Current opinion in insect science最新文献

Recent advances in nutrient sensing and endocrine regulation of insect growth and development.

IF 5.5 1区农林科学

Current opinion in insect science Pub Date : 2026-10-20 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2026.101636

Takashi Koyama, Michael James Texada

{"title":"Recent advances in nutrient sensing and endocrine regulation of insect growth and development.","authors":"Takashi Koyama, Michael James Texada","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2026.101636","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2026.101636","url":null,"abstract":"Regulation of proper growth across the whole body and within individual organs is fundamental for animals to achieve species-specific body size and proportions, which are crucial for maximizing fitness. To accomplish this, animals continuously sense changes in both environmental and internal conditions through specific cells and organs and adjust their growth to maximize their final size while minimizing developmental time, normally via endocrine signaling. Among environmental factors, nutrition is one of the most critical determinants of development. Because macronutrients are essential for growth, insects monitor both food quality and internal nutrient concentrations to adjust their growth and developmental timing through multiple endocrine factors. In insects, growth rate is primarily regulated by insulin-like peptides, functional and structural homologs of vertebrate insulin-superfamily peptides, and their receptor, insulin-like receptor. In contrast, growth duration is mainly controlled by the steroid molting hormone ecdysone and its nuclear hormone receptor, Ecdysone receptor. In addition to ecdysone, juvenile hormone, a sesquiterpenoid hormone that acts through its own nuclear receptor, Methoprene-tolerant, modulates the action of ecdysone and thereby influences both growth rate and duration. Recent studies have revealed that several cells and organs monitor both nutrient quality and internal macronutrient levels and release a variety of hormones and cytokines that fine-tune the production and secretion of the central growth-regulating hormones. This review summarizes recent advances in our understanding of how macronutrient-sensitive endocrine pathways coordinate appropriate growth and development in insects.","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":" ","pages":"101636"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149227497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

The role of insect-brain-inspired technology in drone warfare. 受昆虫大脑启发的技术在无人机战争中的作用。

IF 5.5 1区农林科学

Current opinion in insect science Pub Date : 2026-10-19 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2026.101638

Barbara Webb

{"title":"The role of insect-brain-inspired technology in drone warfare.","authors":"Barbara Webb","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2026.101638","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2026.101638","url":null,"abstract":"For many years, the potential for insect-like robots to be deployed in a military context has been explored in fiction, but also supported by research funding from defence agencies around the world. Recent conflicts have seen a rapid increase in the deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones); but is this at all related to new insights in insect science? In fact, the key advances behind this expansion are largely the result of hardware improvements, communication infrastructure and mainstream engineering solutions, combining to substantially lower the cost and increase the reliability of commercial drones. It is not obvious that any recent developments facilitating the deployment of drones for military operations are derived, even distantly, from insect brain research. However, current pressures, particularly to overcome the main countermeasures used against drones, are fueling a drive for enhanced autonomy, ideally with minimal increase in cost or complexity. This puts the spotlight on several specific insect-brain-inspired approaches that are already being explored for efficient control and navigation of UAVs. The current arms-race in development of drones and countermeasures seems likely to lead to rapid advances that, as for other military technologies, might ultimately offer substantial benefits for civilian applications, but could also have undesirable side-effects.","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":" ","pages":"101638"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149223475","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Unraveling gut-brain crosstalk: Lessons from Drosophila and other insect models. 解开肠脑相声：来自果蝇和其他昆虫模型的教训。

IF 5.5 1区农林科学

Current opinion in insect science Pub Date : 2026-10-19 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2026.101640

Qingyin Qian, Ryusuke Niwa

引用次数: 0

Herbivore offense in plant-herbivore coevolution. 植物-食草动物共同进化中的食草动物进攻。

IF 5.5 1区农林科学

Current opinion in insect science Pub Date : 2026-10-11 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2026.101635

Xosé López-Goldar

{"title":"Herbivore offense in plant-herbivore coevolution.","authors":"Xosé López-Goldar","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2026.101635","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2026.101635","url":null,"abstract":"Coevolution between plants and herbivores has been proposed as a major evolutionary force that resulted in their radiation and diversification. Plants have evolved a broad array of strategies that directly or indirectly avoid, repel, deter, or kill herbivore attackers. These include (but not limited to) tolerance to damage through compensatory growth of tissue lost from herbivory, resistance via physical and chemical defenses, induced responses, and avoidance through reduced apparency or phenological mismatch. In response, herbivores have evolved adaptations to circumvent, resist, detoxify and even use plant defenses for their own benefit (e.g., sequestration). These include anatomical, physiological and behavioral adaptations, but also symbiotic associations to overcome the defenses of the host plant. Ecologists and evolutionary biologists have been studying plant-herbivore interactions for decades. Recent advances in community ecology, genomics, metabolomics and transgenic approaches allowed us to uncover the mechanisms by which some herbivores acquired the ability to neutralize plant defenses, or how plant communities reduce herbivory by creating heterogeneous chemical landscapes. Future research should consider integrating trait syndromes rather than individual traits when testing hypotheses about plant-insect coevolution, and including the third trophic level as an important selective force in plant-herbivore coevolution.","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":" ","pages":"101635"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149164947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Managed Syrphid Flies for Pollination. 管理食蚜蝇授粉。

IF 5.5 1区农林科学

Current opinion in insect science Pub Date : 2026-10-10 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2026.101631

M Sánchez, B Belliure, W Nelson, Y Velásquez

{"title":"Managed Syrphid Flies for Pollination.","authors":"M Sánchez, B Belliure, W Nelson, Y Velásquez","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2026.101631","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2026.101631","url":null,"abstract":"Despite the essential role of insect pollinators for production and quality of 80% of crops, and the increasing expansion of pollinator-dependent crops, only a few hymenopteran species are used as managed pollinators. Syrphid flies, considered the most important pollinators after bees, are not yet a technically viable tool, although they are receiving increased research interest to develop them as managed pollinators. We reviewed the most recent literature on syrphid fly pollination management with the aim of contributing to a broader understanding of their mass rearing, effectiveness, and the available pollination strategies for a wide array of crops. Recent advances in mass-rearing have enabled the commercial availability of select syrphid species as managed pollinators. Combined with the evaluation of additional candidate species and ongoing research into field deployment, these developments are strengthening the scientific basis for hoverfly pollination in high-value crops. Further research and technology transfer efforts are needed to adapt syrphid pollination protocols across a broader range of crops, cropping systems and regions, ensuring their widespread adoption and significantly expanding the diversity of available managed pollinators.","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":" ","pages":"101631"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149164699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Gene Regulatory Network Reconstruction to Decipher the Molecular Mechanisms Governing Bacteriocyte-Based Symbioses. 基因调控网络重构以破译细菌细胞共生的分子机制。

IF 5.5 1区农林科学

Current opinion in insect science Pub Date : 2026-10-09 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2026.101633

Erwan Cruché, Mélanie Ribeiro Lopes, Patrick Callaerts, Sergio Peignier, Federica Calevro

{"title":"Gene Regulatory Network Reconstruction to Decipher the Molecular Mechanisms Governing Bacteriocyte-Based Symbioses.","authors":"Erwan Cruché, Mélanie Ribeiro Lopes, Patrick Callaerts, Sergio Peignier, Federica Calevro","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2026.101633","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2026.101633","url":null,"abstract":"Intracellular bacteria with beneficial roles for their hosts are present in more than 10% of all insect species. In intracellular nutritional symbioses, these symbionts are typically confined to specialized host cells known as bacteriocytes. Bacteriocytes are remarkable novel cells that arose independently and repeatedly across multiple insect lineages. They are fascinating structures, yet the molecular mechanisms regulating their development, function and even their evolutionary origins, remain largely unknown. Nonetheless, an important role for certain transcription factors in development and homeostasis of bacteriocytes has been highlighted by several studies, hinting at the importance of the transcriptional networks regulated by them. Gene Regulatory Network (GRN) inference facilitates discovery of regulatory interactions underlying complex biological processes, as first shown in the model species Drosophila melanogaster and subsequently successfully applied to several other insect species. Here, we propose de novo computational inference as a strategy to reconstruct GRNs of bacteriocytes. We propose that the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum is best suited to establish the first comparative framework for reconstructing and analyzing GRNs that control bacteriocyte development, function and death. This framework in turn can serve for evo-devo studies, by extending these analyses to other aphids, to other hemipterans and, more broadly, to other insects harboring bacteriocytes.","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":" ","pages":"101633"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149149699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Microbial contributions to aromatic amino acid acquisition in insects. 微生物对昆虫获得芳香氨基酸的贡献。

