Microbes protect a leaf beetle—but for a price

Insects are known to rely on microbial protection during immobile developmental stages, such as eggs. But despite the susceptibility of pupae to antagonistic challenges, the role of microbes in ensuring defense during an ...

Agricultural parasite takes control of host plant's genes

Dodder, a parasitic plant that causes major damage to crops in the U.S. and worldwide every year, can silence the expression of genes in the host plants from which it obtains water and nutrients. This cross-species gene regulation, ...

Six times more insects in tropical mountains

How many species of insects exist? Umea University researcher, Genoveva Rodriguez-Castaneda, found that in tropical mountains there are six times more insects than shown in global calculations. The insects in these areas ...

Evolutionary arms race between smut fungi and maize plants

Fungi are a major cause of plant diseases and are responsible for large-scale harvest failure in crops like maize and other cereals all over the world. Together with scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum in Munich, Regine ...

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