45 posts · 14,170 views
The aphid room is a part of the IGB website focussed on biology, genetics, genomics and evolution of aphids... including details about thier biology, reproduction and breeding.
Mauro Mandrioli
45 posts
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- May 2, 2013
- 09:11 AM
- 57 views
Replacing bacterial symbionts with a fungal symbiont… unusual changes in aphids!
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
Current models of bacterial genome evolution suggest that in small populations a burst of transposable element activity may lead to inactivation of non-essential genes and large deletions, followed by erosion of the pseudogenes resulting in genome reduction. Due to this process, the smallest sequenced cellular genomes are all obligate intracellular symbionts of insects. Interestingly, it seems that the [...]... Read more »
Vogel KJ, & Moran NA. (2013) Functional and evolutionary analysis of the genome of an obligate fungal symbiont. Genome biology and evolution. PMID: 23563967
- April 30, 2013
- 07:19 PM
- 54 views
Leave aphids on your plants to preserve your children!
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
Aphids are frequently controlled by chemical compounds so that it could be not so unusual that you may interact with insecticides, for instance, after a general treatment of your home for spiders, insects or termites. A new study published by Elizabeth Milne et al. in the journal Cancer Causes & Control reveals that women exposed within a year of [...]... Read more »
Greenop KR, Peters S, Bailey HD, Fritschi L, Attia J, Scott RJ, Glass DC, de Klerk NH, Alvaro F, Armstrong BK.... (2013) Exposure to pesticides and the risk of childhood brain tumors. Cancer causes . PMID: 23558445
- February 22, 2013
- 03:34 PM
- 146 views
Growing fast without zero population growth genes
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
If you had aphids on your plants, you have undoubtedly verified their fast growing rate. Indeed, aphids can reproduce quickly and it has been calculated that under ideal conditions (such as absence of predators, parasites, pathogens and benign climatic conditions, especially including optimal temperatures of 20 -25 °C), a single asexual female could in theory [...]... Read more »
Bauer, R. (2004) Gap Junction Channel Protein Innexin 2 Is Essential for Epithelial Morphogenesis in the Drosophila Embryo. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 15(6), 2992-3004. DOI: 10.1091/mbc.E04-01-0056
Thailayil, J., Magnusson, K., Godfray, H., Crisanti, A., & Catteruccia, F. (2011) Spermless males elicit large-scale female responses to mating in the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(33), 13677-13681. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1104738108
- February 9, 2013
- 03:31 PM
- 181 views
Aphid? An insect falling like a cat!
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
Aphids are wingless individuals (just some of them have wings) that live on leaves and face their predators and parasitoids simply by dropping off plants. Indeed, in order to avoid immediate dangers, aphids do not have any aggressive behaviour, but they simply jump from the plants landing on their legs, regardless of their initial orientation on [...]... Read more »
Ribak, G., Gish, M., Weihs, D., & Inbar, M. (2013) Adaptive aerial righting during the escape dropping of wingless pea aphids. Current Biology, 23(3). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.12.010
Yanoviak SP, Kaspari M, & Dudley R. (2009) Gliding hexapods and the origins of insect aerial behaviour. Biology letters, 5(4), 510-2. PMID: 19324632
Yanoviak, S., Munk, Y., & Dudley, R. (2011) Evolution and Ecology of Directed Aerial Descent in Arboreal Ants. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 51(6), 944-956. DOI: 10.1093/icb/icr006
- February 1, 2013
- 04:27 PM
- 130 views
Insects are still waiting for their quadruplex DNA!
