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...

Biosynthesis of (1R,4aS,7S,7aR)-nepetalactol (1) and (4aS,7S,7aR)-nepetalactone (2) in plants involves iridoid synthase (ISY), an atypical reductive cyclase that catalyses the reduction 8-oxogeranial into reactive enol (S)-8-oxocitronellal, cyclization this intermediate, either non-enzymatically or by a nepetalactol-related short chain dehydrogenase enzyme (NEPS) yields nepetalactols. In study,...

β-Catenin is a multifunctional scaffolding protein with roles in Wnt signaling, cell adhesion, and centrosome separation. Here, we report on independent duplications of the insect β-Catenin ortholog armadillo (arm) in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum and the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. Detailed sequence analysis shows that in both species, one paralog lost critical residues of the α-...

To achieve a thorough understanding of plant-aphid interactions, it is necessary to investigate in detail both the plant and insect side of the interaction. The pea aphid (PA; Acyrthosiphon pisum) has been selected by an international consortium as the model species for genetics and genomics studies, and the model legume Medicago truncatula is a host of this aphid. In this study, we identified ...