Insect Symbiosis

368pp  ISBN 0849312868      £75.00

• Summarizes the current knowledge of the relationship between insects and symbiotic organisms, with a special focus on Wolbachia
• Reveals how knowledge of symbiotic relationships of disease-carrying insects and agricultural pests offer new ways of approaching control strategies
• Presents well-referenced work from authors in an array of fields such as molecular biology, microbiology, and parasitology, as a foundation for further study
• Offers findings of particular interest to professionals in entomology, genetics, veterinary medicine, zoology, and evolution

Insect Symbiosis is a collection of chapters written by world authorities on the microbes that can be called symbionts that are associated with insects and mites. Whether bacteria, fungi or spiroplasmids, and whether endosymbionts or casual gut symbionts, the authors describe some of the latest work in a field that has grown rapidly since the development of the newer molecular methods, which allowed for the identification of even minute samples of microbes without the need for culturing.

This reference summarizes the current knowledge of the relationship between symbiotic organisms and their insect hosts and provides an unparalleled analysis of cutting-edge research on this issue. Findings from international experts reveal possible new ways to control disease-carrying insects and agricultural pests worldwide. An examination of Wolbachia, considered by many as a vehicle to deliver anti-malarial and anti-plant virus strategies, is also included. Insect Symbiosis serves as a great reference on host-parasitic relationships for professionals from a broad range of fields.

Contents

• Insect Symbiosis: An Introduction, Hajime Ishikawa
• Buchnera Bacteria and Other Symbionts of Aphids, Angela E. Douglas
• Comparative Genomics of Insect Endosymbionts, Ivica Tamas and Siv G.E. Andersson
• Symbiosis in Tsetse, Serap Aksoy
• Endosymbiosis in the Weevil of the Genus Sitophilus: Genetic, Physiological, and Molecular Interactions among Associated Genomes, Abdelaziz Heddi
• Rhodnius prolixus and Its Symbiont, Rhodococcus rhodnii: A Model for Paratransgenic Control of Disease Transmission, Ravi V. Durvasula, Ranjini K. Sundaram, Celia Cordon-Rosales, Pamela Pennington, and C. Ben Beard
• Bark Beetle-Fungus Symbioses, Diana L. Six
• Symbiotic Relationships of Tephritids, Carol R. Lauzon
• Symbionts Affecting Termite Behavior, Kenji Matsuura
• Symbiosis of Microsporidia and Insects, Philip Agnew, James J. Becnel, Dieter Ebert, and Yannis Michalakis
• A New Bacterium from the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides Phylum That Causes Sex-Ratio Distortion, Andrew R. Weeks and Johannes A.J. Breeuwer
• Inherited Microorganisms That Selectively Kill Male Hosts: The Hidden Players of Insect Evolution? Gregory D.D. Hurst, Francis M. Jiggins, and Michael E.N. Majerus
• Wolbachia pipientis: Impotent by Association, Stephen L. Dobson
• Cytoplasmic Incompatibility, Kostas Bourtzis, Henk R. Braig, and Timothy L. Karr
• Parthenogenesis Associated with Wolbachia, Martinus E. Huigens and Richard Stouthamer
• Insights into Wolbachia Obligatory Symbiosis, Franck Dedeine, Claudio Bandi, Michel Boulétreau, and Laura H. Kramer
• Symbiosis and the Origin of Species, Seth R. Bordenstein
• Discovery of Symbiont-Host Horizontal Genome Transfer: A Beetle Carrying Two Bacterial and One Chromosomal Wolbachia Endosymbionts, Takema Fukatsu, Natsuko Kondo, Nobuyuki Ijichi, and Naruo Nikoh