Wolbachia are common vertically transmitted endosymbiotic bacteria found in < 70% of insect species. They have generated considerable recent interest due to the capacity of some strains to protect their insect hosts against viruses and the potential for this to reduce vector competence of a range of human diseases, including dengue. In contrast, here we provide data from field populations of a ...

Pathogens and parasites can induce changes in host or vector behavior that enhance their transmission. In plant systems, such effects are largely restricted to vectors, because they are mobile and may exhibit preferences dependent upon plant host infection status. Here we report the first evidence that acquisition of a plant virus directly alters host selection behavior by its insect vector. We...

The southernmost limit of the distribution of endemic Andean cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), commonly known as Uta, is localized in the western Andean valleys of Ayacucho, Peru. This area is completely isolated from other regions endemic for this disease. Identification of the insect vector for Andean CL was carried out by combining entomologic and parasitologic approaches. Two Lutzomyia species ...

Transmission of plant pathogens through insect vectors is a complex biological process involving interactions between the host plants, insects, and pathogens. Simultaneous impact of the insect damage and pathogenic bacteria in infected host plants induce volatiles that modify not only the behavior of its insect vector but also of their natural enemies, such as parasitoid wasps. Therefore, it is...

Chagas disease is a severe illness, which can lead to death if the patients are not promptly treated. The disease is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is mostly transmitted by a triatomine insect vector. There are 8-10 million people infected with T. cruzi in the world, but the transmission of such disease by bugs occurs only in the Americas, especially Latin America. Ch...

Replication of RNA viruses in insect cells triggers an antiviral defense that is mediated by RNA interference (RNAi) which generates viral-derived small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). However, it is not known whether an antiviral RNAi response is also induced in insects by reoviruses, whose double-stranded RNA genome replication is thought to occur within core particles. Deep sequencing of small RN...

Plant viruses interact with their insect vectors directly and indirectly via host plants, and this tripartite interaction may produce fitness benefits to both the vectors and the viruses. Our previous studies show that the Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1) species of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci complex improved its performance on tobacco plants infected by the Tomato yellow leaf curl China virus...

We characterized new transgenic varieties of poplar with multiple insect-resistant and salt stress tolerant genes. Two insect-resistant Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) genes, Cry1Ac and Cry3A, and a salt-tolerant gene, Betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH) were inserted into a vector, p209-Cry1Ac-Cry3A-BADH. The clone of Populus x euramericana was transformed by the vector using the Agrobacterium-m...