Pub Date : 2025-09-18DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101437
Joseph S Romanowski , Christian E Ogaugwu , Zach N Adelman
Genetic biocontrol strategies such as gene drives are garnering much attention due to the great potential to achieve population control at unprecedented speed and precision. Several endogenous DNA repair pathways can facilitate or counteract the success of gene drives. Current studies focus on HDR and NHEJ pathways and employ various detection and analytical methods to assess editing events due to these DNA repair pathways. However, other DNA repair pathways, such as MMEJ and SSA, could equally be leveraged to design better gene drives. More methods for predicting, detecting, and analyzing editing events due to these diverse pathways are needed. This review explores the currently available tools and packages to assist in this venture.
{"title":"Leveraging DNA repair mechanisms in genetically engineered biocontrol","authors":"Joseph S Romanowski , Christian E Ogaugwu , Zach N Adelman","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101437","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101437","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Genetic biocontrol strategies such as gene drives are garnering much attention due to the great potential to achieve population control at unprecedented speed and precision. Several endogenous DNA repair pathways can facilitate or counteract the success of gene drives. Current studies focus on HDR and NHEJ pathways and employ various detection and analytical methods to assess editing events due to these DNA repair pathways. However, other DNA repair pathways, such as MMEJ and SSA, could equally be leveraged to design better gene drives. More methods for predicting, detecting, and analyzing editing events due to these diverse pathways are needed. This review explores the currently available tools and packages to assist in this venture.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101437"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145102529","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 : 2025-09-17DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101435
Ji Hoon Kim, Ashleigh M Shoemaker, Katherine A Hutchings, Sagarika Shinde, Deborah J Andrew
Understanding how cells are specified and subsequently undergo the morphological and physiological specializations required to build functional organs has long been a goal of developmental biology studies. The Drosophila salivary gland (SG), a simple epithelial tubular organ specialized for secretion, has proven an excellent model for understanding how the complex process of organogenesis is orchestrated. The transcription factors (TFs) and signaling pathways that determine where in the developing embryo SGs form and how many cells contribute to each of the specialized cell types have been discovered. The early-expressed downstream SG TFs have been shown to regulate their own and each other’s expression and to also activate downstream target genes directly linked to the mechanical forces of tube morphogenesis and/or to secretory function. Indeed, recent discoveries reveal that the larval SG, long considered an excellent model for exocrine secretion, also functions as an endocrine organ to support overall animal growth, and undergoes massive apocrine secretion as its final act to protect the developing pupa from microbial infection.
{"title":"The Drosophila larval salivary gland, a simple and elegant model system to understand secretory organ development and function","authors":"Ji Hoon Kim, Ashleigh M Shoemaker, Katherine A Hutchings, Sagarika Shinde, Deborah J Andrew","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101435","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101435","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding how cells are specified and subsequently undergo the morphological and physiological specializations required to build functional organs has long been a goal of developmental biology studies. The Drosophila salivary gland (SG), a simple epithelial tubular organ specialized for secretion, has proven an excellent model for understanding how the complex process of organogenesis is orchestrated. The transcription factors (TFs) and signaling pathways that determine where in the developing embryo SGs form and how many cells contribute to each of the specialized cell types have been discovered. The early-expressed downstream SG TFs have been shown to regulate their own and each other’s expression and to also activate downstream target genes directly linked to the mechanical forces of tube morphogenesis and/or to secretory function. Indeed, recent discoveries reveal that the larval SG, long considered an excellent model for exocrine secretion, also functions as an endocrine organ to support overall animal growth, and undergoes massive apocrine secretion as its final act to protect the developing pupa from microbial infection.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101435"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145091273","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 : 2025-09-15DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101434
Michael R Strand
Hemocytes mediate defense responses that are collectively referred to as cellular immunity. Here, I highlight recent progress in the study of hemocyte ontogeny and function. Studies conducted primarily in D. melanogaster, mosquitoes, and Lepidoptera identify a number of transcription factors and signaling pathways that regulate hemocyte differentiation and proliferation. Single-cell RNA sequencing studies identify genes that distinguish transitional states in different hemocyte populations and changes that occur during immune responses. Several new studies expand the understanding of the functions of sessile hemocytes. Recent results also enhance understanding of the signaling pathways that regulate hemocyte functions.
