Silencing of genes through RNA interference (RNAi) in insects has gained momentum during the past few years. RNAi has been used to cause insect mortality, inhibit insect growth, increase insecticide susceptibility, and prevent the development of insecticide resistance. We investigated the efficacy of topically applied dsRNA to induce RNAi for five Cytochrome P450 genes family 4 (CYP4) in Diapho...

The duration of the evolutionary association between a pathogen and vector can be inferred based on the strength of their mutualistic interactions. A well-adapted pathogen is likely to confer some benefit or, at a minimum, exhibit low pathogenicity toward its host vector. Coevolution of the two toward a mutually beneficial association appears to have occurred between the citrus greening disease...

Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Liviidae), is the vector of huanglongbing (HLB or citrus greening disease). Preferences of D. citri adults differed for HLB-infected and healthy citrus under different maturity conditions. The presence or absence of young shoots had a significant influence on the choice by D. citri adults between HLB-infected and healthy citrus hosts. ...

Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), vectors the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, one of the causal organisms of the devastating citrus disease "huanglongbing" or citrus greening. In the United States, D. citri was first discovered in Florida, in 1998. Tamarixia radiata Waterston (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) was imported from Asia and released in Florida in 1999-2001 to im...

Planococcus is a Gram-positive halotolerant bacterial genus in the phylum Firmicutes, commonly found in various habitats in Antarctica. Quorum quenching (QQ) is the disruption of bacterial cell-to-cell communication (known as quorum sensing), which has previously been described in mesophilic bacteria. This study demonstrated the QQ activity of a psychrotolerant strain, Planococcus versutus stra...