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
A recent paper by Biffi et al. reported in Nature Chemistry clear evidence about the presence and quantitative visualization of DNA G-quadruplex structures in human chromosomes. Contrarily to what reported in several newspapers, the main result of this paper is not related to the occurrence of G-quadruplexes in human cells, but to their identification and [...]... Read more »
Biffi, G., Tannahill, D., McCafferty, J., & Balasubramanian, S. (2013) Quantitative visualization of DNA G-quadruplex structures in human cells. Nature Chemistry. DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1548
Oganesian L, & Bryan TM. (2007) Physiological relevance of telomeric G-quadruplex formation: a potential drug target. BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, 29(2), 155-65. PMID: 17226803
Smith JS, Chen Q, Yatsunyk LA, Nicoludis JM, Garcia MS, Kranaster R, Balasubramanian S, Monchaud D, Teulade-Fichou MP, Abramowitz L.... (2011) Rudimentary G-quadruplex-based telomere capping in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Nature structural , 18(4), 478-85. PMID: 21399640
Wu Y, & Brosh RM Jr. (2010) G-quadruplex nucleic acids and human disease. The FEBS journal, 277(17), 3470-88. PMID: 20670277
- January 25, 2013
- 04:01 PM
- 123 views
Guests in the aphid room…. the digital PCR
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
After the PCR discovery due to Kary Mullis, several improvements have been obtained in order to amplify and quantify nucleic acids. Among them, the Real-Time PCR, also called quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), is probably one of the most powerful and sensitive techniques for quantitative gene expression analysis and pathogen detection. As the name suggests, [...]... Read more »
Baker, M. (2012) Digital PCR hits its stride. Nature Methods, 9(6), 541-544. DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.2027
- January 24, 2013
- 04:17 PM
- 114 views
A DNA sequence (even if long) isn’t enough to understand a genome
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
from DNA sequences to genome understanding... Read more »
Singh, N. (2005) X-Linked Genes Evolve Higher Codon Bias in Drosophila and Caenorhabditis. Genetics, 171(1), 145-155. DOI: 10.1534/genetics.105.043497
Meisel RP, Malone JH, & Clark AG. (2012) Faster-X evolution of gene expression in Drosophila. PLoS genetics, 8(10). PMID: 23071459
Mank, J., Axelsson, E., & Ellegren, H. (2007) Fast-X on the Z: Rapid evolution of sex-linked genes in birds. Genome Research, 17(5), 618-624. DOI: 10.1101/gr.6031907
Casto AM, Li JZ, Absher D, Myers R, Ramachandran S, & Feldman MW. (2010) Characterization of X-linked SNP genotypic variation in globally distributed human populations. Genome biology, 11(1). PMID: 20109212
- January 23, 2013
- 03:02 PM
- 94 views
Evolving aphids: one genome-one organism insects or holobionts?
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
Recently I published with the colleague and friend Gian Carlo Manicardi a short review in Invertebrate Survival Journal about the relevant role of symbionts in evolution of aphids. Aphids have obligate mutualistic relationships with microorganisms that provide them with essential substances lacking in their diet, together with symbionts conferring them conditional adaptive advantages related, for [...]... Read more »
Mandrioli M, Manicardi GC. (2013) Evolving aphids: one genome-one organism insects or holobionts?. Invertebrate Survival Journal, 1-6. info:/
- January 15, 2013
- 12:43 PM
- 108 views
Make your choice.. of plants!
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
Aphids harbour several obligate and facultative bacterial symbionts that have important effects on their life. Several surveys of secondary symbionts clearly show that particular species are strongly associated with aphids feeding on certain food plants. For instance, most pea aphid clones feeding on clover Trifolium sp. harbour Regiella insecticola, while those feeding on Medicago usually have Hamiltonella defensa. How can we explain [...]... Read more »
McLean, A., van Asch, M., Ferrari, J., & Godfray, H. (2010) Effects of bacterial secondary symbionts on host plant use in pea aphids. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 278(1706), 760-766. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.1654
Tsuchida, T. (2004) Host Plant Specialization Governed by Facultative Symbiont. Science, 303(5666), 1989-1989. DOI: 10.1126/science.1094611
Leonardo, T. (2004) Removal of a specialization-associated symbiont does not affect aphid fitness. Ecology Letters, 7(6), 461-468. DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00602.x
Ferrari, J., Scarborough, C., & Godfray, H. (2007) Genetic variation in the effect of a facultative symbiont on host-plant use by pea aphids. Oecologia, 153(2), 323-329. DOI: 10.1007/s00442-007-0730-2
- January 9, 2013
- 09:15 AM
- 113 views
Insects? Not just one genome-one organism
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
In the last day I read with great interest the intriguing review entitled “A symbiotic view of life: we have never been individuals” written by Scott F. Gilbert, Jan Sapp and Alfred I. Tauber and published in The Quarterly Review of Biology. Due to their parthenogenetic reproduction aphids are generally considered a sort of clone so that each [...]... Read more »
Oliver, K., Degnan, P., Hunter, M., & Moran, N. (2009) Bacteriophages Encode Factors Required for Protection in a Symbiotic Mutualism. Science, 325(5943), 992-994. DOI: 10.1126/science.1174463
- November 28, 2012
- 10:38 AM
- 135 views
Fight together or escape? an insect affair!
