Insect pests cause significant agricultural and economic losses to crops worldwide due to
their destructive activities. Pesticides are designed to be poisonous and are intentionally …

Insect guts present distinctive environments for microbial colonization, and bacteria in the
gut potentially provide many beneficial services to their hosts. Insects display a wide range …

Insects share an intimate relationship with their gut microflora and this symbiotic association
has developed into an essential evolutionary outcome intended for their survival through …

Many eukaryotes have obligate associations with microorganisms that are transmitted
directly between generations. A model for heritable symbiosis is the association of aphids, a …

Nutritional symbionts play a major role in the ecology and evolution of insects. The recent
accumulation of knowledge on the identity, function, genomics, and phylogenetic …

Since 2006, numerous cases of bacterial symbionts with extraordinarily small genomes
have been reported. These organisms represent independent lineages from diverse …

Herbivory, defined as feeding on live plant tissues, is characteristic of highly successful and
diverse groups of insects and represents an evolutionarily derived mode of feeding. Plants …

The smallest reported bacterial genome belongs to Tremblaya princeps, a symbiont of
Planococcus citri mealybugs (PCIT). Tremblaya PCIT not only has a 139 kb genome, but …

The study of reproductive isolation and species barriers frequently focuses on mitochondrial
genomes and has produced two alternative and almost diametrically opposed narratives. On …

Starting in 2006, surprisingly tiny genomes have been discovered from numerous bacterial
symbionts of insect hosts. Despite their size, each retains some genes that enable …