Potato, Solanum tuberosum L., is one of the world’s principal food crops. Important potato insect pests include Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say, potato tuberworm, Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller), and aphids, especially as they transmit potato leafroll virus and potato virus Y. Management of insect pests of potato relies almost entirely on chemical insecticides. Potato bre...

Poplar-cotton agro-ecosystems are the main agricultural planting modes of cotton fields in China. With increasing acres devoted to transgenic insect-resistant poplar and transgenic insect-resistant cotton, studies examining the effects of transgenic plants on target and non-target insects become increasingly important. We systematically surveyed populations of both target pests and non-target i...

Genetically modified (GM) crops producing double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) are being investigated largely as an RNA interference (RNAi)-based resistance strategy against crop insect pests. However, limitations of this strategy include the sensitivity of dsRNA to insect gut nucleases and its poor insect cell membrane penetration. Working with the insect pest cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis),...

In natural stands, trunk borers are economically the most serious insect pests. The larvae construct galleries in the trunks of living trees, causing the greatest damage in the lower portion (Beal 1952; Hay and Wootten 1955). The quality of the butt log, which is potentially the most valuable portion of the tree, is greatly reduced. Oaks suffer more damage than other hardwoods in the South (Hay...

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a gram-positive spore-forming soil bacterium that is distributed worldwide. Originally recognized as a pathogen of the silkworm, several strains were found on epizootic events in insect pests. In the 1960s, Bt began to be successfully used to control insect pests in agriculture, particularly because of its specificity, which reflects directly on their lack of cyto...

Deciphering plant-insect interactions at the molecular level is one of the major topics of interest in contemporary plant biology research. In the last few years, various aspects of the plant response to insect damage have been investigated, including the characterization of direct and indirect responses, the regulation of gene expression resulting from insect attack and the signal transduction...

Insect-protected corn hybrids containing Cry insecticidal proteins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis have protection from target pests and provide effective management of insect resistance. MON 89034 hybrids have been developed that produce both the Cry1A.105 and Cry2Ab2 proteins, which provide two independent modes of insecticidal action against the European corn borer ( Ostrinia nubilalis )...

The growing demand for reducing chemical inputs in agriculture and increased resistance to insecticides have provided great impetus to the development of alternative forms of insect-pest control. Entomopathogenic fungi are potentially the most versatile biological control agents due to their wide host range. These fungi comprise a diverse group of over 90 genera with approximately 750 species, ...

Cultural methods such as crop fertilization can affect susceptibility of plants to insect pests by altering plant tissue nutrient levels. Research shows that the ability of a crop plant to resist or tolerate insect pests and diseases is tied to optimal physical, chemical and mainly biological properties of soils. Soils with high organic matter and active soil biology generally exhibit good soil...