Spiders are ubiquitous generalist predators playing an important role in regulating insect populations in many ecosystems. Traditionally they have not been thought to have strong influences on, or interactions with plants. However, this is slowly cha...
The Asian longhorn beetle (ALB), Anoplophora glabripennis Motschulsky, is a polyphagous xylophage with dozens of reported host tree species. However, the mechanisms by which individuals locate and recognize host plants are still unknown. We summarize...
Plant viruses rely on both host plant and vectors for a successful infection. Essentially to simplify studies, transmission has been considered for decades as an interaction between two partners, virus and vector. This interaction has gained a third...
Some herbivores suppress plant defenses, which may be viewed as a result of the coevolutionary arms race between plants and herbivores. However, this ability is usually studied in a one-herbivore-one-plant system, which hampers comparative studies th...
The evolution of phytophagous insects has resulted in the development of feeding specializations that are unique to this group. The majority of current research on insect palatability has concentrated on aspects of ecology and biology, with relativel...
Dodder species (Cuscuta spp.) are holoparasites that have extensive material exchange with their host plants through vascular connections. Recent studies on cross-species transfer have provided breakthrough insights, but little is known about the int...
Selecting palatable plants matters for insect herbivores’ survival, especially for food-restricted oligophagous and monophagous species. However, the definite selection strategy to distinguish host plants from nonhost plants, as well as the und...
Host-finding behavior of insect herbivores is a key determinant of herbivory intensity in agricultural and forest ecosystems, which often drives excessive pesticide application for pest control. While host plant apparency theory explains herbivore ho...
Previous studies have shown that vector-borne viruses can manipulate the host selection behavior of insect vectors, yet the tripartite interactions of pathogens, host plants and insect vectors have been documented only in a limited number of pathosys...
Symbionts contribute nutrients that allow insects to feed on plants. The whitefly Bemisia tabaci Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1) is a polyphagous pest that depends on symbionts to provide key nutrients that are deficient in the diet. Here, we establ...
Spittlebugs are the vectors of the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa Wells in Europe, the causal agent of olive dieback epidemic in Apulia, Italy. Selection and distribution of different spittlebug species on host-plants were investigated during field sur...
In late summer, heteroecious aphids, such as the potato aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, move from their secondary summer host plants to primary host plants, where the sexual oviparae mate and lay diapausing eggs. We tested the hypothesis that volatil...
Alliances of microbiota with plants are masked by the inability of in vitro cultivation of their bulk. Pure cultures piled in international centers originated from dissimilar environments/hosts. Reporting that plant root/leaf-based culture media supp...
Many plant-pathogenic fungi are highly host-specific. In most cases, host-specific interactions evolved at the time of speciation of the respective host plants. However, host jumps have occurred quite frequently, and still today the greatest threat f...
Abscisic acid (ABA) is an isoprenoid-derived plant signaling molecule involved in a wide variety of plant processes, including facets of growth and development as well as responses to abiotic and biotic stress. ABA had previously been reported in a w...
Fall armyworm (FAW) Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith, 1797) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) was recorded for the first time in 2016 attacking maize fields in central and west Africa. Soon after, several other regions and countries have reported the pest in...
Chemical communication is very important in herbivorous insects, with many species being important agricultural pests. They often use olfactory cues to find their host plants at a distance and evaluate their suitability upon contact with non-volatile...
Insect tolerance to insecticides is closely related to the host plant. Migratory insects flying downwind and landing randomly may face host-plant switching after migration. However, it is not clear whether host-plant switching affects the tolerance o...
Diapause is an important seasonal adaptation that enables Trichogramma egg parasitoids to survive unfavorable environmental conditions and maintain synchrony with host availability. Although temperature and photoperiod are established regulators of d...
The hawthorn spider mite, Amphitetranychus viennensis, can damage various Rosaceae fruit trees. When using predatory natural enemies for biological control, the effects of the physical characteristics of host plant leaves (such as trichomes) on the f...
Symbiotic bacteria play a pivotal role in the biology and ecology of herbivorous insects, affecting host growth and adaptation. However, the effects of host identity on the symbiotic microbiota of gall-inducing insects remain less explored. In this s...
Aeolothrips intermedius is a thrips predator often found in phytocoenoses worldwide. Both the adults and larvae of this species prey on small invertebrates, including phytophagous species from Thysanoptera group. The aim of this study was to determin...
Understanding biological mechanisms that regulate emergence of viral diseases, in particular those events engaging cross-species pathogens spillover, is becoming increasingly important in virology. Species barrier jumping has been extensively studied...
This study investigates the host diversity and characteristics of the rare parasitic plant Silverberry-like taxillus (Taxillus yadoriki). Seogwipo, Jeju Island, where T. yadoriki grows naturally, was examined to clarify the diversity of host species,...
The impact of both the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and the separation of the Taiwan and Hainan Islands on the evolution of the fauna and flora in adjacent regions has been a topic of considerable interest. Mollitrichosiphum is a polyp...
