Abstract Background Spodoptera littoralis Boisad. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is an important pest causing significant losses to agricultural crops worldwide. Management practices for this insect rely on insecticides applications throughout the entire season over wide ranging temperature. However, studies involving development of resistance in S. against these at different temperatures are limited...

In noctuid moths cuticular pigmentation is regulated by the pyrokinin/pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PK/PBAN) family, which also mediates a variety of other functions in moths and other insects. Numerous studies have shown that these neuropeptides exert their functions through activation of the PBAN receptor (PBAN-R), with subsequent Ca(2+) influx, followed by either activation...

Carlsson, M.A. 2003. A sensory map of the odour world in the moth brain. Doctoral dissertation. ISSN 1401-6249, ISBN 91-576-6443-9 The functional organisation of the moth antennal lobe was studied using two species, Manduca sexta and Spodoptera littoralis, as model organisms. Glomerular activity was investigated at the population level by means of optical imaging techniques. In the male-specifi...

The authors imparted the main concept of infochemical communication and its realization in the first micromachinebased chemoemitter. We present herein details on the microfabrication and functionality of its elements, particularly the biomicroreactor and the evaporator. The functionality of the integrated chemoemitter has been evidenced in an electrophysiological assay using antennae of male Sp...

Extracellular self-DNA (esDNA) is produced during cell and tissue damage or degradation and has been shown to induce significant responses in several organisms, including plants. While the inhibitory effects of esDNA have been shown in conspecific individuals, little is known on the early events involved upon plant esDNA perception. We used electrophysiology and confocal laser scanning microsco...

The negative fitness consequences of close inbreeding are widely recognized, but predicting the long-term effects of inbreeding and genetic drift due to limited population size is not straightforward. As the frequency and homozygosity of recessive deleterious alleles increase, selection can remove (purge) them from a population, reducing the genetic load. At the same time, small population size...

New insecticides that exhibited high compatibility with environment components are very promising substitutes for control of the economic insects. Simi-field experiments were conducted on profenofos and four novel insecticides viz., spinosad, emamectin-benzoate, pyridalyl and indoxacarb to investigate their efficiency and the field persistence of their residues against 4 instar larvae of the co...

In the interaction between Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and the generalist herbivorous insect Spodoptera littoralis, little is known about early events in defense signaling and their link to downstream phytohormone pathways. S. littoralis oral secretions induced both Ca and phytohormone elevation in Arabidopsis. Plant gene expression induced by oral secretions revealed upregulation of a g...

Aeluropus littoralis is a monocot halophyte grass and provide valuable genetic resources for understanding the molecular mechanisms of stress-responsive genes, and improving tolerance to abiotic stresses in economically important crops. In an attempt to identify salt stressed responsive genes, 154 isolated expressed sequence tags (EST) from A. littoralis were bioinformatically analyzed and func...