There is currently considerable interest and practical progress in using the endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia as a vector control agent for human vector-borne diseases. Such vector control strategies may require the introduction of multiple, different Wolbachia strains into target vector populations, necessitating the identification and characterization of appropriate endosymbiont variants. Her...

Introducing Nanotechnology to Mechanical and Civil Engineering Students Through Materials Science Courses Marwan Al-Haik1 ∗, Claudia Luhrs2, Zayd Leseman3, and Mahmoud Reda Taha4 1Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA 2Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, CA 93943, USA 3Department of Mechanica...

Insulin/IGF-like signalling (IIS) is an evolutionarily conserved pathway that has diverse functions in multi-cellular organisms. Mutations that reduce IIS can have pleiotropic effects on growth, development, metabolic homeostasis, fecundity, stress resistance and lifespan. IIS is also modified by extrinsic factors. For instance, in the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, both nutrition and stress...

Tsetse flies (Glossina spp.) are the cyclical vectors of Trypanosoma spp., which are unicellular parasites responsible for multiple diseases, including nagana in livestock and sleeping sickness in humans in Africa. Glossina species, including Glossina morsitans morsitans (Gmm), for which the Whole Genome Sequence (WGS) is now available, have established symbiotic associations with three endosym...

The endosymbiont Wolbachia infects a large number of insect species and is capable of rapid spread when introduced into a novel host population. The bacteria spread by manipulating their hosts' reproduction, and their dynamics are influenced by the demographic structure of the host population and patterns of contact between individuals. Reaction-diffusion models of the spatial spread of Wolbach...

The bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis protects its hosts from a range of pathogens by limiting their ability to form infections inside the insect. This "pathogen blocking" could be explained by innate immune priming by the symbiont, competition for host-derived resources between pathogens and Wolbachia, or the direct modification of the cell or cellular environment by Wolbachia. Recent...

Wolbachia pipientis is an insect endosymbiont known to limit the replication of viruses including dengue and Zika in their primary mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti. Wolbachia is being released into mosquito populations globally in a bid to control the diseases caused by these viruses. It is theorized that Wolbachia's priming of the insect immune system may confer protection against subsequent vir...

Filarial nematodes maintain a mutualistic relationship with the endosymbiont Wolbachia. Depletion of Wolbachia produces profound defects in nematode development, fertility and viability and thus has great promise as a novel approach for treating filarial diseases. However, little is known concerning the basis for this mutualistic relationship. Here we demonstrate using whole mount confocal micr...

Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a globally distributed pest composed of at least 34 morphologically indistinguishable cryptic species. At least seven species of endosymbiont have been found infecting some or all members of the complex. The origin(s) of the associations between specific endosymbionts and their whitefly hosts is unknown. Infection is normally vertical, but horizontal t...