Insect-host interaction

The parasite-host interaction continuously exerts selective pressure(s) on both insects to survive. The host insect presents a particularly challenging environment for endoparasites because of the rapid development and differentiation that characterize parasite and host life cycles (21,22, 80, 81). Endoparasites may exploit a variety of agents to suppress or avoid host defenses and to modify the normal development of the host to match their need polydnaviruses, venoms, oviduct secretions, and protective materials coating the parasite egg or produced by the endo-parasite as it develops within its host. 

The diversity in insect-plant interactions is overwhelming as each insect species shows a series of adaptations to its host plants. These adaptations involve morphological features like the insect s mouthparts, as well as behavioural and metabolic changes in order to cope with the physical and chemical characteristics of the plants to which phytophagous insects became adapted in evolutionary time. It is beyond the scope of the present paper to list all the adaptations of insects to plants, or even all the counter-adaptations of plants to insects. At the risk to generalize to an extent which over-simplifies the diversity in... 

Nordlund, D. A., Lewis, L. C. and Altieri, M. A. (1988). Influences of plant-produced allelochemicals on the host/prey selection behavior of entomophagous insects. In Novel Aspects of Insect-Plant Interactions, eds. P. Barbosa and D. Letourneau, pp. 65-90. New York John Wiley Sons. 

The excellent book of Schmidt-Hempel (1998) describes the large variety of parasites that infest social insects. Various orders of insect (Lepidoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, non-social Hymenoptera) and arachnid (Chelicerate Arachnids Aranea, Acari) parasites use chemical mimicry to manipulate social insect hosts, i.e., ants, bees and termites. Strangely, our perusal of the literature found no references describing this type of chemical interaction in social wasps, even though they are often parasitized by various macroparasites as well as other social insects from the same family, e.g. polistine wasps (see later). However, we found many references describing chemical manipulation by parasites of social hymenoptera and isoptera. 

Akhurst R, Dunphy GB. Tripartite interactions between symbioti-cally associated entomopathogenic bacteria, nematodes, and their insect hosts. In Parasites and Pathogens of Insects 2. Beckage N, Thompson S, Federici B, eds. 1993. Academic Press, New York, pp. 1—23. 

Hajek AE, St. Leger RJ. Interactions between fungal pathogens and insect hosts. Annu Rev Entomol 39 293-322, 1994. 

Teratocytes and Serosa. Teratocytes, which originate from the disintegration of an embryonic membrane or serosa (= trophamnion) of some parasitic Hymenoptera, appear to have a significant role in parasitoid-host interactions (, 77-80, Dahlman, D. L. Arch. Insect Biochem. Physiol., in press). A discussion of teratocytes is... 

In this paper we have only discussed chemical contact cues used by insects to identify ovipositional sites. In nature, olfactory, mechanical, and visual stimuli may also be important in the location, recognition, and acceptance of host plants. Much work remains to be done in this area. We believe that multidisciplinary teams are needed to work toward a more complete understanding of insect-plant interactions. With the knowledge obtained, plants can be more readily designed to naturally resist insect damage. 

Omacini M, ( haneton EJ, Ghersa CM, Muller CB (2001) Symbiotic fungal endophytes control insect host-parasite interaction webs. Nature 409 78-81... 

Doolittle, J. M., and S. M. Gomez. (2011). Mapping protein interactions between Dengue virus and its human and insect hosts. PLoS Negl Prop Dis 5 e954. 

Finch, S. 1986. Assessing host-plant finding by insects. In Insect-Plant Interactions, eds., J.R. Miller T.A. Miller, pp. 23-63, Springer-Verlag, New York. 

Up to now, studies aiming to understand the nature of the symbiosis between AAB and their hosts have focused mostly on their role or potential benefits conveyed by AAB to their hosts (Ryu et al. 2008 Gross et al. 2009 Shin et al. 2011 Chouaia et al. 2012 Lee et al. 2013). These studies have helped to explain interactions within the insect host, including the ability of AAB to colonize host tissues and interact with the innate immunity and developmental pathways of the host. For instance, Asaia benefits mosquito larvae during development (Chouaia et al. 2012 Mitraka et al. 2013), and AAB in Drosophila have been shown to modulate innate immunity (Ryu et al. 2008 Shin et al. 2011). 

L. J. Zwiebel and W. Takken. Olfactory regulation of mosquito-host interactions. Insect Biochem Mol Bio 34, 645, 2004. 

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