Publications by authors named "Xiang-Xin Kong"

Background: The egg parasitoids, Trichogramma ostriniae (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae), is an important biological control agent against the Asia corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis, a destructive maize pest. These short-lived wasps (adult longevity of several to tens of days) have to locate their host within a limited time by exploiting reliable cues related to their hosts, for example, host egg volatiles. This study identified specific compounds in O.

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Herbivorous insects utilize intricate olfactory mechanisms to locate food plants. The chemical communication of insect-plant in primitive lineage offers insights into evolutionary milestones of divergent olfactory modalities. Here, we focus on a system endemic to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau to unravel the chemical and molecular basis of food preference in ancestral Lepidoptera.

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The core elements of entomopathogenic nematode toxicity towards the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda are associated with symbiotic bacteria. These microbes provide independent control effects and are reported to have repellency to insect pests. However, the ecological background of this nematode-bacteria-insect communication module is elusive.

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Endothelial cell dysfunction and inflammatory responses are important early contributors to the occurrence and development of atherosclerosis (AS), which still remains to be decoded. Ubiquitin-fold modifier 1 (Ufm1) is a new member of the ubiquitin-like protein family, and its biological function remains largely unknown, particularly in endothelial cell injury and inflammatory responses. In the present study, we showed that Ufm1 was highly expressed in both the nucleus and cytoplasm of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).

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