Deployment and transcriptional evaluation of nitisinone, an FDA-approved drug, to control bed bugs.

Background: Bed bugs are blood-feeders that rapidly proliferate into large indoor infestations. Their bites can cause allergies, secondary infections and psychological stress, among other problems. Although several tactics for their management have been used, bed bugs continue to spread worldwide wherever humans reside.

Diaci v3.0: chromosome-level assembly, de novo transcriptome, and manual annotation of Diaphorina citri, insect vector of Huanglongbing.

Background: Diaphorina citri is an insect vector of "Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus" (CLas), the gram-negative bacterial pathogen associated with citrus greening disease. Control measures rely on pesticides with negative impacts on the environment, natural ecosystems, and human and animal health. In contrast, gene-targeting methods have the potential to specifically target the vector species and/or reduce pathogen transmission.

TcCARP3 modulates compartmentalized cAMP signals involved in osmoregulation, infection of mammalian cells, and colonization of the triatomine vector in the human pathogen .

is the causative agent of Chagas disease, a zoonotic infectious disease considered a leading cause of cardiomyopathy, disability, and premature death in the Americas. This parasite spends its life between a mammalian host and an arthropod vector, undergoing essential transitions among different developmental forms. How senses microenvironmental changes that trigger cellular responses necessary for parasite survival has remained largely unknown.

Impaired humidity sensing reduces tick survival by preventing water homeostasis.

Off-host periods are critical for ticks, representing a period when environmental stress, particularly dehydration, can impact tick survival. To prevent dehydration, ticks must be able to detect and move into high humidity areas to allow for water vapor uptake. Ionotropic receptor 93a (Ir93a), which is highly expressed in the front forelegs (location of Haller s organ), increases expression following dehydration, suggesting a role in humidity detection.

Developmental stage and level of submersion in water impact the viability of lone star and winter tick eggs.

Female ticks deposit large egg clusters that range in size from hundreds to thousands. These egg clusters are restricted to a deposition site as they are stationary, usually under leaf litter and other debris. In some habitats, these sites can be exposed to periodic flooding.

Revisiting the paradigm of anhematophagy in male mosquitoes.

Female mosquitoes are reproductively obligate bloodfeeders which feed on vertebrate blood to obtain nutrients required for egg production (driving transmission of vector-borne pathogens in the process), and which rely on plant sugars for their non-reproductive energy requirements. Male mosquitoes, on the other hand, are thought to rely exclusively on plant sugars for their energetic needs; indeed, this dichotomy is one of the central tenets of medical entomology. Here, we show that male and mosquitoes will readily take blood from a membrane feeder when reared under dehydration conditions with no toxic effects.

Intra-species quantification reveals differences in activity and sleep levels in the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti.

Aedes aegypti is an important mosquito vector of human disease with a wide distribution across the globe. Climatic conditions and ecological pressure drive differences in the biology of several populations of this mosquito species, including blood-feeding behaviour and vector competence. However, no study has compared activity and/or sleep among different populations/lineages of Ae.

Humidity as a zeitgeber for circadian entrainment of insect systems.

Unlabelled: Humidity levels, like light and temperature, fluctuate daily yet are less predictable; however, whether humidity entrains circadian clocks and enables animals to synchronize behaviors to environmental variations remains unknown. Here, we investigate the circadian humidity entrainment in various insects. Multiple species robustly respond to humidity cycles, and when the humidity cue is removed, their rhythmic behaviors continue, suggesting that humidity-associated rhythmic activities are under circadian control.

Dehydration and tomato spotted wilt virus infection combine to alter feeding and survival parameters for the western flower thrips, .

Dehydration and tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) infection substantially impact the feeding of western flower thrips, . Until now, the dynamics between these biotic and abiotic stresses have not been examined for thrips. Here, we report water balance characteristics and changes in other biological parameters during infection with TSWV for the western flower thrips.

Tyrosine transfer RNA levels and modifications during blood-feeding and vitellogenesis in the mosquito, Aedes aegypti.

Mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti must consume a blood meal for the nutrients necessary for egg production. Several transcriptome and proteome changes occur post-blood meal that likely corresponds with codon usage alterations. Transfer RNA (tRNA) is the adapter molecule that reads messenger RNA codons to add the appropriate amino acid during protein synthesis.

