Publications by authors named "Bai-Ming Liu"

Host-plant volatiles play vital roles for insects to locate foraging, mating, and oviposition sites in the environment. As one of the devastating invasive forestry pests, causes a great annual loss in China, and understanding its chemical ecology is an important task. The current research was done in terms of chemical analysis, electrophysiology, and behavioral assays on to assess its olfactory reception toward host-plant volatiles.

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MEAM1 (Middle East-Asia Minor 1, "B" biotype) and MED (Mediterranean, "Q" biotype) are the two most destructive cryptic species of the Bemisia tabaci complex on the planet. Our previous studies have shown that MEAM1 outcompetes MED on cabbage; the underlying mechanism is unknown. In the Brassicaceae family, the glucosinolate-myrosinase defense system plays a crucial role in deterring feeding, inhibiting growth, and causing acute toxicity against a wide range of generalist herbivores.

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Pathogen-mediated interactions between insect vectors and their host plants can affect herbivore fitness and the epidemiology of plant diseases. While the role of plant quality and defense in mediating these tripartite interactions has been recognized, there are many ecologically and economically important cases where the nature of the interaction has yet to be characterized. The Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) cryptic species Mediterranean (MED) is an important vector of tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), and performs better on virus-infected tomato than on uninfected controls.

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Background: Even though introductions of exotic species provide ready-made experiments of rapid evolution, few studies have examined the genetic structure of an exotic species shortly after its initial introduction and subsequent spread. To determine the genetic structure of its populations during the initial introduction, we investigated the invasive sweet potato whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Q, commonly known as B. tabaci biotype Q) in China, which was introduced in approximately 2003.

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The sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera:Aleyrodidae), is an invasive and damaging pest of field crops worldwide. The neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid has been widely used to control this pest. We assessed the species composition (B vs.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examined how the density of symbiotic bacteria affects the whitefly Bemisia tabaci, focusing on the influence of host plants and insecticide resistance.
  • The relative amounts of four symbionts—Portiera, Hamiltonella, Rickettsia, and Cardinium—were measured in whiteflies adapted to different host plants (cucumber, cabbage, and cotton) and in resistant versus susceptible populations to the insecticide thiamethoxam.
  • Results showed that host plant type and insecticide resistance significantly changed the levels of symbionts, with differences observed in the populations depending on their plant host and resistance status.
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Article Synopsis
  • Thiamethoxam, a widely used insecticide for controlling sweetpotato whiteflies, is facing resistance due to excessive use, leading to research on the molecular mechanisms of this resistance.
  • Researchers employed suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) to compare gene profiles between resistant and susceptible whitefly strains, identifying a total of 124 differentially expressed genes categorized by various functions.
  • Validation through quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) found that while there were consistent results, only about 50% of the genes displayed significant expression differences, with one notable gene, a NAD-dependent methanol dehydrogenase, being highly over-expressed in resistant strains, particularly during the egg stage and in adult females' abdomens
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Background: Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is a phloem-feeding insect poised to become one of the major insect pests in open field and greenhouse production systems throughout the world. The high level of resistance to insecticides is a main factor that hinders continued use of insecticides for suppression of B. tabaci.

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