The tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, is a model lepidopteran insect used to study the pathogenic and mutualistic phases of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) and their bacterial symbionts. While intestinal microbial communities could potentially compete with the EPN and its bacterial partner for nutrient resources of the insect, the microbial gut community had not been characterized previously. ...

The noctuid, Helicoverpa armigera, is the most important crop pest worldwide. We evaluated the biological activity of soybean trypsin inhibitor and plant lectins against this pest to identify toxin genes for deployment through transgenic plants. Of the seven plant lectins tested, chickpea and snowdrop lectins showed marked antibiotic effects in terms of insect survival and development. Larval s...