The gut bacterial community plays many important roles in the production of nutrients and digestion. Antheraea pernyi and A. yamamai (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) are two traditional sources of human food, as well as being silk-producing insects. In the...
Long Terminal Repeat (LTR) retrotransposons (LTR-RTEs) comprise up to 90% of some plant genomes and drive genome diversification through their amplification. Novel insertions arise during the final stages of the LTR-RTE life cycle, which depends on b...
Spittlebugs (Hemiptera: Aphrophoridae) are the vectors of the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) in Europe. Xf may cause severe epidemics in cultivated plants, including grapevines. To assess the threat represented by the bacterium to grapevines, deta...
Tritrophic interactions among host plants, herbivores and parasitoids can influence biological control efficacy, yet plant-mediated effects on parasitoid performance against the invasive fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, are poorly understood. We...
Plant host defense peptides (HDPs), also known as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), are regarded as one of the most prevalent barriers elaborated by plants to combat various infective agents. Among the multiple classes of HDPs, the Snakin class attracts...
The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), is an important insect pest of cruciferous crops. Understanding its preference patterns can lead to more efficient management methods, such as trap crops. Several strains of P. ...
In fall, alate males of the potato aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas), migrate from their summer (secondary) host plants, such as potatoes, to primary host plants, such as roses, where they mate with wingless oviparae who produce the overwinterin...
There is an urgent need to enhance agricultural production as well as productivity to meet the food demand of the growing population, estimated to be 10 billion by 2050, using a holistic and sustainable approach. The daily food sources for almost thr...
Odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) typically act as transporters of odor molecules and play an important role in insect host location. Here, we identified an OBP in brown planthopper (BPH) Nilaparvata lugens salivary glands via transcriptome sequencing....
Histia rhodope is a defoliating pest that feeds mainly on the ornamental garden plant Bischofia polycarpa. Recently, frequent outbreaks of H. rhodope in Southern China have severely affected cityscapes and people’s lives. To provide a predictiv...
Aphids are prominent phloem-feeding insect pests. Myzus persicae and Acyrthosiphon pisum are generalist and specialist species, respectively. In this study, these two aphid species were used to investigate host acceptance and plant resistance to aphi...
Host range confirmation of invasive hemipterans relies on the evaluation of plant susceptibility though greenhouse or field trials, which are inefficient and time-consuming. When the green industry faces the fast-spreading threat of invasive pests su...
We analysed electroantennogram (EAG) responses of male and female adults of the European grapevine moth Lobesia botrana (Denis et Schiffermüller) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) collected as larvae from grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) and flax-leaved d...
The two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, is a major agricultural pest whose control is increasingly constrained by resistance to synthetic acaricides. This study evaluated the long-term field efficacy of three commercial entomopathogeni...
Dickeya solani, belonging to the Soft Rot Pectobacteriaceae, are aggressive necrotrophs, exhibiting both a wide geographic distribution and a wide host range that includes many angiosperm orders, both dicot and monocot plants, cultivated under all cl...
Given the ecological and epidemiological specialization of Hyalesthes obsoletus, the principle vector of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’, the primary objective of this study was to develop molecular tools for discriminating three host pla...
Phosphorus (P) is an essential element for plant growth, yet it is only available to plants in the form of orthophosphate. In most soils, P occurs predominantly in insoluble forms, such as calcium phosphates in alkaline soils and aluminum/iron phosph...
Mount Falakro in Northern Greece historically hosted populations of the Balkan-endemic butterfly Polyommatus orphicus and its larval host plant Onobrychis alba. In this study, we surveyed six historically confirmed localities during the peak flight p...
In insects, the quality of sex pheromones plays a critical role in mating success and can be determined by the ability of larvae/adults to accrue chemical precursors. We tested the host-quality-effect hypothesis by analyzing the chemical composition...
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small defense proteins present in various organisms. Major groups of AMPs include beta-barrelin, hevein, knottin, lipid transfer protein (LTP), thionin, defensin, snakin, and cyclotide. Most plant AMPs involve host p...
Parasitic plants extract nutrients from the other plants to finish their life cycle and reproduce. The control of parasitic weeds is notoriously difficult due to their tight physical association and their close biological relationship to their hosts....
Soil silicon enhances rice defenses against a range of biotic stresses. However, the magnitude of these effects can depend on the nature of the rice variety. We conducted a series of greenhouse experiments to examine the effects of silicon on plantho...
Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (Pst DC3000) is a reference system for dissecting how type III-secreted effectors (T3Es) suppress plant immunity and reconfigure host physiology. Here, we reassess the DC3000 effector repertoire through an evide...
Digestive physiology mediates the adaptation of phytophagous insects to host plants. In this study, the digestive characteristics of Hyphantria cunea larvae feeding preferences on different host plants were investigated. The results showed that the b...
Parasitic plants have a unique heterotrophic lifestyle based on the extraction of water and nutrients from host plants. Some parasitic plant species, particularly those of the family Orobanchaceae, attack crops and cause substantial yield losses. The...
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