Plant viruses have an enormous negative impact on agricultural crop production throughout the world, and, consequently, agronomists and plant pathologists have devoted considerable effort toward controlling virus diseases during this century. Prior to the advent of genetic engineering, traditional plant breeding methodology was sometimes successfully applied to develop resistance to viruses of ...

The house finch or linnet, Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis (Say) is a protected migratory nongame bird indigenous to California and found abundantly in a l l but the northern and mountainous areas. These finches attack more than twenty different crops and damage is demonstrated by fruit pecks, seed removal, and disbudding. When house finches cause agricultural damage control measures must be car...

As scientists involved in risk assessment of transgenic insecticidal plants, we are greatly concerned about the publication by Lövei et al. (2009) implying that insect-protected crops based on the Cry proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis may have substantial negative impacts on non-target organisms. We believe that Lövei et al. (2009) use inappropriate and unsound methods for risk assessment that...

The western flower thrips Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) is a cosmopolitan, polyphagous insect pest that causes bronzing to fruit of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa). The main aim of this study was to test whether mass trapping could reduce damage and to predict whether this approach would be economically viable. In semi-protected strawberry crops, mass trapping...

In order to create a novel mechanism for herbicide resistance in plants, we expressed a single-chain antibody fragment (scFv) in tobacco with specific affinity to the auxinic herbicide picloram. Transgenic tobacco plants and seedlings expressing this scFv against picloram were protected from its effect in a dose-dependent manner. This is the first successful use of an antibody to confer in vivo...

The sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) continues to be a serious threat to crops worldwide. The UK holds Protected Zone status against this pest and, as a result, B. tabaci entering on plant material is subjected to a policy of eradication. Both B and Q Bemisia biotypes are now regularly intercepted entering the UK. With increasing reports of neonicotinoid ...