AIMS Though plant metabolic changes are known to occur during interactions with bacteria, these were rarely challenged for pharmacologically active compounds suitable for further drug development. Here, the occurrence of specific chemicals with antiproliferative activity against human cancer cell lines was evidenced in hyperplasia (leafy galls) induced when plants interact with particular phyto...

Gall inducing insects most frequently oviposit in young tissues because these tissues have higher metabolism and potential for differentiation. However, these insects may also successfully establish in mature tissues as was observed in the super-host Copaifera langsdorffii. Among C. langsdorffii gall morphotypes, one of the most common is a midrib gall induced by an undescribed species of Cecid...

This study was to determine whether Arthrobotrys flagrans, A. oligospora, and Meria coniospora would control the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne hapla on alfalfa and tomato. Alfalfa seeds were coated with a fungus-rye powder in 2% cellulose and were planted in infested soil. Three-week-old seedlings from seed treated with M. coniospora had 60% and 58% fewer galls in two experiments than did seed...

Interspecific competition has been identified as a major structuring force in phytophagous arthropod communities. We would expect to find particularly strong competitive effects in communities with outbreaking components, where the joint food resource is depleted by a single super-abundant species. To assess how arthropod assemblages of the trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides, Salicaceae) resp...

In the social aphid Nipponaphis monzeni, a unique gall-repairing behaviour has been known: when a hole is made on the gall, many soldier nymphs discharge body fluid on the breach, which promptly solidifies and plugs the hole. Here, we experimentally investigated the subsequent fate of repaired galls and their inhabitants. Irrespective of natural repair by soldier nymphs or artificial repair wit...

Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Agrobacterium rhizogenes transfer plasmid-encoded genes and virulence (Vir) proteins into plant cells. The transferred DNA (T-DNA) is stably inherited and expressed in plant cells, causing crown gall or hairy root disease. DNA transfer from A. tumefaciens into plant cells resembles plasmid conjugation; single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) is exported from the bacteria via a...

Experiments using different species of the plant Nicotiana and strains of the bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens showed that teratoma formation from crown galls was dependent on the combination of bacterial Ti plasmid and host plant used.

Insect galls may be study models to test the distribution of pectins and arabinogalactan-proteins (AGPs) and their related functions during plant cell cycles. These molecules are herein histochemically and immunocitochemically investigated in the kidney-shaped gall induced by Baccharopelma dracunculifoliae (Psyllidae) on leaves of Baccharis dracunculifolia DC. (Asteraceae) on developmental basi...