Research

4Ry, USDA, Texas A&M AgriLife to develop innovative spraying technology for cattle fever ticks

January 8, 2020 by Rob Williams

by Laura Muntean, Texas A&M AgriLife Communications

A cattle fever tick after feeding. Photo by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

4Ry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service and Texas A&M AgriLife Research have signed a collaborative research agreement to develop a means to more efficiently and effectively spray cattle and kill cattle fever ticks, according to a 4Ry Inc. announcement.

Cattle fever ticks are vectors of pathogens causing bovine babesiosis, also known as cattle tick fever, and are the focus of the U.S. Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program.

Pete Teel, Ph.D., AgriLife Research entomologist, regents professor and interim department head, Department of Entomology, College Station, will lead the project and provide administrative guidance. Field testing will be conducted by AgriLife Research and USDA-ARS at the USDA-ARS Cattle Fever Tick Research Laboratory in Edinburg.

The project will adapt 4Ry’s Charge Injected Precision Spraying, ChIPS, for conductive fluids. Many cattle pesticides are water-based, which makes them conductive.

Arnold Kelly, Ph.D., 4Rry’s chief technology officer and co-founder, will modify their 4Ry’s patented Spray Triode Atomizer, the heart of the ChIPS system.

Meeting all the project milestones will document that the ChIPS system allows for a more complete and targeted coverage of cattle with fewer environmental and operator health hazards. Charged spray droplets are attracted to the cow and thoroughly coat all areas with little aerosol drift or overspray. By reducing the amount of fluid sprayed and wasted, ChIPS more efficiently covers cattle, generates substantial cost savings, and reduces health and environmental risks.

“Successful development of our sprayer for conductive fluids will allow ranchers to integrate this technology for sustainable eradication of the invasive fever ticks that cost the cattle industry millions of dollars before they were eliminated from the U.S.,” said David Bird, 4Ry’s chief executive officer. “The tick problem is particularly bad in South Texas counties that border Mexico. Our modified sprayer will also improve the management of other livestock pests, so it will be welcomed wherever those pests are found in association with cattle production.”

“Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service have a long history of dedicated joint research efforts in support of the U.S. cattle industry and the regulatory agencies responsible for the U.S. Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program,” Teel said. “The opportunity to collaborate with 4Ry Inc. on the development and application of this new technology could significantly improve how cattle receive acaricide treatment to prevent the re-establishment of cattle fever ticks in the U.S.”

Tawny crazy ants’ weird genetics may help them thrive in new environments

November 22, 2019 by Rob Williams

Ed Vargo, professor and endowed chair in Urban and Structural Entomology (right), shows ant specimens with postdoctoral research associate Pierre-André Eyer (center), and doctoral student Alex Blumenfeld (left). (Photo by Rob Williams)

by Olga Kuchment, Texas A&M AgriLife Communications

Tawny crazy ants’ pattern of genetic inheritance may have helped the South American species spread in the U.S., Texas A&M AgriLife researchers have discovered. The results could lead to a new way to control this invasive species.

“We might be able to use the mechanism to drive a lethal gene into the population,” said Dr. Ed Vargo, senior investigator of the study and professor of urban and structural entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.

Also known as Rasberry crazy ants, the species has been spreading in Texas since at least 2002. Crazy ants can kill grass, displace other insects and destroy electrical equipment, causing a lot of damage in urban and rural areas. What’s more, their colonies can evade typical pest control tactics. They can thrive both indoors and outdoors. They ignore baits and create numerous escape routes from their supersized colonies.

Tawny crazy ants were named for their random-looking walk, but the way they pass down genes to the next generation may also be described as crazy.

A nest of genetic diversity

The team investigated crazy ant colonies in Texas and Florida cities.

Vargo and lab members Pierre-André Eyer and Alexander Blumenfeld found that in this species, the females were much more genetically diverse than one would expect from pure chance. Females tend to inherit their mother’s genes, and males tend to inherit their grandfather’s. And, males and females are quite different genetically. The pattern of inheritance seems to be unique among 15,000 ant species.

