Increase of Albinistic Hosts Caused by Gut Parasites Promotes Self-Transmission.

ABSTRACT: Paranosema locustae is a gut parasite that has been applied widely in the control of grasshoppers in many parts of the world. Usually, P. locustae is transmitted horizontally via passive modes under natural conditions but in the current study, a positive transmission strategy of P. locustae was demonstrated. First, infection by P. locustae resulted in the cuticula of infected Locusta migratoria nymphs to become lighter in color: normally only a small proportion of locusts are pale with most either being partly or mostly black; but locusts infected with P. locustae became pale. And it was found that the change to pale occurred even among uninfected black and partly black nymphs reared with infected locusts. The eumelanin of the thorax and abdomen of

SUBMITTER: Tan S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6048391 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature