Insects and other arthropods are the most important vectors of plant pathogens. The majority of plant pathogens are disseminated by arthropod vectors such as aphids, beetles, leafhoppers, planthoppers, thrips and whiteflies. Transmission of plant pathogens and the challenges in managing insect vectors due to insecticide resistance are factors that contribute to major food losses in agriculture....

The polyphagous insect-pest, Helicoverpa armigera, is a serious threat to a number of economically important crops. Chemical application and/or cultivation of Bt transgenic crops are the two strategies available now for insect-pest management. However, environmental pollution and long-term sustainability are major concerns against these two options. RNAi is now considered as a promising technol...

This article is an integrative mini review of the research on the interactions between Trypanosoma rangeli and the insect vector, Rhodnius prolixus. Special attention is given to the interactions of these parasites with the gut environment, gut walls, with hemolymph invasion, hemocytes, hemocyte microaggregations, prophenoloxidase-activating system, superoxide, and nitric acid generation and ei...

In this issue, Kamhawi et al. (2004) describe the identification of an insect galectin as the receptor for the stage-specific Leishmania adhesin lipophosphoglycan (LPG). This interaction is critical for parasite survival in the midgut of its sand fly vector. The results open new avenues for studies of insect immunity, transmission binding vaccines, and host-parasite coevolution.

a disease of the dry desert area where phlebotomus papatasii p. sergenti are prevalent. In India cases of oriental sore are prevalent in the dry western zone (western part, 79? east of Greenwitch) where the insect vector is phlebotomies papatasii; on the other hand cases of kala-azar are seen in the eastern humid zone where p. argentipes is the insect vector responsible for the spread of the di...

To the Editor: Lyme borreliosis is the most common vector-borne disease in Sweden, and as many as 10000 individuals are thought to be affected each year.1 Recent studies have suggested that individual variability in vector attachment may be linked to different body odors.2,3 Other studies suggested that diethyltoluamide is the best repellent against insect vectors and permethrin against ticks, ...

The PhC-SR-μCT is a nondestructive technique that allows the microanatomical investigations and 3D images reconstructions within a short time. This technique performed in blood sucker, Rhodnius prolixus – one of the most important primary vectors of of Trypanosoma cruzi, ethiologic agent of Chagas’ disease in Latin America and also the most well-know studied insect in terms of both physiology a...

The small brown planthopper (SBPH) is the main vector for rice stripe virus (RSV), which causes serious rice stripe disease in East Asia. To characterize the virus-vector interactions, the SBPH cDNA library was screened with RSV ribonucleoprotein (RNP) as bait using a GAL4-based yeast two-hybrid system. The interaction between RSV-RNP and the Himetobi P virus (HiPV, an insect picorna-like virus...

Contemporary understandings of the epidemiology of Chagas disease as well as it’s clinical features, together with knowledge of the insect vectors and genotypes of the causal agent Trypanosoma cruzi are important pieces of information for comparisons with cases in the past. Evidence indicates that 4,000 years ago in northern Chile cases displaying digestive symptoms or ‘megacolon’ were frequent...

Intact particles of rice dwarf phytoreovirus adsorbed to and entered monolayer-cultured cells of the insect vector Nephotettix cincticeps and multiplied within the cells. Particles that lacked the P2 protein neither attached to nor infected such cells. Furthermore, P2-free particles obtained from a transmission-competent isolate of the virus were unable to infect insect vectors that had been al...