The study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in November.

The invasion paradox

Tawny crazy ants’ success as an invasive species represents one solution to the so-called invasion paradox: How can a small number of animals move to a new area and reproduce without suffering from genetic disorders due to inbreeding?

One way that species can fight inbreeding, scientists have hypothesized, is by making use of the differences between males and females.

Battle of the sexes

Scientists have known for a long time that males and females can develop dissimilar genetic traits. Some of these traits cause problems for one sex and help the other. Such traits are normally found in sex chromosomes, such as X and Y in mammals. But ants, and their relatives, bees and wasps, have no sex chromosomes. Instead, a female has two copies of the genome while a male has one.

Scientists have hypothesized that in species where females have two copies of the genome and males have only one, the whole genome can act like a sex chromosome. A gene’s effect might be canceled or masked by another version of the same gene. In this way, a gene can be harmful and recessive in females but favorable and dominant in males, where it can’t be masked by a second copy.

Genetic Diversity, at a steep cost

The researchers analyzed several spots in crazy ants’ genome and discovered that ant colonies have three distinct versions of a certain genetic region. The team called the three versions A, B and C. If ants inherited the genes at random, a male ant could carry version A, B or C. A female could carry any combination of two versions. Instead, the team found something completely different. The vast majority of adult crazy ant females carried A/B or A/C. Adult males possessed only A.

This strategy ensures that each generation is genetically diverse. But it comes at a cost, said Vargo and Eyer. The team found that many female eggs have genetics that don’t fit the A/B or A/C pattern. These eggs seem to disappear from the nest before they can develop. The team hypothesizes that these eggs — almost 40% — either die or are destroyed by ants in the nest.

“There’s something about the genes and their expression that’s harmful to females,” said Vargo.

Back in Brazil

The study “fills a gap in our understanding of the inheritance of traits by males and females and shows how conflicts between the sexes can occur at the genomic level,” Vargo said. “This is a very positive finding.”

Next, the team plans to study whether the same crazy pattern of inheritance appears in the ants’ native Brazil or is just a consequence of being in a new place. Either way, the results would shed light on the weird and powerful adaptability of the tawny crazy ant.

Study abroad trip to Costa Rica leads to new king cricket species discovery

October 3, 2019 by Rob Williams

Four undergraduate students travelled with Hojun Song, Ph.D., for a study abroad trip to Costa Rica and discovered a new species of king cricket in the process. (Photo courtesy of Hojun Song.) — Four undergraduate students travelled with Hojun Song, Ph.D., for a study abroad trip to Costa Rica and discovered a new species of king cricket in the process. From left to right are: Dr. Hojun Song, Jude Paredes,Jonathan Koehl, Steven Richardson, and Travis Trimm. (Photo courtesy of Hojun Song.)

A group of four Texas A&M Department of Entomology undergraduate students took their knowledge from the classroom and put it to use in discovering a new species of king cricket during a recent study abroad trip to Costa Rica.

Under the guidance of Hojun Song, Ph.D., associate professor for entomology, students Steven Richardson, Travis Trimm, Randell Paredes and Jonathan Koehl described a new species of king cricket, Glaphyrosoma stephanosoltis, (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae), from the tropical rainforests near the Soltis Center for Research and Education in San Isidro.

A new species of king cricket

The king cricket, Glaphyrosoma stephanosoltis, (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae), captured in its natural habitat near the Solis Center in Costa Rica. (Photo courtesy of Hojun Song.) — The king cricket, *Glaphyrosoma stephanosoltis*, (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae), captured in its natural habitat near the Solis Center in Costa Rica. (Photo courtesy of Hojun Song.)

Last year, these four students worked with a king cricket species that was very common in the forest floors near the Soltis Center,” Song said. “While working on their project, it became evident that the species, which was so abundant, was actually new to science because we couldn’t identify them down to species.”

