Biotransformation of mycotoxins in animals comprises phase I and phase II metabolisation reactions. For the trichothecene deoxynivalenol (DON), several phase II biotransformation reactions have been described resulting in DON-glutathiones, DON-glucuronides and DON-sulfates made by glutathione-S-transferases, uridine-diphosphoglucuronyl transferases and sulfotransferases, respectively. These met...

Circulative transmission of viruses in the Luteoviridae, such as cereal yellow dwarf virus (CYDV), requires a series of precisely orchestrated interactions between virus, plant, and aphid proteins. Natural selection has favored these viruses to be retained in the phloem to facilitate acquisition and transmission by aphids. We show that treatment of infected oat tissue homogenate with sodium sul...

Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) is transmitted in a non-circulative manner by aphids following the helper strategy. Helper proteins P2 and P3 act as a bridge between virions and the aphid cuticle. Electronic monitoring of aphid stylet activities (EPG technique), transmission tests and electron microscopy showed that CaMV is preferentially acquired from the phloem by its most common aphid vector...

Horned aphids (Cerataphidini) fight each other for access to feeding sites on leaves. An attacker attempts to force another aphid to abandon its feeding site; the victor then appears to insert its stylets into the site relinquished by the loser. This study used electrical penetration graph (EPG) recordings of Astegopteryx pallida (Van der Goot) individuals to pinpoint the benefits of fighting. ...

Red imported Þre ants, Solenopsis invicta (Buren) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), are an invasive species found in high densities throughout southeastern agricultural systems. We tested the hypothesis that Þre ants tend cotton aphids, Aphis gossypiiGlover (Homoptera: Aphididae), and thus release them from predation by lady beetle larvae, Coccinella septempunctata L. and Hippodamia convergens Guerin-...

Virus-infected host plants can have positive, neutral or negative effects on vector aphids. Even though the proportion of non-vector aphids associated with a plant far exceeds that of vector species, little is known about the effect of virus-infected plants on non-vector aphids. In the present study, the English grain aphid Sitobion avenae (Fabricius) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), a non-vector of Whe...

2 In otherwise mutualistic relationships between aphids and ants, attendance by ants often has negative impacts on aphids. For example, in a previous study using traps in the field, the aphid Tuberculatus quercicola, which exhibits mutualistic interactions with ants, showed extremely low dispersal rates, despite having long wings. This study investigates whether components of the flight apparat...

Lettuce mosaic virus (LMV) is transmitted by aphids nonpersistently causing severe disease outbreaks in commercial lettuce crops. New strategies to control plant viruses have arisen based on molecular techniques, which analyze plantvirus-vector interactions. In this work, two PCR-based methods with a previous immunocapture phase, have been developed to detect LMV in single aphids. Detection rat...

Cotton produces insecticidal terpenoids that are induced by tissue-feeding herbivores. Damage by Heliothis virescens caterpillars increases the terpenoid content, which reduces the abundance of aphids. This effect is not evident in Bt-transgenic cotton, which is resistant to H. virescens. We determined whether induction of terpenoids by caterpillars influences the host quality of Aphis gossypii...

The soybean aphid (Aphis glycines Matsumura) is native to China and Japan, and was a new pest in Iowa in 2000. Aphid numbers were high in the 2001, but in 2002 and 2003, aphids appeared to be less of a problem. This small, yellow aphid has distinct black cornicles (“tailpipes”) on the tip of the abdomen and develops colonies on soybean plants as winged and wingless forms. Aphids feed through pi...