Camptothecin (CPT), a plant alkaloid originally isolated from the native Chinese tree, Camptotheca acuminate, exerts the toxic effect by targeting eukaryotic DNA topoisomerase 1 (DNA Topo1). Besides as potent anti-cancer agents, CPT and its derivatives are now being explored as potential pesticides for insect control. In this study, we assessed their toxicity to an insect homolog, the Topo1 pro...

The beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hubner), has recently become a persistent and explosive pest of cotton in the southeastern United States. It is, however, attacked by a large and diverse complex of beneficial arthropods and pathogens that appear capable of maintaining beet armyworm populations below economically-damaging levels. Disruption of this complex contributes to outbreaks of S. exi...

A new ascovirus was isolated from Spodoptera exigua in Indonesia and was tentatively assigned as a new species, Spodoptera exigua ascovirus 5a (SeAV-5a) according to the present ICTV ascovirus naming scheme based on DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), hybridization, formation of occlusion body, tissue tropism and host spectrum. SeAV-5a replicated primarily in the fat body of su...

the beet armyworm (spodoptera exigua hübner) is an important pest of many agricultural crops all over the world. most of the sugar beet growing regions in iran are infested. in this study, the acute lethal effects of pyriproxyfen, spinosad, and indoxacarb as well as sublethal effects of pyriproxyfen on the 1st instar s. exigua were assessed by leaf dip bioassay method. mortality was recorded 48...

Bacillus thuringiensis is the most effective microbial control agent for controlling numerous species from different insect orders. The main threat for the long term use of B. thuringiensis in pest control is the ability of insects to develop resistance. Thus, the identification of insect genes involved in conferring resistance is of paramount importance. A colony of Spodoptera exigua (Lepidopt...

Peritrophic membrane proteins are important components of the insect peritrophic membrane. A novel cDNA gene encoding a chitin-binding protein, named secbp66, was identified by immunization screening of the cDNA library of Spodoptera exigua. The full length of secbp66 is 1806 bp, which encodes 602 amino acids. The predicted weight of the protein is 64.2 kDa. Bioinformatic analysis showed that a...