IF 5.5 1区农林科学

Current opinion in insect science Pub Date : 2026-10-09 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2026.101634

Mélanie Bretton, Claire Valiente Moro, Aurélien Vigneron

{"title":"Microbial contributions to aromatic amino acid acquisition in insects.","authors":"Mélanie Bretton, Claire Valiente Moro, Aurélien Vigneron","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2026.101634","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2026.101634","url":null,"abstract":"Aromatic amino acids (AAA) are essential for insect development and survival, serving as precursors for cuticle formation, immune defenses, and neurotransmitter synthesis. Because insect genomes lack the shikimate pathway, they must obtain AAA from external sources, raising the question of how microorganisms contribute to host AAA availability. Here, we review evidence spanning the continuum of insect-microbe associations, from obligate intracellular symbioses to diverse gut microbial communities. Comparative genomics reveals the repeated retention of shikimate and AAA biosynthetic pathways in intracellular symbionts despite extensive genome reduction, while experimental studies demonstrate that symbiont-derived AAA directly support cuticle maturation, desiccation resistance, and overall host performance. Similar nutritional roles are increasingly suspected in specialized extracellular gut symbioses, suggesting functional convergence between distinct organizational frameworks. Beyond these highly integrated associations, growing evidence indicates that gut microbiota may also influence host AAA homeostasis. Although direct microbial AAA provisioning remains difficult to demonstrate, microbiota disruption consistently affects AAA-dependent traits, including cuticle melanization and neurotransmitter-mediated behaviors. These effects are reinforced by experimental inhibition of microbial AAA biosynthesis. Together, these observations support the view that AAA are a central metabolic currency between insects and their microbial partners, with important consequences for insect physiology, fitness, and adaptation.","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":" ","pages":"101634"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149148059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Kleptoparasitic multiparasitism allows parasitoids to expand their host range to otherwise unsuitable invasive hosts. 盗寄生多重寄生使拟寄生物能够扩大其寄主范围，以适应其他不合适的入侵寄主。

IF 5.5 1区农林科学

Current opinion in insect science Pub Date : 2026-10-09 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2026.101632

Kazumu Kuramitsu, Narisara Piyasaengthong

{"title":"Kleptoparasitic multiparasitism allows parasitoids to expand their host range to otherwise unsuitable invasive hosts.","authors":"Kazumu Kuramitsu, Narisara Piyasaengthong","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2026.101632","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2026.101632","url":null,"abstract":"Biological invasions frequently disrupt co-evolved host-parasitoid interactions and create evolutionary traps in which native parasitoids attack unsuitable invasive hosts. While escape from such traps has traditionally been viewed as a consequence of adaptive evolution, recent studies suggest that ecological interactions among parasitoids may also enable exploitation of otherwise unsuitable hosts. In particular, increasing evidence supports the occurrence of \"pirate parasitism\", a specialized form of kleptoparasitism in which one parasitoid species enables another to successfully develop in an otherwise unsuitable host, often through host immune suppression. Here, we review historical and recent studies on pirate parasitism, clarify its conceptual framework, and discuss its ecological and evolutionary implications. Reported cases include both native sympatric systems and invasion-associated systems, suggesting that pirate parasitism may transiently expand realized host ranges, alleviate demographic costs of maladaptive oviposition, and potentially promote rewiring of host-parasitoid interaction networks. We further discuss the possibility that pirate parasitism functions as an ecological bridge between initial maladaptive host use and subsequent evolutionary host range expansion. Finally, we highlight major knowledge deficiencies, including limited evidence from natural ecosystems and unresolved behavioral and physiological mechanisms underlying pirate parasitism. Understanding kleptoparasitic interactions among parasitoids may provide new insights into eco-evolutionary dynamics in rapidly changing environments.","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":" ","pages":"101632"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149147672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Assembly by disassembly of the gut microbiota in Riptortus pedestris and other stinkbugs. 通过拆卸步行者和其他臭虫的肠道微生物群进行组装。