The students’ discovery was recorded in the journal Zootaxa in September. The group found the new species while working on a research project about cricket feeding habits during a two-week course titled “Field Entomology in the Tropics” last summer.

The crickets were hand-collected along the trails in the secondary rainforest near the Soltis Center.

Song said the group then brought the cricket specimens back to his lab in College Station, and throughout the fall semester, he taught the students how to properly describe the new species by reviewing taxonomic literature, taking photographs, measuring specimens and illustrating the important features.

The first author of the publication, Richardson, proposed the new species to be named after the Soltis Center. The species name “stephanosoltis” means “the Crown of Soltis” referring to the first king cricket species ever to be described in conjunction with the Soltis Center.

According to the paper, the new species of crickets represents the southernmost distribution of the genus Glaphyrosoma Brunner von Wattenwyl that is widely distributed throughout Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. This new species is distributed throughout the Alajuela Province on the rainforest floor in the northernmost part of Costa Rica.

The students also observed the crickets liked to hide under torn leaves and branches as well as the overhanging soil underside along trails or tunnels made by other burrowing animals. They theorized the species most likely lives underground to avoid desiccation, or extreme dehydration.

The students were able to collect the crickets using oatmeal baits laid out on the forest floor at night. During their study abroad, they found the crickets showed an overwhelming preference for eating the leaves of native plants, but when kept in the cage, they preferred feeding on dead crickets and katydids.

Song said developing awareness about biodiversity is key to conservation, and the students were able to take part in this important endeavor.

“Every day we see habitat destruction and urbanization, which has a profound impact on biodiversity,” he said. “We probably know less than 10% of what is out there, and we’re driving them to extinction without knowing what species are out there. The only way to protect biodiversity is to first know biodiversity. In that regard, describing a new species is a critically important component of biodiversity conservation.”

Study Abroad

Undergrad students with the collected crickets. — The undergraduate students with the new species. From left to right are Jonathan Koehl, Jude Paredes, Steven Richardson, and Travis Trimm. Photo by Hojun Song.

“Study abroad programs are designed to take them out of their comfort zone and expose them to the real world,” Song said. “Once you start looking around, you experience different cultures and ideas and begin to appreciate the diversity. The paper is a direct result of some students taking that leap to experience a completely different environmental setting from Texas and engage in a highly experiential learning experience.”

There are several study programs held at the Soltis Center, but the “Field Entomology in the Tropics” is the only course that actually utilizes the adjacent rainforests as a place for teaching biodiversity, he explained. “There are still many new species to discover right in the backyard of the Soltis Center, and doing that with the students who have taken a study abroad course demonstrates an amazing educational opportunity.”

The discovery of the crickets also showed how important the Soltis Center is in promoting the vision of providing high-impact, international study opportunities to students.

The Soltis Center for Research and Education

The Soltis Center was established in January 2009 as a result of the vision and donation of Bill Soltis ’55 and his wife, Wanda.

The center was created with a vision to provide international experiences for Aggies while protecting the unique ecological setting around the center and creating preservation awareness. The Soltis Center is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year, and Song said this new king cricket named after the center shows the students’ appreciation for Soltis’ vision.

“I really enjoyed my time at the center,” Richardson said. “We were always doing something with collecting, excursions or running our experiment. And when we did have free time, I was out collecting insects anyway. It was an incredible experience, and if I ever got the opportunity to go back for longer, I would.”

Symposium Showcases Top Evolutionary Genetics and Genomics Research in SE Texas Area

August 22, 2019 by Rob Williams

Keynote speaker Dr. Mark Kirkpatrick speaking during the first session. Photo by Rob Williams

Scientists from across the Southeastern Texas area gathered inside the Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building for the fourth meeting of the Southeast Texas Evolutionary Genetics and Genomics Symposium on July 18.

The day-long symposium featured various presentations by researchers from the Southeastern Texas area, including Texas A&M, Texas A&M Galveston, the University of Houston, the University of Texas Health Science Center, and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

The event was hosted by the Department of Entomology and the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program faculty. The purpose of the symposium was to bring together scientists from various backgrounds interested in evolutionary genetics to share their research, develop collaborations, and network.

