Pheromone-baited traps have been widely used in integrated pest management programs, but their economic value for growers has never been reported.  We analyzed the economic benefits of long-term use of traps baited with the citrus fruit borer Gymnandrosoma aurantianum sex pheromone in Central-Southern Brazil. Our analysis show that from 2001 to 2013 citrus growers avoided accumulated pest losse...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 is repelled by trichloroethylene (TCE), and the methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins PctA, PctB, and PctC serve as the major chemoreceptors for negative chemotaxis to TCE. In this study, we found that the pctABC triple mutant of P. aeruginosa PAO1 was attracted by TCE. Chemotaxis assays of a set of mutants containing deletions in 26 potential mcp genes revealed that ...

Insect olfactory systems provide unique opportunities for recording odorant-induced responses in the forms of electroantennograms (EAG) and single sensillum recordings (SSR), which are summed responses from all odorant receptor neurons (ORNs) located on the antenna and from those housed in individual sensilla, respectively. These approaches have been exploited for getting a better understanding...

Newly hatched juveniles of the Hawaiian squid Euprymna scolopes rapidly become colonized by the bioluminescent marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri. Motility is required to establish the symbiotic colonization, but the role of chemotaxis is unknown. In this study we analyzed chemotaxis of V. fischeri to a number of potential attractants. The bacterium migrated toward serine and most sugars tested. ...

Well-informed biodiversity conservation practice can often be precluded by poor species detectability. For example, populations being missed during surveys lead to them omitted from lists or area management plans. iDNA (invertebrate-derived DNA) is a recently developed set of techniques for improving the detectability elusive vertebrates exploiting their associated invertebrates. Parasitic and ...

Slime mould Physarum polycephalum is large single cell with intriguingly smart behaviour. The slime mould shows outstanding abilities to adapt its protoplasmic network to varying environmental conditions. The slime mould can solve tasks of computational geometry, image processing, logics and arithmetics when data are represented by configurations of attractants and repellents. We attempt to map...

The motile response of Escherichia coli bacteria to attractants and repellents is one of the best-understood examples of a signal transduction pathway. A number of recent studies suggest that the receptors in this system undergo major changes in both their degree of structural order and their state of aggregation in the membrane. We discuss the thermodynamic basis for this effect and argue that...

Four weeds (Acorus calamus, Artemisia tridentata, Heliopsis longipes, and Tagetes minuta) and three cultivated plants (Azadirachta indica, Mammea americana, and Ocimum basilicum) are potential candidates for crop development and commercialization for sources of insect attractants, repellants, or toxicants. Although all could be commercially viable, the neem tree (A. indica) is by far the most l...

Diffusible and substrate-bound cues can guide axonal pathway choice via attractive and repulsive signals. A number of families of signalling molecules have been identified, including netrins and their receptors, semaphorins, neuropilins, Eph receptor tyrosine kinases, ephrins and CAMs. Many of these signalling molecules can have a dual role, functioning either as attractants or as repellents. D...