It involved an assortment of biological experiments, including one concerned with mutations induced in the offspring of insects exposed to ionizing radiation in space.
First, they have a much wider variety of interactions among relatives than the simple case of transfer of nutrients from parent to offspring; social insects both compete and cooperate with each other in numerous contexts.
Insect bioassays and feeding studies showed that GNA gene expressed in transgenic rice plants decreased survival and overall fecundity (production of offspring) of the insects, retarded insect development, and had a deterrent effect on BPH feeding.
Insect offspring are particularly sensitive to humidity, especially in arid zones, as they commonly lack a sclerotized cuticle (Kirk 1997).
Low effective population sizes and the occurrence of frequent bottlenecks in which bacteria are acquired by the offspring of their insect hosts every generation are prominent factors (Moran and Baumann 2000; Wernergreen 2002; Moran et al. 2008).
The thrips (110 million to 105 million years old) were found coated in pollen grains that were presumably used to feed the insects' offspring.
According to a pair of Australian studies published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, injecting a harmless bacterium into mosquitoes that can be passed on to the insects' offspring could thwart the ability of the dengue virus to replicate.
These observations showed that S. scapterisci was highly dominant in the total offspring emerging from insects after such competitions.
The mating of sterilized insects with fertile insects produces no offspring, and if the number of sterile insects is kept constant, the percentage of sterile insects will increase, and fewer young will be produced in each successive generation.
Meanwhile, adult body weight and growth rate of the insects were significantly suppressed in the offspring of Nardonella-free insects in comparison with the offspring of Nardonella-infected insects (Fig. 3B and C).
