<div>Background: &ldquo;Lasona&rdquo; (Allium cepa var. aggregatum G. Don) is a multi-bulb cultivar commonly grown in the Northern Philippines as an annual crop. This, together with bulb onion, are the two main types of onions produced in the country, but the majority of onions exported from the Philippines are the latter. However, despite its importance to the human diet, no complete chloroplast genome sequence has been reported to date. Hence, the assembled plastome can be utilized as a resource for distinguishing the taxon and elucidating its evolutionary relationship with other Allium species, particularly within the aggregatum group. 
 
Methods: Using Illumina sequencing data, we assembled and annotated the complete chloroplast genome of A. cepa var. aggregatum accession from the germplasm collection of the Institute of Crop Science, University of the Philippines, Los Ba&ntilde;os, Laguna. Moreover, the morphology of the genotyped accession was characterized to ensure that the genome assembled is attributed to the correct taxon. The voucher specimen (ICROPS 1374) was deposited at the Philippine Herbarium of Cultivated Plants of the Institute of Crop Science. 
 
Result: The complete chloroplast (cp) genome had a sequence length of 153,587-bp long, with 36.8% overall GC content. A total of 126 functional genes were found, comprising 80 mRNA genes, 38 tRNA genes and 8 rRNA genes. We annotated 43 genes that code for photosynthesis, 29 genes for self-replication and 6 other genes for other functions. This is the first complete chloroplast genome of Allium cepa var. aggregatum. The phylogenetic analysis of the assembled genome, together with 21 other Allium accessions and 12 other Amaryllidaceae species, revealed that the A. cepa accessions formed a distinct clade despite infraspecific plastome variations. Comparison among earlier published plastomes of A. cepa showed that the assembled A. cepa var. aggregatum chloroplast genome was distinct in sequence length and composition. The observed differences could be utilized to further elucidate differences needed for varietal identification. 
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The Complete Chloroplast Genome of &ldquo;Lasona&rdquo; (Allium cepa var. Aggregatum G. Don), an Important Indigenous Vegetable in the Northern Philippines

Background: Oyster mushroom, Pleurotus spp. are considered healthy foods with high nutritional value. This mushroom is exposed to many pests, including Megaselia halterata infestation, which causes it to lose its quantity and quality. The current study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of Avermectin from Streptomyces avermitilis in controlling M. halterata. 
 
Methods: Avermectin was partially purified from S. avermitilis and its quantity and quality were determined using HPLC. Standard conditions were calibrated for maximum productivity and its effectiveness against M. halterata was tested in the mushroom growing room. 
 
Result: The results showed that the insect was identified as M. halterata through molecular diagnosis based on nucleotide sequence analysis of the gene cytochrome oxidase C subunit 1 and it was registered on the NCBI website under the name M. halterata voucher Amna-1 (accession number PP320397.1). Results of the partially purified avermectin from S. avermitilis strain Amna-4 analyzed by HPLC showed a retention time of 12.5 minutes, close to the standard avermectin retention time of 12.4 minutes. The optimal conditions for avermectin production from S. avermitilis were identified, with the highest concentration recorded at 342.59 mg/L in SCM (Starch Casein Medium) supplemented with 5% carboxymethyl cellulose and 5% isoleucine at a pH of 7.5, incubated at 30oC for 14 days. When evaluating the efficiency of the partially purified avermectin in infecting P. pulmonarius with M. halterata, the results showed no insect infestation comparable to the commercial insecticide Proclaim and the uninfected control treatment. The biological efficiency was recorded as 101.27, 99.72 and 98.86% for the partially purified avermectin, Proclaim and the healthy uninfected control, respectively. The results also demonstrated a clear effect on the fruit bodies&rsquo; protein content in the M. halterata treatment only, where it decreased to 18.51%, while no significant differences were observed among the partially purified avermectin, Proclaim&yuml;&thorn; and the uninfected control treatments, which reached 35.21, 34.78 and 34.59%, respectively. 
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Extraction, Purification of Avermectin from the Iraqi Streptomyces avermitilis Strain Amna-4 and Evaluation of its Efficacy in Killing Megaselia halterata Parasitizing the Edible Mushroom Pleurotus pulmonarius