During the past year, dramatic progress has been achieved in our understanding of Drosophila immune reactions. The completion of the Drosophila genome sequencing project, microarray analysis and the use of genetic screens have led to the identification of several new genes required to combat microbial infection, filling in some important gaps in the understanding of innate immunity. At the same...

Phytoplasmas are phloem-limited, insect-transmitted, plant pathogenic bacteria that are responsible for hundreds of diseases world-wide. Because transmission occurs quickly, plants become infected before insecticides can act on the vector. The single most effective means of controlling the vector is to cover plants with insect exclusion netting; however, this is not practical for most commercia...

Actin is a highly versatile, abundant, and conserved protein, with functions in a variety of intracellular processes. Here, we describe a novel role for insect cytoplasmic actin as an extracellular pathogen recognition factor that mediates antibacterial defense. Insect actins are secreted from cells upon immune challenge through an exosome-independent pathway. Anopheles gambiae actin interacts ...

The components of the root exudates from two transgenic insect-resistant cotton lines and their parental cotton lines, and their effects on the growth of Fusarium oxysporum were investigated. The results demonstrated that the resistance of transgenic insect-resistant cotton to F. oxysporum was significantly reduced compared with their parental lines. Likewise, the root exudates from transgenic ...