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      Chemical Ecology in Insect-microbe Interactions in the Neotropics

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      Planta Medica
      Georg Thieme Verlag KG

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          Abstract

          Small molecules frequently mediate symbiotic interactions between microorganisms and their hosts. Brazil harbors the highest diversity of insects in the world; however, just recently, efforts have been directed to deciphering the chemical signals involved in the symbioses of microorganisms and social insects. The current scenario of natural products research guided by chemical ecology is discussed in this review. Two groups of social insects have been prioritized in the studies, fungus-farming ants and stingless bees, leading to the identification of natural products involved in defensive and nutritional symbioses. Some of the compounds also present potential pharmaceutical applications as antimicrobials, and this is likely related to their ecological roles. Microbial symbioses in termites and wasps are suggested promising sources of biologically active small molecules. Aspects related to public policies for insect biodiversity preservation are also highlighted.

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          Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers

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            Immune pathways and defence mechanisms in honey bees Apis mellifera

            Social insects are able to mount both group-level and individual defences against pathogens. Here we focus on individual defences, by presenting a genome-wide analysis of immunity in a social insect, the honey bee Apis mellifera. We present honey bee models for each of four signalling pathways associated with immunity, identifying plausible orthologues for nearly all predicted pathway members. When compared to the sequenced Drosophila and Anopheles genomes, honey bees possess roughly one-third as many genes in 17 gene families implicated in insect immunity. We suggest that an implied reduction in immune flexibility in bees reflects either the strength of social barriers to disease, or a tendency for bees to be attacked by a limited set of highly coevolved pathogens.
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              How Many Species of Insects and Other Terrestrial Arthropods Are There on Earth?

              In the last decade, new methods of estimating global species richness have been developed and existing ones improved through the use of more appropriate statistical tools and new data. Taking the mean of most of these new estimates indicates that globally there are approximately 1.5 million, 5.5 million, and 7 million species of beetles, insects, and terrestrial arthropods, respectively. Previous estimates of 30 million species or more based on the host specificity of insects to plants now seem extremely unlikely. With 1 million insect species named, this suggests that 80% remain to be discovered and that a greater focus should be placed on less-studied taxa such as many families of Coleoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera and on poorly sampled parts of the world. DNA tools have revealed many new species in taxonomically intractable groups, but unbiased studies of previously well-researched insect faunas indicate that 1-2% of species may be truly cryptic.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
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                Journal
                Planta Medica
                Planta Med
                Georg Thieme Verlag KG
                0032-0943
                1439-0221
                February 02 2021
                February 2021
                August 27 2020
                February 2021
                : 87
                : 01/02
                : 38-48
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Departamento de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
                Article
                10.1055/a-1229-9435
                32854122
                af1de930-047b-41b9-805e-fb4e5c6cb61f
                © 2021
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