background: existence of bacterial host cell dna contamination in biopharmaceutical products is a potential risk factor for patients receiving these drugs. hence, the quantity of contamination must be controlled under the regulatory standards. although different methods such as hybridization assays have been employed to determine dna impurities, these methods are labor, intensive and rather exp...

Brood-parasitic village indigobirds, Vidua chalybeata, were bred in captivity and foster-reared by their normal host species, the red-billed firefinch, Lagonosticta senegala, or by an experimental foster species, the Bengalese finch, Lonchura striata. Captive-reared female indigobirds were tested as adults for mate choice and for host choice. In tests of mate choice, female indigobirds responde...

Novel methodology is presented for indexing the relative potential of hosts to function as resources. A Host Potential Index (HPI) was developed as a practical framework to express relative host potential based on combining results from one or more independent studies, such as those examining host selection, utilization, and physiological development of the organism resourcing the host. Several...

Utilization of a novel plant host by herbivorous insects requires coordination of numerous physiological and behavioral adaptations in both larvae and adults. The recent host range expansion of the crucifer-specialist diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), to the sugar pea crop in Kenya provides an opportunity to study this process in action. Previous studies...

Utilization of a novel plant host by herbivorous insects requires coordination of numerous physiological and behavioral adaptations in both larvae and adults. The recent host range expansion of the crucifer-specialist diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), to the sugar pea crop in Kenya provides an opportunity to study this process in action. Previous studies...

In Pakistan, the cotton mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Sternorrhyncha (Homoptera): Pseudococcidae), is a serious pest of many cultivated plants. A parasitoid, Aenasius bambawalei Hayat (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), is associated with P. solenopsis. In order to mass rear A. bambawalei for a biological control program, it is important to investigate the parasitoid’s host stage preference ...

Female Spalangia cameroni produced more offspring from younger house fly pupae, both when given a choice of host ages and when not given a choice. Host age did not affect offspring survivorship. Offspring were larger when they had developed on younger hosts and the effect was independent of offspring sex. Having previously parasitized old hosts versus young hosts did not reduce a female's produ...