IF 5.5 1区农林科学

Current opinion in insect science Pub Date : 2026-09-24 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2026.101622

Peter Mergaert, Minhyung Jung, Yoshitomo Kikuchi, Tsubasa Ohbayashi

{"title":"Assembly by disassembly of the gut microbiota in Riptortus pedestris and other stinkbugs.","authors":"Peter Mergaert, Minhyung Jung, Yoshitomo Kikuchi, Tsubasa Ohbayashi","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2026.101622","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2026.101622","url":null,"abstract":"The gut is one of the largest internal organs in animals and is central to nutrition. Its need to uptake food from the environment implies it is open at both ends, exposing its lumen to the outside world and to colonization by ingested microbial communities. As the primary site of host-associated microbiota, the gut has, over evolutionary time, fostered stable associations with specific microbes to which the host has delegated key biological functions. Insect gut microbiota is of interest both for its impact on this ecologically important animal group and as a simplified model for understanding fundamental features of host-microbiota interactions. Here, we focus on the highly distinctive midgut of phytophagous stinkbugs (Heteroptera: Pentatomomorpha) and their associated microbiota. The most distinctive feature of the midgut is a posterior crypt-bearing region that constitutes a symbiotic organ housing a single specific bacterial symbiont population. The anterior gut harbors a more diverse microbial community. In many species, like Riptortus pedestris, microbe-free newborns ingest bacteria by soil probing and gradually filter them along the anterior to posterior gut axis. The process enriches Burkholderia sensu lato until a single Caballeronia strain is established in the crypt region. We describe the selective conditions in the gut and the reciprocal symbiont traits that precisely and reproducibly shape the gut microbiota from a variable soil community. Even if the process is accurate, it is, however, not without vulnerabilities because it enriches Burkholderia in the gut, comprising many pathogenic strains. The Caballeronia crypt symbionts and some pathogen strains can be exploited by the host to reinforce its immunity, but other strains cause deadly infections.","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":" ","pages":"101622"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149036963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

TGF-β-dependent regulation of juvenile hormone biosynthesis in insect development and metamorphosis TGF-β依赖性调节昆虫发育和变态过程中幼体激素的生物合成。

IF 4.8 1区农林科学

Current opinion in insect science Pub Date : 2026-06-01 Epub Date: 2026-01-19 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2026.101490

Yoshiyasu Ishimaru , Kohei Kawamoto , Sumihare Noji , Taro Mito

{"title":"TGF-β-dependent regulation of juvenile hormone biosynthesis in insect development and metamorphosis","authors":"Yoshiyasu Ishimaru , Kohei Kawamoto , Sumihare Noji , Taro Mito","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2026.101490","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2026.101490","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Insects undergo precisely coordinated developmental transitions regulated by ecdysteroids and juvenile hormone (JH). Recent studies in the hemimetabolous cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus, have revealed that transforming growth factor-β signaling directly regulates JH biosynthesis. In this system, Decapentaplegic (Dpp) promotes juvenile hormone acid methyltransferase (jhamt) expression and JH production, whereas Myoglianin (Myo) represses jhamt transcription. Functional analyses using RNA interference and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene knockout demonstrate that loss of myo leads to sustained JH overproduction, supernumerary molts, and failure of metamorphosis, establishing Myo as a key regulator of developmental timing during nymphal development. This review integrates findings from diverse insect lineages to place Myo-dependent regulation of JH biosynthesis within an evolutionary framework, highlighting its conserved endocrine roles in hemimetabolous insects and its lineage-specific diversification in holometabolous species. Together, these studies provide new insights into how Myo signaling links growth status to endocrine control of developmental progression and metamorphosis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"75 ","pages":"Article 101490"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146017783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0