{"title":"Recent insights in the development and functions of insect hemocytes","authors":"Michael R Strand","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101434","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101434","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hemocytes mediate defense responses that are collectively referred to as cellular immunity. Here, I highlight recent progress in the study of hemocyte ontogeny and function. Studies conducted primarily in <em>D. melanogaster,</em> mosquitoes, and Lepidoptera identify a number of transcription factors and signaling pathways that regulate hemocyte differentiation and proliferation. Single-cell RNA sequencing studies identify genes that distinguish transitional states in different hemocyte populations and changes that occur during immune responses. Several new studies expand the understanding of the functions of sessile hemocytes. Recent results also enhance understanding of the signaling pathways that regulate hemocyte functions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"73 ","pages":"Article 101434"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145079830","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 : 2025-09-12DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101433
Yuval Shalem, Tzvi S Goldberg, Guy Bloch
The seminal discovery that in adults of the highly social honey bee (Apis mellifera), juvenile hormone (JH) regulates age-related division of labor (DoL) but not adult fertility, unlike in most insects, has led to the hypothesis that the evolution of insect sociality involved modifications in JH signaling. Recent studies examining JH functions across the Hymenoptera provide two main insights: First, significant progress in studies of the bumble bee Bombus terrestris, which exhibits an intermediate level of social complexity relative to honey bees, shows that JH regulates multiple tissues involved in reproduction, but not task performance. JH also seems to function as a primary gonadotropin in bees showing solitary lifestyles or low levels of social complexity, highlighting a marked contrast with its roles in honey bees. Second, this association between JH function and social complexity in bees does not generalize to other lineages. The few studies on JH function in highly social stingless bees are not consistent with the honey bee model. In wasps and hornets, JH typically influences both fertility and age-related DoL. There is substantial variability across ant species, offering no consistent model linking JH function to social complexity. We propose that although JH signaling is commonly modified in social insects, the specific changes differ between — and sometimes within — lineages. There is no one model linking JH function to social complexity across major lineages, likely due to changes in related pathways. These modifications enable social insects to circumvent the trade-off between reproduction and maintenance.
{"title":"Juvenile hormone signaling and social complexity in the Hymenoptera","authors":"Yuval Shalem, Tzvi S Goldberg, Guy Bloch","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101433","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101433","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The seminal discovery that in adults of the highly social honey bee (<em>Apis mellifera</em>), juvenile hormone (JH) regulates age-related division of labor (DoL) but not adult fertility, unlike in most insects, has led to the hypothesis that the evolution of insect sociality involved modifications in JH signaling. Recent studies examining JH functions across the Hymenoptera provide two main insights: First, significant progress in studies of the bumble bee <em>Bombus terrestris</em>, which exhibits an intermediate level of social complexity relative to honey bees, shows that JH regulates multiple tissues involved in reproduction, but not task performance. JH also seems to function as a primary gonadotropin in bees showing solitary lifestyles or low levels of social complexity, highlighting a marked contrast with its roles in honey bees. Second, this association between JH function and social complexity in bees does not generalize to other lineages. The few studies on JH function in highly social stingless bees are not consistent with the honey bee model. In wasps and hornets, JH typically influences both fertility and age-related DoL. There is substantial variability across ant species, offering no consistent model linking JH function to social complexity. We propose that although JH signaling is commonly modified in social insects, the specific changes differ between — and sometimes within — lineages. There is no one model linking JH function to social complexity across major lineages, likely due to changes in related pathways. These modifications enable social insects to circumvent the trade-off between reproduction and maintenance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"72 ","pages":"Article 101433"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145063705","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 : 2025-09-08DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101432
Esther N Ngumbi
The association of plants with beneficial soil microbes, including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, can enhance plant growth and nutrient uptake while modifying plant traits, including growth rate, architecture, nutritional quality, secondary metabolites, phytohormones, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), necessary for interactions with insect pests and their natural enemies. Microbe-induced effects on insect herbivores and their natural enemies can be positive, neutral, or negative, and are context-dependent, creating the need for continued synthesis of published research to identify emerging patterns, recognize limitations, and guide future research. This perspective highlights three key pathways through which beneficial soil microbes drive interactions among agricultural plants, insect pests, and their natural enemies through the lens of applied research: (1) alterations in plant growth rate, architecture, and nutritional quality; (2) modifications of plant secondary metabolites and phytohormones; and (3) modifications in the emissions of VOCs. Existing limitations, including inconsistent and context-dependent outcomes, are summarized, and future research areas are outlined. Finally, this perspective emphasizes the need to understand how crop breeding, domestication, and climate change–associated stressors, individually and in combination, shape the outcomes of these interactions. Addressing limitations will ensure that microbe-based pest management strategies become dependable tools that producers can use to reduce pesticide use, protect crops from biotic and abiotic stressors, and sustainably enhance crop productivity.
