1 Spatial and temporal habitat heterogeneity represented by annual crops is a major factor influencing population dynamics of phytophagous insect pests such as the cotton aphid Aphis gossypii Glover. We studied the effects of instability of the cotton agroecosystem resulting from the temporary availability of the plant resource and the repeated use of insecticides on the genetic variability of the cotton aphids. 2 Samples of A. gossypii were collected in cotton plots, treated or not with insecticides and from vegetable crops (Malvaceae, Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae) within the cotton growing area of northern Cameroon. The genetic structure of the samples was assessed using eight microsatellite markers. Insecticide resistance was estimated through the detection of two mutations in the ace -1 gene that are associated with insensitivity of acetylcholinesterase to carbamate and organophosphate insecticides. 3 The results obtained show that both host plants and insecticides act in genetic structuring of A. gossypii . Ninety-three percent of aphids collected on cotton were characterized by the same microsatellite multilocus genotype, Burk1 , which also displays the insecticide resistant alleles. 4 During the dry season, the cotton crop season after, the genotype Burk1 was principally found on two other malvaceous cultivated plants, rosella and okra, acting as suitable reservoir plants. The ability of the cotton aphid to move among asynchronous suitable habitats in response to changes in resource availability enables the pest to exploit unstable cropping systems. An understanding of the cotton aphid life system may aid to improve strategies for integrated resistance management.Keywords Agricultural landscape , Aphis gossypii , cotton , genetic diversity , host plant specialization , insecticide resistance , microsatellite markers . offspring of immigrant insects is strongly affected by cultural practices, particularly insecticide use ( Kennedy & Storer, 2000 ).In sub-Saharan west and central Africa, cotton fields occupy a significant part of the agricultural landscape during the rainy growing season (mid-May to November) and harbour a great diversity of insect pest species whose populations are partially controlled by the use of insecticides ( Renou & Deguine, 1992 ). The dry season involves a rapid change in this agricultural landscape, with a sudden shortage of resources for phytophagous insects. At this time, small irrigated plots generally located in the vicinity of towns and villages probably play a key role in the life systems of cotton insect pests. The cotton aphid Aphis gossypii Glover is a cosmopolitan and polyphagous species widely distributed in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions. In west and central Africa, this aphid colonizes cotton crops from mid-July to November, whereas small surfaces of irrigated vegetable crops and opportunist weeds are mainly infested by A. gossypii from November to late April ( Deguine et al. , 1999 ). Two periods of population growth on cotton crops are generall...

Background: Drought is a major social and economic problem resulting in huge yield reduction in the field. Today's challenge is to develop plants with reduced water requirements and stable yields in fluctuating environmental conditions. Arabidopsis thaliana is an excellent model for identifying potential targets for plant breeding. Drought tolerance in the field was successfully conferred to crops by transferring genes from this model species. While involved in a plant genomics programme, which aims to identify new genes responsible for plant response to abiotic stress, we identified ESKIMO1 as a key gene involved in plant water economy as well as cold acclimation and salt tolerance.

On Reunion Island successful biological control of the sugarcane white grub Hoplochelus marginalis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Melolonthidae) has been conducted for decades with strains from the entomopathogenic fungal genus Beauveria (Ascomycota: Hypocreales). A study based on morphological characters combined with a multisequence phylogenetic analysis of genes that encode the translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF1), RNA polymerase II largest subunit (RPB1), RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2) and the Bloc nuc intergenic region was carried out on Beauveria strains isolated on Reunion and Madagascar from H. marginalis. This study revealed that these strains, previously identified as Beauveria brongniartii, did not match that species and are closely related to but still distinct from B. malawiensis strains. Therefore we describe the Reunion Island fungus as the new species B. hoplocheli.

For pathogens infecting single host species evolutionary trade-offs have previously been demonstrated between pathogen-induced mortality rates and transmission rates. It remains unclear, however, how such trade-offs impact sub-lethal pathogen-inflicted damage, and whether these trade-offs even occur in broad host-range pathogens. Here, we examine changes over the past 110 years in symptoms induced in maize by the broad host-range pathogen, maize streak virus (MSV). Specifically, we use the quantified symptom intensities of cloned MSV isolates in differentially resistant maize genotypes to phylogenetically infer ancestral symptom intensities and check for phylogenetic signal associated with these symptom intensities. We show that whereas symptoms reflecting harm to the host have remained constant or decreased, there has been an increase in how extensively MSV colonizes the cells upon which transmission vectors feed. This demonstrates an evolutionary trade-off between amounts of pathogen-inflicted harm and how effectively viruses position themselves within plants to enable onward transmission.