Pests and Parasites News

December 28, 2024

Top Headlines

Fly Vs. Wasp: Stealing a Defense Move Helps Thwart a Predator

Dec. 25, 2024 — Many flies are plagued by parasitic wasps, which lay their eggs in fly larvae, turning them into surrogate wombs for wasp larvae. One common fly has successfully fought off its wasp predator by stealing a gene from bacteria that originated in ...

Growing Safer Spuds: Removing Toxins from Potatoes

Dec. 20, 2024 — Scientists have discovered a way to remove toxic compounds from potatoes and tomatoes, making them safer to eat and easier to store. The breakthrough could cut food waste and enhance crop farming in extreme environments, like outer ...

Research Points the Way to Lifesaving Antiparasitic Drugs While Unlocking a Scientific Mystery

Dec. 20, 2024 — A breakthrough in understanding how a single-cell parasite makes ergosterol (its version of cholesterol) could lead to more effective drugs for human leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease that afflicts ...

Genes Linked to Deadly Parasites' Spread Beyond Africa Identified

Dec. 19, 2024 — Parasites that cause the deadly illness known as sleeping sickness can spread beyond their native Africa as a result of mutations to key genes, a study ...

Latest Headlines

updated 4:14pm EST

Evolutionary Study Reveals the Toxic Reach of Disease-Causing Bacteria Across the Plant Kingdom

Dec. 19, 2024 — The capacity of bacteria to spread disease across the Plant Kingdom may be much more widespread than previously suspected, according to new ...

Discovery Provides Hope in Fighting Drug-Resistant Malaria

Dec. 18, 2024 — Researchers may have found a new target in fighting malaria -- a cholesterol-managing protein called ...

How Helicopter Parenting Protects Baby Reef Fish

Dec. 12, 2024 — Researchers have discovered a rare example of 'great fish parenting' with a common coral reef species found to actively protect their young by eating ...

Ugh, My Stomach: Identifying Amino Acids That Prevent Sporulation in Food Poisoning

Dec. 12, 2024 — A team analyzed the amino acids that affect the formation of spores in a bacterium that causes food poisoning, Clostridium perfringens, and ...

Toxoplasma Gondii Parasite Uses Unconventional Method to Make Proteins for Evasion of Drug Treatment

Dec. 9, 2024 — A study sheds new light on how Toxoplasma gondii parasites make the proteins they need to enter a dormant stage that allows them to escape drug ...

Insect Genome Offers Insights Into Rare Biological Conditions, Agricultural Biosecurity

Dec. 9, 2024 — Lice live their entire lives with a set of genes that in humans would indicate a late-stage degenerative disorder such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's ...

Unlocking Worm Strategies: A Path to Innovative Vaccines and Therapies

Dec. 9, 2024 — A research team has uncovered a molecular strategy employed by worm parasites (helminths) to evade host immune defenses. This discovery opens new avenues for the development of innovative vaccines ...

Historic Outbreaks of Coffee Wilt Disease Linked to Gene Transfer from Another Fungus

Dec. 5, 2024 — The fungus that causes coffee wilt disease repeatedly took up segments of DNA from a related fungal pathogen, which contributed to successive ...

A New Approach to Predicting Malaria Drug Resistance

Nov. 28, 2024 — Researchers analyzed the genomes of hundreds of malaria parasites to determine which genetic variants are most likely to confer drug ...

Neem Seed Extract Improves Effectiveness of Pesticide

Dec. 6, 2024 — A research group has developed an innovative pesticide delivery system called nanopesticides. These tiny technologies could change how we use ...

A Tropical Disease in Switzerland: Call for Coordinated Action on Chagas Disease

Dec. 20, 2024 — Researchers conducted a comprehensive review of Chagas disease in Switzerland. Although typically found in Latin America, Chagas disease affects between 2,000 and 4,000 people in Switzerland. The ...

Scientists 'Turn Up the Heat' on Understanding Coffee Wilt Disease Which Threatens Our Favorite Daily Brew

Dec. 5, 2024 — Scientists have 'turned up the heat' on how repeated outbreaks of coffee wilt disease threatened arabica and robusta varieties of our favorite daily coffee brew. The scientists say the ...

