Pub Date : 2025-11-20DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101463
Shannon B Olsson
As human-driven urbanization, environmental change, agricultural intensification, pesticides, pollution, and invasive species expand across the globe, our insect populations face precipitous decline. Meanwhile, the connection of our modern societies with nature mirrors this decline. As academics, we must become active advocates for insect stewardship worldwide. Insect stewardship requires us to move beyond promoting respect for insects and their survival to citizen-led protection and management of insects through habitat protection, ethical considerations, and sustainable practices. This perspective offers a discussion on modern culture’s increasing disconnection with insects as well as current interventions to increase insect stewardship based on the COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation to Behavior) model of behavioral change.
{"title":"From apathy to advocacy: insect stewardship for our modern world","authors":"Shannon B Olsson","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101463","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101463","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As human-driven urbanization, environmental change, agricultural intensification, pesticides, pollution, and invasive species expand across the globe, our insect populations face precipitous decline. Meanwhile, the connection of our modern societies with nature mirrors this decline. As academics, we must become active advocates for insect stewardship worldwide. Insect stewardship requires us to move beyond promoting respect for insects and their survival to citizen-led protection and management of insects through habitat protection, ethical considerations, and sustainable practices. This perspective offers a discussion on modern culture’s increasing disconnection with insects as well as current interventions to increase insect stewardship based on the COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation to Behavior) model of behavioral change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"74 ","pages":"Article 101463"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145581927","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}
Mosquitoes are the deadliest organisms on Earth, as they transmit a wide range of medically important diseases, posing a major public health threat worldwide. Controlling vector-borne diseases presents numerous challenges, and the alarming rise in their incidence underscores the urgent need for innovative strategies, with genetic control offering a promising approach. Genetic engineering of mosquitoes requires a profound understanding of mosquito physiology and molecular aspects of host–pathogen interactions. Over the years, several stages of the Plasmodium parasite development within the mosquito have been extensively studied, with many molecular mechanisms successfully elucidated. However, important features of the parasite journey remain unclear, particularly the sporozoite’s ability to recognize and invade the salivary glands. This process involves a complex interplay of proteins and other molecules, yet much remains to be discovered about the precise mechanisms at play. Advancing our knowledge of this critical step will be instrumental in designing more effective transgenes for genetic control strategies, particularly those aimed at mosquito population replacement.
{"title":"Genetic control of malaria transmission: a salivary gland-centric perspective","authors":"Sabina Eze, Valerie T Nguyen, Alec Morvay, Yoosook Lee, Bianca Correa Burini","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101462","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101462","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mosquitoes are the deadliest organisms on Earth, as they transmit a wide range of medically important diseases, posing a major public health threat worldwide. Controlling vector-borne diseases presents numerous challenges, and the alarming rise in their incidence underscores the urgent need for innovative strategies, with genetic control offering a promising approach. Genetic engineering of mosquitoes requires a profound understanding of mosquito physiology and molecular aspects of host–pathogen interactions. Over the years, several stages of the <em>Plasmodium</em> parasite development within the mosquito have been extensively studied, with many molecular mechanisms successfully elucidated. However, important features of the parasite journey remain unclear, particularly the sporozoite’s ability to recognize and invade the salivary glands. This process involves a complex interplay of proteins and other molecules, yet much remains to be discovered about the precise mechanisms at play. Advancing our knowledge of this critical step will be instrumental in designing more effective transgenes for genetic control strategies, particularly those aimed at mosquito population replacement.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"74 ","pages":"Article 101462"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145556414","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}
Pub Date : 2025-11-14DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101461
Gianluca Tettamanti , Morena Casartelli , Amr Mohamed , Umut Toprak , Daniele Bruno , Ling Tian
Cell death-related processes are fundamental to insect physiology, playing essential roles in development, immune response, and metamorphosis, thereby maintaining tissue and organism’s homeostasis. Among the various cell death mechanisms, apoptosis is crucial for sculpting tissues, eliminating damaged or infected cells, and limiting pathogen replication. In parallel, autophagy serves as a self-recycling process that facilitates nutrient allocation, stress resilience, and remodeling of larval structures during development but, in specific contexts, can be associated with cell death. Beyond their physiological importance, apoptosis and autophagy have emerged as attractive targets for pest control. To this purpose, two strategies can be envisaged: i) inducing cell death in key tissues using natural or synthetic compounds to compromise insects’ physiology and ii) manipulating apoptotic and autophagic signaling pathways through chemical or genetic tools, such as RNA interference (RNAi) or clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 systems, to impair development and immunity, thus reducing insect survival and fitness. Harnessing these cell death pathways offers promising new avenues for controlling insect pests and vector-borne diseases. However, further research is needed to improve the specificity, efficacy, and environmental safety of these approaches.
