Generalist herbivores feed on a wide array of plants and need to adapt to varying host qualities and defenses. One of the first insect derived secretions to come in contact with the plant is the saliva. Insect saliva is potentially involved in both the pre-digestion of the host plant as well as induction/suppression of plant defenses, yet how the salivary glands respond to changes in host plant...

Previous studies of dietary isotope discrimination have led to the general expectation that a consumer will exhibit enriched stable isotope levels relative to its diet. Parasite-host systems are specific consumer-diet pairs in which the consumer (parasite) feeds exclusively on one dietary source: host tissue. However, the small numbers of studies previously carried out on isotopic discriminatio...

Bitter taste receptors (Tas2rs in mice) detect bitterness, a warning signal for toxins and poisons, are expressed enteroendocrine cells. We tested the hypothesis that Tas2r138 Tas2r116 mRNAs modulated by microbiota alterations induced long-term high-fat diet (HFD) antibiotics (ABX) (ampicillin neomycin) administered drinking water. Cecum colon specimens luminal contents were collected from C57B...

Sponge-microbe symbioses underpin the ecological success of sponges in many aquatic benthic ecosystems worldwide. These are often described as mutually beneficial, but identifying positive symbiotic interactions and quantifying contribution partners to physiological processes is challenging. For example, our understanding relative sponge cells their microbial symbionts uptake exchange dissolved...

Events such as BSE, foot and mouth disease and avian influenza illustrate the importance of animal health on a global basis. The only practical solution to deal with such problems has usually been mass culling of millions of animals at great effort and expense. Serious consideration needs to be given to nutrition as a practical solution for health maintenance and disease avoidance of animals ra...

Weevils constitute the most species-rich animal group with over 60,000 described species, many of which possess specialized symbiotic organs and harbor bacterial endosymbionts. Among the diverse microbial associates of weevils, Nardonella spp. represent the most ancient and widespread endosymbiont lineage, having co-speciated with the host weevils for over 125 million years. Thus far, however, ...

Adult female Aedes aegypti that were reared on a suboptimal diet as larvae were less likely to engage in host-seeking behavior than were adults derived from larvae reared on an optimal diet. A postemergence carbohydrate diet of either 1 or 10% sucrose solution did not affect this response. When the progeny of field-collected Aedes vexans were reared in the laboratory, the adults were significan...

Dietary fibers are non-digestible polysaccharides functionally known as microbiota-accessible carbohydrates (MACs), present in inadequate amounts in the Western diet. MACs are a main source of energy for gut bacteria so the abundance and variety of MACs can modulate gut microbial composition and function. This, in turn, impacts host immunity and health. In preclinical studies, MAC-deprived diet...

Metacercariae of the trematode Ornithodiplostomum ptychocheilus cause a conspicuous enlargement of the cranium of juvenile fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas). Minnows sampled from 2 naturally infected ponds in northern Alberta, Canada, had 12% higher and 7% wider craniums compared to fish from an adjacent, uninfected pond. We tested the prediction that cranial distortion was caused by encyst...

Homoacetogenic bacteria have received attention as a hydrogenotrophic population that offers a significant energetic advantage to the host animal. Reductive acetogenesis is likely an important hydrogen disposal mechanism in the cecum of rabbits. However, molecular ecology information about cecal acetogen candidates has rarely been reported. To better understand the effect of host selection in t...