Recombinant fusion proteins containing arthropod toxins have been developed as a new class of biopesticides. The recombinant fusion protein Hv1a/GNA, containing the spider venom toxin ω-ACTX-Hv1a linked to snowdrop lectin (GNA) was shown to reduce survival of the peach-potato aphid Myzus persicae when delivered in artificial diet, with survival <10% after 8 days exposure to fusion protein at 1 ...

Regiella insecticola has been found to enhance the performance of host aphids on certain plants, but its functional role in adaptation of host aphids to plants is still controversial. Here we evaluate the impacts of R. insecticola infections on vital life-history traits of Sitobion avenae (Fabricius), and their underlying genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity on three plants. It was shown...

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is a major component of the virus complex that has become more pronounced in snap bean in the midwestern and northeastern United States since 2001. Multiple-vector-transfer tests were done to estimate the CMV transmission efficiencies (p) of the main aphid species identified in commercial snap bean fields in New York and Pennsylvania. The four most efficient vectors ...

ABSTRACT Thirteen aphid species were tested for their ability to transmit Pennsylvania isolates of Plum pox virus (PPV) collected in Columbia (PENN-3), Franklin (PENN-4), and York (PENN-7) Counties, PA. Four species, Aphis fabae, A. spiraecola, Brachycaudus persicae, and Myzus persicae, consistently transmitted PPV in preliminary transmission tests. Two species, Metopolophium dirhodum and Rhopa...

The functional response of Aphidius ervi to different Sitobion avenae densities on two wheat cultivars (Sardary and Alvand) was examined in laboratory conditions. Experiments were carried out in test tubes on an F2 lab generation without wheat clusters and also on F2 and F5 generations in pots using wheat clusters. In the tubes, female wasps were exposed to aphid densities of 2, 4, 7, 14, 28, 3...

Organisms in natural environments experience diel temperature fluctuations, including sporadic extreme conditions, rather than constant temperatures. Studies based mainly on model organisms have tended to focus on responses to average temperatures or short-term heat stress, which overlooks the potential impact of daily fluctuations, including stressful daytime periods and milder night-time peri...

The purpose of this report was to evaluate the expression patterns of selected glutathione transferase genes (gst1, gst18, gst23 and gst24) in the tissues of two maize (Zea mays L.) varieties (relatively resistant Ambrozja and susceptible Tasty Sweet) that were colonized with oligophagous bird cherry-oat aphid (Rhopalosiphum padi L.) or monophagous grain aphid (Sitobion avenae L.). Simultaneous...