Dr. Aaron Tarone opening the symposium. Photo by Rob Williams

Keynote speaker Dr. Mark Kirkpatrick from the University of Texas opened the symposium with “Sex differences in the recombination landscape” Presenters from the Department of Entomology included Ph.D. student Ashley Tessnow who spoke on “Genomic insights into the migration and host strain hybridization patterns of a major agricultural pest, Spodoptera frugiperda”, Pierre-Andre Ayer with his talk “Sexually antagonistic selection: Genetic divergence between males and females maintains diversity in an invasive ant”.

There also was a presentation before lunch made by Dr. Charlie Johnson on a seed grant that the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences genomics core faculty is supporting to promote collaboration among evolutionary geneticists in Texas.

Carlos Aguero with his poster during the poster session. Photo by Rob Williams

Several Entomology graduate students and postdoctoral research associates presented posters, including “Characterization of microbial communities outside and within subterranean termite communities” by Carlos Aguero, “Characterization of the Sugarcane Aphid Microbiota” by Jocelyn Holt, “Cycle knockout alters circadian gene expression and

behavior in Aedes aegypti mosquito” by Jacob Meyers, “Evaluation of Illumina Sequenced Bacterial Genomes from Environmental Samples” and “Potential Host Range of Bacterial Infections in Drosophila” by Igor Vilchez.

Dr. Spencer Johnston then closed the symposium with a talk on the history of genomic research and evolutionary genetics.

Dr. Aaron Tarone said the Organizing Committee was impressed by the attendance and the outstanding quality of work in this year’s presentations and posters.

“The turnout was the best for the four STEGG meetings so far,” Tarone said. “There were a lot of high quality and interesting presentations.”

The program was financially supported by the Department of Entomology, Department of Biology, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, VWR, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and the TAMU Office of Graduate and Professional Studies. TAMU Galveston provided management of the website and communications. Many thanks to these sponsors and contributors.

Grad Students Receive Top Awards at National Conference

August 20, 2019 by Rob Williams

Zanthe Kotze, left, with Lauren Beebe, right, standing with their certificates. Photo by Casey Flint.

The Department of Entomology would like to congratulate grad students Zanthé Kotzé and Lauren Beebe on receiving top marks for their presentations at the North American Forensic Entomology Association’s annual meeting in Indianapolis on August 5- 7.

Kotzé is a Ph.D. candidate mentored by Dr. Jeffery Tomberlin. She received the first place platform presentation award in the Ph.D. category for her presentation titled “Mechanisms regulating behavior of invertebrate decomposers: Deciphering arthropod succession as related to forensic entomology.”

“I am humbled and honored to have been awarded the PhD presentation award. All speakers were of an exceptionally high caliber and spoke and presented outstandingly,” she said. “The conference provided a wonderful opportunity to see what researchers countrywide and internationally are working on, and provided an opportunity to network for future collaboration.”

Kotzé also praised the NAFEA executive committee and said attending the conference was a great experience.

“The NAFEA executive committee did a phenomenal job at organizing the conference and included informative workshops and a fascinating keynote address,” Kotzé said. “I would highly recommend any students interested in decomposition ecology to attend this meeting and interact with a diverse group of researchers and professionals.”

Beebe is a Masters student advised by Dr. Aaron Tarone. She received first place platform presentation in the Masters category for her presentation titled “Thermal Tolerance of the Larval Stadia of Two Forensically Important Blow Fly Species, Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart) and Cochliomyia macellaria (Fabricius) (Diptera: Calliphoridae)”

“It felt great representing Texas A&M forensic entomology at the 2019 NAFEA meeting and receiving the Masters presentation award!” Beebe said. “I am thankful to the Tarone and Tomberlin labs for their feedback during my preparation, and to the NAFEA committee for their hard work organizing this conference.”