{"title":"Targeting cell death processes for insect pest control: a promising but still underexploited strategy","authors":"Gianluca Tettamanti , Morena Casartelli , Amr Mohamed , Umut Toprak , Daniele Bruno , Ling Tian","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101461","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101461","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cell death-related processes are fundamental to insect physiology, playing essential roles in development, immune response, and metamorphosis, thereby maintaining tissue and organism’s homeostasis. Among the various cell death mechanisms, apoptosis is crucial for sculpting tissues, eliminating damaged or infected cells, and limiting pathogen replication. In parallel, autophagy serves as a self-recycling process that facilitates nutrient allocation, stress resilience, and remodeling of larval structures during development but, in specific contexts, can be associated with cell death. Beyond their physiological importance, apoptosis and autophagy have emerged as attractive targets for pest control. To this purpose, two strategies can be envisaged: i) inducing cell death in key tissues using natural or synthetic compounds to compromise insects’ physiology and ii) manipulating apoptotic and autophagic signaling pathways through chemical or genetic tools, such as RNA interference (RNAi) or clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 systems, to impair development and immunity, thus reducing insect survival and fitness. Harnessing these cell death pathways offers promising new avenues for controlling insect pests and vector-borne diseases. However, further research is needed to improve the specificity, efficacy, and environmental safety of these approaches.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"74 ","pages":"Article 101461"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145534034","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}
Pub Date : 2025-11-14DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101460
Jane E Allison , Marshall W Ritchie , Heath A MacMillan , Laura V Ferguson
The world relies heavily on plastic use in daily life, leading to increased global concern over mismanagement of plastic waste, its entry into natural environments, and impacts on living organisms. Over time, plastic in the environment will break down into microplastics (5 mm–1 µm) and eventually into nanoplastics (<1 µm), which are found in many living organisms, including insects. Insects are also of particular interest in plastic waste management because of their potential role in degrading plastic waste. However, these applications have not yet been scalable, and the ubiquity and consequences of plastic ingestion are unclear. Further, insect–plastic interactions are complicated by the seemingly endless combinations of shapes, types, sizes, and concentrations of plastics. As a result, we have a fragmented body of literature and unclear patterns that raise questions about whether resources put toward studying insect–plastic interactions should be placed elsewhere and why, or how much, we should care. Nevertheless, insects are vital members of almost all ecosystems, and their populations are already threatened by numerous stressors; thus, ignoring another potential threat would be unwise. To reveal clear patterns that can shape how we invest in mitigating and harnessing insect–plastic interactions, we pose six major questions. We also present a matrix of ‘care' that combines the likelihood of exposure with the strength of the outcome of the interaction. We aim for these questions and matrix to serve as tools to guide broader participation, research priorities, and allocation of resources, to tackle what is currently a prodigious, but worthy, pursuit.