Natural 'Biopesticide' Against Malaria Mosquitoes Successful in Early Field Tests

Dec. 4, 2024 — An experimental bacteria-derived biopesticide is highly effective in killing malaria-carrying mosquitoes, including those that have developed resistance to chemical pesticides, according to initial ...

Insects Wearing Two Hats Solve Botanical Mystery

Dec. 4, 2024 — The discovery of a unique case where the same insect species both pollinate a plant and distribute its seeds not only solves a long-standing botanical mystery. The find also stresses the diverse ...

Breakthrough Could Revolutionize Future of Tick Control

Nov. 27, 2024 — Scientists create potential for genetic tools to control disease-spreading ...

New Gene Drive Reverses Insecticide Resistance in Pests... Then Disappears

Nov. 22, 2024 — Geneticists have developed a gene drive-based solution to the widespread problem of insecticide resistance. In an effort to protect valuable crops, the researchers created an 'e-Drive' that ...

What's the Story, Morning Glory?

Nov. 21, 2024 — Morning glory plants that can resist the effects of glyphosate also resist damage from herbivorous insects, according to a new ...

Stopping Severe Malaria by Harnessing Natural Human Antibodies

Nov. 20, 2024 — Scientists have identified human antibodies capable of targeting the proteins responsible for severe malaria, potentially paving the way for new vaccines or treatments. Using organ-on-a-chip ...

HIV Latency Reversing Properties in African Plant

Nov. 19, 2024 — The Wistar Institute and the University of Buea in Cameroon has uncovered the mechanisms for a medicinal plant with anti-HIV potential in Croton oligandrus Pierre & Hutch, a species of African ...

Study Uncovers First Evidence of Resistance to Standard Malaria Treatment in African Children With Severe Malaria

Nov. 14, 2024 — An international team of researchers has uncovered evidence of partial resistance to artemisinin derivatives -- the primary treatment for malaria -- in young children with severe ...

Robot Identifies Plants by 'Touching' Their Leaves

Nov. 13, 2024 — Researchers have developed a robot that identifies different plant species at various stages of growth by 'touching' their leaves with an electrode. The robot can measure properties such as ...

From Pets to Pests: Researchers Explore New Tool to Fight Disease-Carrying Insects

Nov. 12, 2024 — Researchers are testing a product commonly used to treat ticks and fleas on pets to target fly and mosquito larvae with the goal of helping reduce the spread of diseases carried by these ...

One Genomic Test Can Diagnose Nearly Any Infection

Nov. 12, 2024 — A genomic test developed by researchers to rapidly detect almost any kind of pathogen -- virus, bacteria, fungus or parasite -- has proved successful after a decade of ...

Insect-Killing Fungi Find Unexpected Harmony in War

Nov. 7, 2024 — A new study reveals that two strains of pathogenic fungi unexpectedly divide insect victims amongst themselves rather than aggressively compete for ...

Research Shows Caterpillar Fungus Can Slow Down Growth of Cancer Cells

Nov. 7, 2024 — New research into a chemical produced by a caterpillar fungus that has shown promise as a possible cancer treatment has revealed how it interacts with genes to interrupt cell growth signals. The ...

Deaf Male Mosquitoes Don't Mate

Nov. 5, 2024 — Romance is a complex affair in humans. There's personality, appearance, seduction, all manner of physical and social cues. Mosquitoes are much more blunt. Mating occurs for a few seconds in ...

Bacteria Breakthrough Could Accelerate Mosquito Control Schemes

Nov. 4, 2024 — Mosquito larvae grow faster if they're exposed to particular bacteria, according to a new study that could help global health ...

Not the Usual Suspects: Novel Genetic Basis of Pest Resistance to Biotech Crops

Nov. 4, 2024 — Researchers used genomics to investigate the genetic changes causing resistance to transgenic crops in field populations of the corn earworm, also known as cotton bollworm or Helicoverpa zea. They ...

The Reasons Flowers Wilt Could Explain How Plants Spend (and Save) Their Energy

Nov. 1, 2024 — Wilting flowers might not signal poor flower or plant health, but rather the effects of a sophisticated resource management strategy in plants, millions of years in the ...

Algae Research Provides Insight on Immune Health

Oct. 30, 2024 — Marine animals like jellyfish, corals and sea anemones often live with algae inside their cells in a symbiotic relationship. The animals give the algae nutrients and a place to live; in return, algae ...