Many insects possess a sexual communication system that is vulnerable to chemical espionage by parasitic wasps. We recently discovered that a hitch-hiking (H) egg parasitoid exploits the antiaphrodisiac pheromone benzyl cyanide (BC) of the Large Cabbage White butterfly Pieris brassicae. This pheromone is passed from male butterflies to females during mating to render them less attractive to con...

Penicillium chrysogenum QEN-24S, an endophytic fungus isolated from an unidentified marine red algal species of the genus Laurencia, displayed inhibitory activity against the growth of pathogen Alternaria brassicae in dual culture test. Chemical investigation of this fungal strain resulted in the isolation of four new (1-3 and 5) and one known (4) secondary metabolites. Their structures were id...

Virtually all studies of plant-herbivore-natural enemy interactions focus on plant quality as the major constraint on development and survival. However, for many gregarious feeding insect herbivores that feed on small or ephemeral plants, the quantity of resources is much more limiting, yet this area has received virtually no attention. Here, in both lab and semi-field experiments using tents c...

To successfully exert defenses against herbivores and pathogens plants need to recognize reliable cues produced by their attackers. Up to now, few elicitors associated with herbivorous insects have been identified. We have previously shown that accessory reproductive gland secretions associated with eggs of Cabbage White butterflies (Pieris spp.) induce chemical changes in Brussels sprouts plan...

The development of therapeutic glycoprotein production using the baculovirus expression system depends on the ability of insect cell lines to reproduce site specific mammalian-like N-glycans. A combination of 1H-NMR and mass spectrometry techniques (MALD-MS, ES-MS, and CID-MS-MS) allowed us to elucidate the N-linked oligosaccharides microheterogeneity on three different N-glycosylation sites, A...

wolbachia is an intracellular endosymbiont, which can induce thelytokous parthenogenesis in trichogramma egg parasitoids with the infected females producing daughters without any mating. with regard to the usual transfer of wolbachia which is vertical from the mother to her offspring through the cytoplasm of eggs, this manipulation of host’s reproduction can enhance its transmission to future g...