{"title":"How much should we care about insect–plastic interactions?","authors":"Jane E Allison , Marshall W Ritchie , Heath A MacMillan , Laura V Ferguson","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101460","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101460","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The world relies heavily on plastic use in daily life, leading to increased global concern over mismanagement of plastic waste, its entry into natural environments, and impacts on living organisms. Over time, plastic in the environment will break down into microplastics (5 mm–1 µm) and eventually into nanoplastics (<1 µm), which are found in many living organisms, including insects. Insects are also of particular interest in plastic waste management because of their potential role in degrading plastic waste. However, these applications have not yet been scalable, and the ubiquity and consequences of plastic ingestion are unclear. Further, insect–plastic interactions are complicated by the seemingly endless combinations of shapes, types, sizes, and concentrations of plastics. As a result, we have a fragmented body of literature and unclear patterns that raise questions about whether resources put toward studying insect–plastic interactions should be placed elsewhere and why, or how much, we should care. Nevertheless, insects are vital members of almost all ecosystems, and their populations are already threatened by numerous stressors; thus, ignoring another potential threat would be unwise. To reveal clear patterns that can shape how we invest in mitigating and harnessing insect–plastic interactions, we pose six major questions. We also present a matrix of ‘care' that combines the likelihood of exposure with the strength of the outcome of the interaction. We aim for these questions and matrix to serve as tools to guide broader participation, research priorities, and allocation of resources, to tackle what is currently a prodigious, but worthy, pursuit.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"74 ","pages":"Article 101460"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145533991","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}
Pub Date : 2025-11-09DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101458
Doga Cedden , Gözde Güney
Insects produce diverse small RNAs (sRNAs) that play important roles in gene regulation and immunity, and some are being exploited as species-specific pest control strategies. Here, we review recent advances in insect sRNA biology. First, we summarize the canonical classes, microRNAs (miRNAs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), and PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs). Next, we highlight emerging functions for transfer RNA-derived sRNAs (tsRNAs) in development and stress responses. We highlight that mechanistic studies are now beginning to link sRNAs to various biological phenomena using methods such as RNA sequencing and degradomics in combination with functional validations. We outline design features that increase the efficacy of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) derived siRNAs and note that siRNAs appear to play a limited part in transposon control compared with piRNAs. We discuss emerging roles of piRNAs in reproduction and sex determination that suggest potential pest control strategies. Lastly, we highlight emerging evidence for cross-kingdom miRNAs delivered by insects to plants to facilitate herbivory, and conversely, plant miRNAs that may be transferred to insects to regulate their physiology. Overall, we argue that our understanding of insect sRNAs is rapidly expanding, which has implications for novel pest management strategies.
{"title":"Small RNAs in insects: emerging classes and functions","authors":"Doga Cedden , Gözde Güney","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101458","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101458","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Insects produce diverse small RNAs (sRNAs) that play important roles in gene regulation and immunity, and some are being exploited as species-specific pest control strategies. Here, we review recent advances in insect sRNA biology. First, we summarize the canonical classes, microRNAs (miRNAs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), and PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs). Next, we highlight emerging functions for transfer RNA-derived sRNAs (tsRNAs) in development and stress responses. We highlight that mechanistic studies are now beginning to link sRNAs to various biological phenomena using methods such as RNA sequencing and degradomics in combination with functional validations. We outline design features that increase the efficacy of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) derived siRNAs and note that siRNAs appear to play a limited part in transposon control compared with piRNAs. We discuss emerging roles of piRNAs in reproduction and sex determination that suggest potential pest control strategies. Lastly, we highlight emerging evidence for cross-kingdom miRNAs delivered by insects to plants to facilitate herbivory, and conversely, plant miRNAs that may be transferred to insects to regulate their physiology. Overall, we argue that our understanding of insect sRNAs is rapidly expanding, which has implications for novel pest management strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101458"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145494263","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}
Pub Date : 2025-11-09DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101459
Kerui Huang , Norbert Perrimon
Energy storage and mobilization are fundamental to physiology and survival, yet their dysregulation drives obesity, diabetes, cancer, and age-related diseases. Drosophila melanogaster offers a tractable model for dissecting these pathways because its metabolic and endocrine circuits mirror those of vertebrates. In flies, the fat body functions like mammalian adipose and liver tissues, as it stores triacylglycerol and glycogen, produces lipoproteins, and serves as a major immune site. In addition, hepatocyte-like oenocytes direct lipid mobilization and trafficking during nutrient stress, synthesize cuticular hydrocarbons, and help regulate fertility and behavior. This review surveys discoveries enabled by single-cell genomics, metabolomics, and advanced genetics, with a focus on how the fat body and oenocytes integrate metabolism with reproduction, immunity, and aging.
