The panoply of microorganisms and other species present in our environment influence
human health and disease, especially in cities, but have not been profiled with …

The ability of insects to digest recalcitrant plant cell walls greatly contributes to their success
worldwide. Most herbivorous insects, including phytophagous, saprophagous, and …

Within animals, evolutionary transition toward herbivory is severely limited by the hostile
characteristics of plants. Arthropods have nonetheless counteracted many nutritional and …

Chemosensory-related gene (CRG) families have been studied extensively in insects, but
their evolutionary history across the Arthropoda had remained relatively unexplored. Here …

Cellulases from glycoside hydrolase family 48 (GH48) are critical components of natural
lignocellulose-degrading systems. GH48 cellulases are broadly distributed in cellulolytic …

Conifer-feeding bark beetles are important herbivores and decomposers in forest
ecosystems. These species complete their life cycle in nutritionally poor substrates and …

The red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, infests palm plantations, leading to large
financial losses and soil erosion. Pest-host interactions are poorly understood in R …

Background Most recently, major federal regulatory agencies deregulated an in planta RNA
interference (RNAi) trait against a devastating corn pest, the western corn rootworm …

RNA interference (RNAi) is being developed as a potential tool for insect pest management
and one of the most likely target pest species for transgenic plants that express double …

The cellular uptake of dsRNA after dietary exposure is critical for RNAi efficiency; however,
the mechanism of its uptake in many insects remains to be understood. In this study, we …