Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are short, mainly positively charged, amphipathic molecules.
AMPs are important effectors of the immune response in insects with a broad spectrum of …

Pediculus humanus is an obligate bloodsucking ectoparasite of human that includes two
ecotypes, head louse and body louse, which differ slightly in morphology and biology, but …

Ticks are of medical importance owing to their ability to transmit pathogens to humans and
animals. The Rocky Mountain wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni, is a vector of a number of …

Symbioses with microbes play a pivotal role in the evolutionary success of insects, and can
lead to intimate host–symbiont associations. However, how the host maintains a stable …

Diseases caused by arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses), such as Dengue, West Nile, and
Chikungunya, constitute a major global health burden and are increasing in incidence and …

Due to the omnipresent risk of epidemics, insect societies have evolved sophisticated
disease defences at the individual and colony level. An intriguing yet little understood …

A host's immune system plays a central role in shaping the composition of the microbiota
and, in return, resident microbes influence immune responses. Symbiotic associations of the …

Insects have evolved obligate, mutualistic interactions with bacteria without further
transmission to other eukaryotic organisms. Such long-term obligate partnerships between …

Understanding the coevolution of hosts and parasites is a long‐standing goal of
evolutionary biology. There is a well‐developed theoretical framework to describe the …

Insects commonly harbor facultative bacterial endosymbionts, such as Wolbachia and
Spiroplasma species, that are vertically transmitted from mothers to their offspring. These …