Developmental stage and level of submersion in water impact the viability of lone star and winter tick eggs during flooding.

Female ticks deposit large egg clusters that range in size from hundreds to thousands. These clusters are restricted to a deposition site, usually under leaf litter and other debris. These sites can be exposed to periodic flooding, where the cluster of tick eggs can float to the surface or remain underneath organic debris entirely underwater.

colonies from different geographic origins differ in their sleep and activity levels but not in the time of peak activity.

Mosquitoes occupy a wide range of habitats where they experience various environmental conditions. The ability of some species, such as the tiger mosquito, , to adapt to local conditions certainly contributes to their invasive success. Among traits that remain to be examined, mosquitoes' ability to time their activity with that of the local host population has been suggested to be of significant epidemiological importance.

Osmosis as nature's method for establishing optical alignment.

For eyes to maintain optimal focus, precise coordination is required between lens optics and retina position, a mechanism that in vertebrates is governed by genetics, visual feedback, and possibly intraocular pressure (IOP). While the underlying processes have been intensely studied in vertebrates, they remain elusive in arthropods, though visual feedback may be unimportant. How do arthropod eyes remain functional while undergoing substantial growth? Here, we test whether a common physiological process, osmoregulation, could regulate growth in the sophisticated camera-type eyes of the predatory larvae of Thermonectus marmoratus diving beetles.

The chromosome-scale genome assembly for the West Nile vector Culex quinquefasciatus uncovers patterns of genome evolution in mosquitoes.

Background: Understanding genome organization and evolution is important for species involved in transmission of human diseases, such as mosquitoes. Anophelinae and Culicinae subfamilies of mosquitoes show striking differences in genome sizes, sex chromosome arrangements, behavior, and ability to transmit pathogens. However, the genomic basis of these differences is not fully understood.

Tyrosine transfer RNA levels and modifications during blood-feeding and vitellogenesis in the mosquito, .

Mosquitoes such as must consume a blood meal for the nutrients necessary for egg production. Several transcriptome and proteome changes occur post blood meal that likely corresponds with codon usage alterations. Transfer RNA (tRNA) is the adapter molecule that reads messenger RNA (mRNA) codons to add the appropriate amino acid during protein synthesis.

Dehydration stress and Mayaro virus vector competence in .

Relative humidity (RH) is an environmental variable that affects mosquito physiology and can impact pathogen transmission. Low RH can induce dehydration in mosquitoes, leading to alterations in physiological and behavioral responses such as blood-feeding and host-seeking behavior. We evaluated the effects of a temporal drop in RH (RH shock) on mortality and Mayaro virus vector competence in .

Shifted levels of sleep and activity under darkness as mechanisms underlying ectoparasite resistance.

Parasites harm host fitness and are pervasive agents of natural selection to evolve host defense strategies Host defensive traits in natural populations typically show genetic variation, which may be maintained when parasite resistance imposes fitness costs on the host in the absence of parasites. Previously we demonstrated significant evolutionary responses to artificial selection for increasing behavioral immunity to Gamasodes queenslandicus mites in replicate lines of Drosophila melanogaster. Here, we report transcriptional shifts in metabolic processes between selected and control fly lines based on RNA-seq analyses.

Egg hatching success is influenced by the time of thermal stress in four hard tick species.

Ticks are blood-feeding arthropods responsible for the transmission of disease-causing pathogens to a wide range of vertebrate hosts, including livestock and humans. Tick-borne diseases have been implicated in significant economic losses to livestock production, and this threat will increase as these obligate parasites widen their geographical ranges. Similar to other ectotherms, thermal stress due to changing global temperatures has been shown to influence tick survival and distribution.

Live-bearing cockroach genome reveals convergent evolutionary mechanisms linked to viviparity in insects and beyond.

Live birth (viviparity) has arisen repeatedly and independently among animals. We sequenced the genome and transcriptome of the viviparous Pacific beetle-mimic cockroach and performed comparative analyses with two other viviparous insect lineages, tsetse flies and aphids, to unravel the basis underlying the transition to viviparity in insects. We identified pathways undergoing adaptive evolution for insects, involved in urogenital remodeling, tracheal system, heart development, and nutrient metabolism.