Insects are infected by a variety of pathogens, including bacteria, fungi and viruses, which have been studied largely for their potential as biocontrol agents, but are also important in insect conservation (biodiversity) and as model systems for other diseases. Whilst the dynamics of host-pathogen interactions are well-studied at the population level, less attention has been paid to the critic...

Background and Aims: Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is one of the major pathogen in poultry. Vaccination is intended to control the disease as an effective solution nevertheless this virus is a growing threat to the poultry industry. F gene open reading frame (ORF) from NDV is 1650 bp, encoding a protein of 553 amino acids that can induce protective immunity alone. The F glycoprotein on the surf...

insect immunity comprises behavioral, physical and innate immunity. in this study, innate immune response of the greater wax moth larvae, galleria mellonella against two species of entomopathogenic nematodes, heterorhabditis bacteriophora and steinernema feltiae,   as important biocontrol agents were studied. total haemocyte count in larvae injected with h. bacteriophora increased immediately. ...

BACKGROUND Wolbachia infections confer protection for their insect hosts against a range of pathogens including bacteria, viruses, nematodes and the malaria parasite. A single mechanism that might explain this broad-based pathogen protection is immune priming, in which the presence of the symbiont upregulates the basal immune response, preparing the insect to defend against subsequent pathogen ...

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...

‘Candidatus Phytoplasma prunorum’ is causing ever increasing economic losses through the decline of apricot trees in European countries, e.g., Hungary. In this study, pathogen was identified from plant tissues and insects by nested-PCR. The insect species were via morphology molecular methods. incidence 29.6% randomly selected trees. Most infected with symptoms died within a year. These results...

Cochineal is the name of both crimson or carmine dye and the cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus), a scale insect from which the dye is derived. There are other species in the genus Dactylopius which can be used to produce cochineal extract, but they are extremely difficult to distinguish from D. coccus, even for expert taxonomists, and the latter scientific name (and the use of the term "coch...