{"title":"Metabolic command centers in Drosophila: how the fat body and oenocytes orchestrate immunity, reproduction, and aging","authors":"Kerui Huang , Norbert Perrimon","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101459","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101459","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Energy storage and mobilization are fundamental to physiology and survival, yet their dysregulation drives obesity, diabetes, cancer, and age-related diseases. <em>Drosophila melanogaster</em> offers a tractable model for dissecting these pathways because its metabolic and endocrine circuits mirror those of vertebrates. In flies, the fat body functions like mammalian adipose and liver tissues, as it stores triacylglycerol and glycogen, produces lipoproteins, and serves as a major immune site. In addition, hepatocyte-like oenocytes direct lipid mobilization and trafficking during nutrient stress, synthesize cuticular hydrocarbons, and help regulate fertility and behavior. This review surveys discoveries enabled by single-cell genomics, metabolomics, and advanced genetics, with a focus on how the fat body and oenocytes integrate metabolism with reproduction, immunity, and aging.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101459"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145494159","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}
Pub Date : 2025-11-04DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101457
Rituja S Bisen, Sander Liessem, Martina Held, Jan M Ache
Maintaining energy homeostasis is a fundamental requirement for survival. At the core, animals must balance periods of food-searching and feeding with other essential, energy-consuming behaviors. This also applies to insects, which spend a considerable fraction of their lifetime foraging — sometimes under extreme conditions. The motivation to search for food is increased by a lack of energy stores, which drives a hunger signal generated by the interplay between the depletion of energy stores, enteroceptors, and neuroendocrine signaling pathways. These changes alter the internal state of the animal, which modulates the activity of sensorimotor circuits to drive behavioral changes. Here, we review recent insights into the modulation of locomotor activity and foraging by two systems that play critical and antagonistic roles in linking energy homeostasis to behavioral changes in insects and other animals: the insulin and the octopamine system.
{"title":"The role of insulin and octopamine in regulating energy homeostasis and locomotion in insects","authors":"Rituja S Bisen, Sander Liessem, Martina Held, Jan M Ache","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101457","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101457","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Maintaining energy homeostasis is a fundamental requirement for survival. At the core, animals must balance periods of food-searching and feeding with other essential, energy-consuming behaviors. This also applies to insects, which spend a considerable fraction of their lifetime foraging — sometimes under extreme conditions. The motivation to search for food is increased by a lack of energy stores, which drives a hunger signal generated by the interplay between the depletion of energy stores, enteroceptors, and neuroendocrine signaling pathways. These changes alter the internal state of the animal, which modulates the activity of sensorimotor circuits to drive behavioral changes. Here, we review recent insights into the modulation of locomotor activity and foraging by two systems that play critical and antagonistic roles in linking energy homeostasis to behavioral changes in insects and other animals: the insulin and the octopamine system.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101457"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145458210","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}
Pub Date : 2025-10-29DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101455
Nishtha Nayyar , Surjeet Kumar Arya , Douglas A Harrison , Subba Reddy Palli
Single-cell genomic technologies are transforming insect science, shifting the field from basic description to functional and mechanistic research. These methods provide remarkable insights into insect physiology, development, immunity, and evolution by enabling detailed analysis of cellular diversity and molecular complexity. The rapid advancement of single-cell multi-omics technologies has made it possible to explore transcriptomic, epigenomic, proteomic, and metabolic levels, offering a comprehensive view of molecular dynamics within cells. New techniques also hold promise for high-throughput spatial transcriptomics that reveal tissue organization at subcellular resolution. The effectiveness of these technologies has greatly improved due to concurrent progress in analytical tools and deep learning algorithms capable of integrating all outputs for unprecedented biological insights. Together, these innovations have led to exciting discoveries in insect biology in a short period. This review highlights recent progress in single-cell genomics, discusses new perspectives gained in insect biology, and examines future directions for this technology from an entomological standpoint.