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
Fungi specialised to attack insects (in the photo from the blog Hyphal Happenings) are commonly present in the environment so that they have driven many aspects of the insect evolution, affecting behavioural, chemical and immune systems. In a recent paper published in PLoS One, Christine Turnbull and colleagues compared the activity of cuticular antifungal compounds in thrips [...]... Read more »
Turnbull C, Wilson PD, Hoggard S, Gillings M, Palmer C, Smith S, Beattie D, Hussey S, Stow A, & Beattie A. (2012) Primordial enemies: fungal pathogens in thrips societies. PloS one, 7(11). PMID: 23185420
HATANO, E., BAVERSTOCK, J., KUNERT, G., PELL, J., & WEISSER, W. (2012) Entomopathogenic fungi stimulate transgenerational wing induction in pea aphids, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Hemiptera: Aphididae). Ecological Entomology, 37(1), 75-82. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2311.2011.01336.x
- November 22, 2012
- 10:30 AM
- 114 views
Social behaviour and plant morphology: a case of extended phenotype in insects?
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
Some days ago I received a twit from Marleen Roelofs suggesting me a paper published in Nature Communications and related to aphids. The paper, entitled “An insect-induced novel plant phenotype for sustaining social life in a closed system” is extremely intriguing and deals about the evolution of aphids living inside galls. Gall aphids (in the photo from the [...]... Read more »
Kutsukake, M., Meng, X., Katayama, N., Nikoh, N., Shibao, H., & Fukatsu, T. (2012) An insect-induced novel plant phenotype for sustaining social life in a closed system. Nature Communications, 1187-1192. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2187
- October 5, 2012
- 10:06 AM
- 189 views
Aphids drive plant evolution
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
Phytophagous insects may impose natural selection on plants, which favors resistant plant genotypes and drives the evolutionary diversification of plant species. However, the rapid evolution of plant traits that confer resistance to herbivores (such as aphids) is not for free. As assessed in Science by Züst et al. the plant resistant genotypes are favored when the probability of insect damage is [...]... Read more »
J.D. Hare. (2012) How Insect Herbivores Drive the Evolution of Plants. Science, 116-119. DOI: 10.1126/science.1228893
T. Züst, C. Heichinger, U. Grossniklaus, R. Harrington, D.J. Kliebenstein, L.A. Turnbull1. (2012) Natural Enemies Drive Geographic Variation in Plant Defenses. Science, 116-119. DOI: 10.1126/science.1226397
- September 3, 2012
- 12:12 PM
- 176 views
Genetic selection? Ants do it!
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
Root aphid species have a number of distinct traits that improve performance as ant symbionts but are never found in free-living aphids, such as the trophobiotic organ to hold honeydew for the ants. The most common species have further lost most if not all sexual reproduction, but have maintained low frequencies of winged morphs that [...]... Read more »
Ivens AB, Kronauer DJ, Pen I, Weissing FJ, & Boomsma JJ. (2012) Ants farm subterranean aphids mostly in single clone groups - an example of prudent husbandry for carbohydrates and proteins?. BMC evolutionary biology, 12(1), 106. PMID: 22747564
- August 23, 2012
- 05:33 PM
- 178 views
Habitat management could favour the biological control of aphids
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
The creation of a suitable habitat within the agricultural landscape could provide resources such as food (pollen, nectar, alternative prey or hosts) or shelter for natural enemies favouring strategies of biological control. At this regard, Zhao-Ke Dong, Feng-Juan Gao and Run-Zhi Zhang evaluated (in a paper published in Insect Science) the use of ryegrass strips [...]... Read more »
Dong Z, Gao1 F, Zhang1 R. (2012) Use of ryegrass strips to enhance biological control of aphids by ladybirds in wheat fields. Insect Science, 529-534. DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7917.2011.01499.x
- August 21, 2012
- 09:53 AM
- 279 views
Aphids are not the unique animals producing carotenoids!