{"title":"Beneficial soil microbes as drivers of plant–insect interactions: a perspective","authors":"Esther N Ngumbi","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101432","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101432","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The association of plants with beneficial soil microbes, including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, can enhance plant growth and nutrient uptake while modifying plant traits, including growth rate, architecture, nutritional quality, secondary metabolites, phytohormones, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), necessary for interactions with insect pests and their natural enemies. Microbe-induced effects on insect herbivores and their natural enemies can be positive, neutral, or negative, and are context-dependent, creating the need for continued synthesis of published research to identify emerging patterns, recognize limitations, and guide future research. This perspective highlights three key pathways through which beneficial soil microbes drive interactions among agricultural plants, insect pests, and their natural enemies through the lens of applied research: (1) alterations in plant growth rate, architecture, and nutritional quality; (2) modifications of plant secondary metabolites and phytohormones; and (3) modifications in the emissions of VOCs. Existing limitations, including inconsistent and context-dependent outcomes, are summarized, and future research areas are outlined. Finally, this perspective emphasizes the need to understand how crop breeding, domestication, and climate change–associated stressors, individually and in combination, shape the outcomes of these interactions. Addressing limitations will ensure that microbe-based pest management strategies become dependable tools that producers can use to reduce pesticide use, protect crops from biotic and abiotic stressors, and sustainably enhance crop productivity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"72 ","pages":"Article 101432"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145033102","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 : 2025-09-04DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101431
David Siaussat , Amandine Avilès
An increasing number of studies have highlighted the insidious effects of endocrine disruptors on insect endocrinology, development, and behavior, prompting concerns regarding the ecological consequences of these pollutants. This review explores the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on insect communication and behavior, focusing on the molecular mechanisms and ecological consequences. This study underscores the importance of addressing EDC risks in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functions.
{"title":"Endocrine-disrupting effects of contaminants on communication and behaviors of insects: from molecular effects to ecological consequences","authors":"David Siaussat , Amandine Avilès","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101431","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101431","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>An increasing number of studies have highlighted the insidious effects of endocrine disruptors on insect endocrinology, development, and behavior, prompting concerns regarding the ecological consequences of these pollutants. This review explores the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on insect communication and behavior, focusing on the molecular mechanisms and ecological consequences. This study underscores the importance of addressing EDC risks in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"72 ","pages":"Article 101431"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145008162","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 : 2025-08-28DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101428
Jean-Marc Devaud
Insects can adjust their behaviours through learning and memory, but this rather costly capacity is often impacted by stressors. Here, we address how this impact can be mediated by hormones and neuropeptides that are part of the insect physiological response to stress. While we only have a partial view of the involved regulatory interactions, recent work has contributed to unravel how these signals can modulate neural activity in response to stress. By targeting different neuron populations and/or processes, they appear to participate in a coordinated modulation that can either downregulate or preserve different aspects of learning and memory. However, our current knowledge is based on studies restricted to fruit flies and honey bees, usually focusing on a single stressor at a time. Thus, we call for comparative studies between responses to multiple stressors, and across a larger panel of species since these two models already appear to have notable specificities, possibly be related to solitary or social lifestyle.
{"title":"Learning under stress: how the insect brain copes","authors":"Jean-Marc Devaud","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101428","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101428","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Insects can adjust their behaviours through learning and memory, but this rather costly capacity is often impacted by stressors. Here, we address how this impact can be mediated by hormones and neuropeptides that are part of the insect physiological response to stress. While we only have a partial view of the involved regulatory interactions, recent work has contributed to unravel how these signals can modulate neural activity in response to stress. By targeting different neuron populations and/or processes, they appear to participate in a coordinated modulation that can either downregulate or preserve different aspects of learning and memory. However, our current knowledge is based on studies restricted to fruit flies and honey bees, usually focusing on a single stressor at a time. Thus, we call for comparative studies between responses to multiple stressors, and across a larger panel of species since these two models already appear to have notable specificities, possibly be related to solitary or social lifestyle.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"72 ","pages":"Article 101428"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144946143","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 : 2025-08-24DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101429
Margarita Orlova
Bumble bees are an economically and ecologically important group of social insects distributed primarily in boreal and temperate zones. Their social organization is distinct from that of other obligately eusocial taxa, likely because of their climatic adaptations. Queens differ from workers in physiological traits related to cold tolerance, such as size and lipid reserves. They directly manipulate the development of their offspring, reducing its size and developmental time. Manipulation of brood development and variance in body size among adults are important organizing features of bumblebee sociality. Investigation of these traits and of their diversity across species offers an insight into proximate mechanisms underlying evolutionary changes. Here, I review the recent body of work on bumble bee social organization, as well as open questions and directions for future study.