{"title":"Recent advances and applications of single-cell sequencing in insects","authors":"Nishtha Nayyar , Surjeet Kumar Arya , Douglas A Harrison , Subba Reddy Palli","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101455","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101455","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Single-cell genomic technologies are transforming insect science, shifting the field from basic description to functional and mechanistic research. These methods provide remarkable insights into insect physiology, development, immunity, and evolution by enabling detailed analysis of cellular diversity and molecular complexity. The rapid advancement of single-cell multi-omics technologies has made it possible to explore transcriptomic, epigenomic, proteomic, and metabolic levels, offering a comprehensive view of molecular dynamics within cells. New techniques also hold promise for high-throughput spatial transcriptomics that reveal tissue organization at subcellular resolution. The effectiveness of these technologies has greatly improved due to concurrent progress in analytical tools and deep learning algorithms capable of integrating all outputs for unprecedented biological insights. Together, these innovations have led to exciting discoveries in insect biology in a short period. This review highlights recent progress in single-cell genomics, discusses new perspectives gained in insect biology, and examines future directions for this technology from an entomological standpoint.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101455"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145421468","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}
Pub Date : 2025-10-27DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101456
Gordana Rašić , John M Marshall
Mosquito-borne diseases remain a major global health burden, and novel biocontrol tools are quickly advancing from the laboratory to the field. Mathematical models play a central role in evaluating these interventions, yet their predictive accuracy depends on robust parameterization. Population genomics presents a powerful opportunity to address this challenge. Here, we review progress at the interface between mosquito genomics and biocontrol modeling, highlighting how genomic data have informed our understanding of mosquito population structure, standing genetic variation at gene drive target sites, and sources of resurgence for suppressed populations. We also discuss frontiers, including new approaches to quantifying gene flow, mating behaviors, and inbreeding depression, all of which shape intervention outcomes. By tapping this potential to better quantify our understanding of mosquito ecology, modelers can develop context-specific models with better predictive accuracy, supporting efficacy and risk assessment, design of field trials and interventions, and promotion of regulation and public trust.
{"title":"Integrating mosquito genomics into simulation modeling: opportunities for better-informed biocontrol","authors":"Gordana Rašić , John M Marshall","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101456","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101456","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mosquito-borne diseases remain a major global health burden, and novel biocontrol tools are quickly advancing from the laboratory to the field. Mathematical models play a central role in evaluating these interventions, yet their predictive accuracy depends on robust parameterization. Population genomics presents a powerful opportunity to address this challenge. Here, we review progress at the interface between mosquito genomics and biocontrol modeling, highlighting how genomic data have informed our understanding of mosquito population structure, standing genetic variation at gene drive target sites, and sources of resurgence for suppressed populations. We also discuss frontiers, including new approaches to quantifying gene flow, mating behaviors, and inbreeding depression, all of which shape intervention outcomes. By tapping this potential to better quantify our understanding of mosquito ecology, modelers can develop context-specific models with better predictive accuracy, supporting efficacy and risk assessment, design of field trials and interventions, and promotion of regulation and public trust.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101456"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145399952","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}
Pub Date : 2025-10-18DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101454
Alexis L Kriete , Maxwell J Scott
Conditional female-to-male sex conversion systems are promising tools for improving the Sterile Insect Technique, an environmentally-friendly form of genetic pest control. In recent years, several conditional sex conversion systems, employing various effector genes and gene expression techniques, have been designed and evaluated in diverse insect species. While no system described thus far is ready for real-world use, valuable insight into insect physiology and sex determination has been gained. Additional basic research on insect sex determination mechanisms, particularly dosage compensation, coupled with increasingly flexible and powerful tools for gene expression and editing, should enable researchers to improve existing sex conversion systems, as well as to develop new systems in non-model insect pests.
{"title":"Conditional sex conversion systems for improved control of insect pests","authors":"Alexis L Kriete , Maxwell J Scott","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101454","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101454","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Conditional female-to-male sex conversion systems are promising tools for improving the Sterile Insect Technique, an environmentally-friendly form of genetic pest control. In recent years, several conditional sex conversion systems, employing various effector genes and gene expression techniques, have been designed and evaluated in diverse insect species. While no system described thus far is ready for real-world use, valuable insight into insect physiology and sex determination has been gained. Additional basic research on insect sex determination mechanisms, particularly dosage compensation, coupled with increasingly flexible and powerful tools for gene expression and editing, should enable researchers to improve existing sex conversion systems, as well as to develop new systems in non-model insect pests.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101454"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145336702","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}
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