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
In a recent comment in Nature, Kathryn Lougheed wrote that “aphids are unique among animals in their ability to synthesize pigments called carotenoids”. Actually this is true among insects, but not in animals (as I wrote also in this post) considering that genomic copies of functional carotenoid biosynthesis genes were acquired via horizontal gene transfer [...]... Read more »
Grbić M, et al. (2011) The genome of Tetranychus urticae reveals herbivorous pest adaptations. Nature, 479(7374), 487-92. PMID: 22113690
Altincicek B, Kovacs JL, & Gerardo NM. (2012) Horizontally transferred fungal carotenoid genes in the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae. Biology letters, 8(2), 253-7. PMID: 21920958
Lougheed K. (2012) Photosynthesis-like process found in insects. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature.2012.11214
- August 21, 2012
- 07:14 AM
- 230 views
Aphids use light to produce ATP, but they are not doing photosynthesis
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
Coming back from holidays, I found a very intriguing paper published by Alain Robichon in Scientific Reports regarding the occurrence of photosynthesis in aphids.... Read more »
Plotkin M, Hod I, Zaban A, Boden SA, Bagnall DM, Galushko D, & Bergman DJ. (2010) Solar energy harvesting in the epicuticle of the oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis). Die Naturwissenschaften, 97(12), 1067-76. PMID: 21052618
Valmalette JC, Dombrovsky A, Brat P, Mertz C, Capovilla M, Robichon A. (2012) Light- induced electron transfer and ATP synthesis in a carotene synthesizing insect. Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/srep00579
- July 23, 2012
- 06:54 AM
- 226 views
Making galls
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
Following the Guide to Insects by Debbie Hadley I found a very nice summary about insects making galls. Aphids belonging to the subfamily Eriosomatinae (in the picture from Natura Mediterraneo) cause gall formations on the stems and petioles of certain trees, most notably cottonwood and poplar (as you can see in this video). Aphid galls vary in shape, [...]... Read more »
D.L. Stern. (1995) Phylogenetic Evidence that Aphids, Rather than Plants, Determine Gall Morphology. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B, 85-89. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.1995.0063
- June 21, 2012
- 05:51 PM
- 341 views
Does DNA barcoding support a limited gene flow hypothesis?
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
In recent years, several highly sensitive molecular markers have been developed to study the genetic structure of aphid natural populations and in several cases, the genetic variation has been associated with strong differential selection by different plant hosts. Mitochondrial DNA has been frequently used to assess genetic diversity in many insect species, so that at [...]... Read more »
Maha MEZGHANI-KHEMAKHEM, Dhia BOUKTILA, Imen KHARRAT, Mohamed MAKNI, Hanem MAKNI. (2012) Genetic variability of green citrus aphid populations from Tunisia, assessed by RAPD markers and mitochondrial DNA sequences. Entomological Science, 171-179. DOI: 10.1111/j.1479-8298.2011.00498.x
- June 19, 2012
- 03:52 PM
- 350 views
A 60 years long analysis looking for insect pests on potatoes
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
I started one year ago to save in my computer data about aphid distribution, host plants, resistance level, following some species such as Myzus persicae and Aphis fabae in fields near my city, since I would like to analyze their distribution in relation to climate change, chemical treatments and so on… this is why I [...]... Read more »
Lamb RJ, MacKay PA, Alyokhin A. (2011) Population variability and persistence of three aphid pests of potatoes over 60 years. Can. Entomol., 91-101. DOI: 10.4039/n10-053
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