{"title":"Ice queens: bumble bee social organization shaped by adaptations to cold climates","authors":"Margarita Orlova","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101429","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101429","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Bumble bees are an economically and ecologically important group of social insects distributed primarily in boreal and temperate zones. Their social organization is distinct from that of other obligately eusocial taxa, likely because of their climatic adaptations. Queens differ from workers in physiological traits related to cold tolerance, such as size and lipid reserves. They directly manipulate the development of their offspring, reducing its size and developmental time. Manipulation of brood development and variance in body size among adults are important organizing features of bumblebee sociality. Investigation of these traits and of their diversity across species offers an insight into proximate mechanisms underlying evolutionary changes. Here, I review the recent body of work on bumble bee social organization, as well as open questions and directions for future study.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"72 ","pages":"Article 101429"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144946082","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}
Malaria continues to pose a critical public health threat, with mosquitoes from the Anopheles gambiae complex acting as the main vectors of the disease in sub-Saharan Africa, where approximately 95% of malaria-related deaths occur. Despite significant advancements in vector control, such as insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor spraying, the effectiveness of these interventions is increasingly compromised by various challenges, including rising levels of insecticide and pathogen resistance, mosquito behavioural adaptations, and persistent funding gaps. In this context, genetic vector control strategies have shown considerable promise, primarily based on findings from controlled laboratory studies. This review explores the development of these genetic approaches within the Anopheles gambiae complex and outlines future directions for their advancement and potential integration into malaria control efforts.
{"title":"Genetic control strategies for population suppression in the Anopheles gambiae complex: a review of current technologies","authors":"Alekos Simoni , Ignacio Tolosana , Federica Bernardini","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101430","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101430","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Malaria continues to pose a critical public health threat, with mosquitoes from the <em>Anopheles gambiae</em> complex acting as the main vectors of the disease in sub-Saharan Africa, where approximately 95% of malaria-related deaths occur. Despite significant advancements in vector control, such as insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor spraying, the effectiveness of these interventions is increasingly compromised by various challenges, including rising levels of insecticide and pathogen resistance, mosquito behavioural adaptations, and persistent funding gaps. In this context, genetic vector control strategies have shown considerable promise, primarily based on findings from controlled laboratory studies. This review explores the development of these genetic approaches within the <em>Anopheles gambiae</em> complex and outlines future directions for their advancement and potential integration into malaria control efforts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"72 ","pages":"Article 101430"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144932330","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 : 2025-08-08DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2025.101427
Thomas Klammsteiner , Carina D Heussler , Heribert Insam , Jeffery K Tomberlin , Birgit C Schlick-Steiner , Florian M Steiner
Interkingdom communication through volatile organic compounds influences interactions among organisms at a level often imperceptible to humans. Artificial settings that depend on the biotechnical exploitation of biological processes, such as the rapidly expanding sector of insect farming, are strongly affected by this often-overlooked multiway communication. Here, we aim to portray the significance of interkingdom communication influencing insect behavior. We use the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) as a model system to introduce the necessary actions to improve our understanding of communication between insects and microbes. Successful exploration of this phenomenon could transform the bioeconomy by improving insect mass-rearing processes and enhancing insect welfare. By interlocking behavioral and molecular ecology, chemistry, microbiology, and bioinformatics, we can uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying these interactions and develop practical applications for improved industrial practices. Future work should focus on pursuing research avenues to untangle the interwoven nature of insect behavior and microbial communities.
{"title":"Exploring interkingdom communication: the case of black soldier fly mass-rearing","authors":"Thomas Klammsteiner , Carina D Heussler , Heribert Insam , Jeffery K Tomberlin , Birgit C Schlick-Steiner , Florian M Steiner","doi":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101427","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cois.2025.101427","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Interkingdom communication through volatile organic compounds influences interactions among organisms at a level often imperceptible to humans. Artificial settings that depend on the biotechnical exploitation of biological processes, such as the rapidly expanding sector of insect farming, are strongly affected by this often-overlooked multiway communication. Here, we aim to portray the significance of interkingdom communication influencing insect behavior. We use the black soldier fly (<em>Hermetia illucens</em>) as a model system to introduce the necessary actions to improve our understanding of communication between insects and microbes. Successful exploration of this phenomenon could transform the bioeconomy by improving insect mass-rearing processes and enhancing insect welfare. By interlocking behavioral and molecular ecology, chemistry, microbiology, and bioinformatics, we can uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying these interactions and develop practical applications for improved industrial practices. Future work should focus on pursuing research avenues to untangle the interwoven nature of insect behavior and microbial communities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11038,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in insect science","volume":"72 ","pages":"Article 101427"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144815969","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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