Lepidopteran types of podborer and homopteran aphid insects are damaging pests of chickpea. CryIAc toxins are established control agents for podborers but do not or only slightly affect homopteran (sucking) insects. However, certain plant lectins are known for their power of killing aphids. Bioassay experiments carried out in our laboratory with lectins isolated from garlic leaves have already ...

A simple, rapid, and inexpensive method for evaluation of host-parasite interactions, based on monoxenic cultures, is described. Axenic root explants of Glycine max (L.) Merr., cultured on a holidic agar medium, were inoculated with axenic second-stage larvae of Heterodera glycines Ichinohe, Race 3. A clear separation of susceptible and resistant cultivars, based on numbers of mature female nem...

Open Access Poster presentation Cardiac natriuretic peptides inhibit TRPC6-mediated prohypertrophic signaling through cGMP-PKG pathway Hideyuki Kinoshita*1, Koichiro Kuwahara1, Ryuji Inoue2, Motohiro Nishida3, Hitoshi Kurose3, Shigeki Kiyonaka4, Yasuo Mori4, Masaki Harada1, Masao Murakami1, Yasuaki Nakagawa1, Shinji Yasuno1, Satoru Usami1, Masataka Fujiwara1, Yoshihiro Kuwabara1, Takeya Minami1...

Generalist predator guilds play a prominent role in structuring insect communities and can contribute to limiting population sizes of insect pest species. A consequence of dietary breadth, particularly in predatory insects, is the inclusion of low-quality, or even toxic, prey items in the predator's diet. Consumption of low-quality prey items reduces growth, development, and survival of predato...

Many studies have paid particular attention to the role of either secondary plant compounds or amino acids as determinants of host-plant range in phytophagous insects. Here we examine the relative importance of both of these classes of compound in host acceptance by generalist and specialist morphs of the black bean aphid, Aphis fabae, that are morphologically similar and genetically identical....

A genetic analysis of parasitic ability in the soybean cyst nematode Heterodera glycines was performed. To identify and characterize genes involved in parasitism, we developed three highly inbred H. glycines lines, OP20, OP25 and OP50, for use as parents for controlled crosses. Through these crosses, we have identified genes in the inbred parents that control reproduction of the nematode on hos...

Hisashi Yoshimura, Yoko Matsuda, Masami Yamamoto, Tomohiko Endo, Hiroshi Kajigaya, Toshihiro Tokiwa, Toshiyuki Ishiwata and Shinji Kamiya Division of Physiological Pathology, Department of Applied Science, School of Veterinary Nursing and Technology, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University Department of Pathology, Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital and Institute of Gerontology Division...

Female indices were measured on six soybean cultivars with resistance to Heterodera glycines derived from PI 88788. Cultivars were inoculated with four isolates of race 6, 3 of race 9, 2 of race 4, and one of race 14. Changes in female index from slightly < or > 10% of the test cultivars compared to 'Lee' resulted in a change of most of the race designations after at least three generations on ...

Wolbachia bacteria are ubiquitous intracellular bacteria of arthropods. Often considered reproductive parasites, they can benefit certain host species. We describe a new Wolbachia strain from Leptopilina victoriae, a Drosophila wasp. The strain is closely related to Wolbachia from Culex sp. Located to the posterior poles of oocytes, it manipulates its host's reproduction by inducing a male deve...