally performed several short flight bouts within one trial, and only a few individuals sustained long flight. The maximal total distance covered across multiple assays until death ranged from 170 to 16 097 m, with a median between 35 and 966 m (excluding individuals that never flew). Add to this interspecific variability, flight distances varied greatly among individuals, but were not influenced by sex. Preflight body mass had mixed effects depending on the species, presumably related to dispersal patterns. In our experimental conditions, most species had limited average dispersal capacities over multiple flight trials. Overall, long-distance dispersal and colonisation events probably depend on a small proportion of individuals which largely exceeded the median performance.
Section: Genomics ; Topics: Evolution, Genetics/genomics

Particular sequence characteristics induce bias in the detection of polymorphic transposable element insertions

Verneret, Marie; Le, Van Anthony; Faraut, Thomas; Turpin, Jocelyn; Lerat, Emmanuelle

10.24072/pcjournal.570 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 5 (2025), article no. e63.
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Transposable elements (TEs) have an important role in genome evolution but are challenging for bioinformatics detection due to their repetitive nature and ability to move and replicate within genomes. New sequencing technologies now enable the characterization of nucleotide and structural variations within species. Among them, TE polymorphism is critical to identify as it may influence species adaptation or trigger diseases. Despite the development of numerous bioinformatic programs, identifying the most effective tool is challenging due to non-overlapping results and varying efficiency across studies. Benchmarking efforts have highlighted some of the limitations of these tools, often evaluated on either real or simulated data. However, real data may be incomplete or contain unannotated TEs, while simulated data may not accurately reflect real genomes. This study introduces a simulation method generating data based on real genomes to control all genomic parameters. Evaluating several TE polymorphic detection tools using data from Drosophila melanogaster and Arabidopsis thaliana, our study investigates factors like copy size, sequence divergence, and GC content that influence detection efficiency. Our results indicate that only a few programs perform satisfactorily and that all are sensitive to TE and genomic characteristics that may differ according to the species considered. Using Bos taurus population data as a case study to identify polymorphic LTR-retrotransposon insertions, we found low-frequency insertions particularly challenging to detect due to a high number of false positives. Increased sequencing coverage improved sensitivity but reduced precision. Our work underscores the importance of selecting appropriate tools and thresholds according to the specific research questions.
Section: Health & Movement Sciences ; Topics: Psychological and cognitive sciences

Active without thinking? Distinguishing between automatic responses as predictors of physical activity

Terashima, Maika; Rebar, Amanda L.; Naredi, Himanshi; Khafi, Naomi; Maltagliati, Silvio; de Chanaleilles, Margaux; Zenko, Zachary; Cheval, Boris; Gardner, Benjamin

10.24072/pcjournal.569 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 5 (2025), article no. e62.
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Background. Regular physical activity (PA) improves both physical and mental health, yet most people are insufficiently active. Identifying modifiable determinants of PA can aid development of effective PA promotion interventions. It is well recognised that PA is at least partly regulated by automatic processes, which capture simple associations that trigger behaviour without conscious thought. Yet, few attempts have been made to differentiate the roles of specific automatic processes on different forms of PA. This study aimed to model the unique effects of three automaticity variables – i.e., automatic valuations, approach-avoidance tendencies, and habit strength – on engagement in sport, leisure-based and total PA. Methods. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A sample of 226 individuals (mean age 23.70 years, SD = 5.43, range = 17-61) self-reported engagement in sport-based PA, leisure-time PA, and active travel. They also reported habit strength for sport and for leisure-time activity, and completed response-time tasks capturing automatic valuations and approach tendencies towards PA. Correlation analyses were used to assess the magnitude of relationships between all variables, and regression analyses to model associations between automaticity variables and sport and leisure-time PA, respectively. Results. Automatic valuations, approach tendencies, and sport habit strength all independently and positively predicted sport-based PA and total PA engagement. However, leisure-time PA was predicted only by leisure activity habit strength, not automatic valuations or approach-avoidance. Leisure-time habit strength was the only predictor of a composite PA engagement measure combining total time in sport, leisure-time activity and active travel. Discussion. Study limitations, including over-representation of females, and people who were highly active, demand that caution is exercised when extrapolating from our findings, and our study warrants replication using more rigorous methods. Nonetheless, our results preliminarily suggest that promoting positive automatic valuations, approach tendencies, and habit strength could encourage engagement in sport-based PA, whereas interventions to increase PA more generally might more fruitfully emphasis PA habit formation.

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The network image was drawn by Martin Grandjean: A force-based network visualization CC BY-SA