Insulin Signaling in the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Regulates Female Sexual Receptivity during Starvation in .

Many animals adjust their reproductive behavior according to nutritional state and food availability. females for instance decrease their sexual receptivity following starvation. Insulin signaling, which regulates many aspects of insect physiology and behavior, also affects reproduction in females.

Assessing and Exploiting Functional Diversity in Germplasm Pools to Enhance Abiotic Stress Adaptation and Yield in Cereals and Food Legumes.

There is a need to accelerate crop improvement by introducing alleles conferring host plant resistance, abiotic stress adaptation, and high yield potential. Elite cultivars, landraces and wild relatives harbor useful genetic variation that needs to be more easily utilized in plant breeding. We review genome-wide approaches for assessing and identifying alleles associated with desirable agronomic traits in diverse germplasm pools of cereals and legumes.

Genetic Diversity within a Global Panel of Durum Wheat Landraces and Modern Germplasm Reveals the History of Alleles Exchange.

Durum wheat is the 10th most important crop in the world, and its use traces back to the origin of agriculture. Unfortunately, in the last century only part of the genetic diversity available for this species has been captured in modern varieties through breeding. Here, the population structure and genetic diversity shared among elites and landraces collected from 32 countries was investigated.

Direct and Pollinator-Mediated Effects of Herbivory on Strawberry and the Potential for Improved Resistance.

The global decline in pollinators has partly been blamed on pesticides, leading some to propose pesticide-free farming as an option to improve pollination. However, herbivores are likely to be more prevalent in pesticide-free environments, requiring knowledge of their effects on pollinators, and alternative crop protection strategies to mitigate any potential pollination reduction. Strawberry leaf beetles (SLB) spp.

Oviposition Preference of Pea Weevil, Bruchus pisorum L. Among Host and Non-host Plants and its Implication for Pest Management.

The pea weevil, Bruchus pisorum L. is a major insect pest of field pea, Pisum sativum L. worldwide and current control practices mainly depend on the use of chemical insecticides that can cause adverse effects on environment and human health.