The Wnt-signaling cascade is required for several crucial steps during early embryogenesis, and its activity is modulated by various agonists and antagonists to provide spatiotemporal-specific signaling. Naked cuticle is a Wnt antagonist that itself is induced by Wnt signaling to keep Wnt signaling in check. Little is known about the regulation of this antagonist. We have recently shown that th...

The cuticle in the tympanal area of immature crickets, Teleogryllus commodus (Walker), is ultrastructurally indistinguishable from that elsewhere on the prothoracic leg. It is only in the pharate adult that changes associated with development of the tympana first appear. In pharate adults and adults the external layer of the tympana consists of a layer of electron-dense material overlying a lay...

The use of swarming Tylenchorhynchus martini nematodes provided a rapid and efficient in vitro method for the study of nematode orientation mechanisms as affected by chemical stimuli. Orientation of the nematodes occurred in concentration gradients diffusing from agar discs containing 0.05, 0.1, 0.25 M of both AlCln and CdCL>, and 0.25 M of NH..C1. Attraction of the nematodes did not occur at t...

Fungal pathogens of plants and insects infect their hosts by direct penetration of the cuticle. Plant and insect cuticles are covered by a hydrocarbon-rich waxy outer layer that represents the first barrier against infection. However, the fungal genes that underlie insect waxy layer degradation have received little attention. Here we characterize the single cytochrome P450 monoxygenase family 5...

The cuticle is a ubiquitous, predominantly waxy layer on the aerial parts of higher plants that fulfils a number of essential physiological roles, including regulating evapotranspiration, light reflection, and heat tolerance, control of development, and providing an essential barrier between the organism and environmental agents such as chemicals or some pathogens. The structure and composition...