Plants not only respond to herbivorous damage but adjust their defense system after egg deposition by pest insects. Thereby, parasitoids use oviposition-induced plant volatiles to locate their hosts. We investigated the olfactory behavioral responses of Trichogramma pretiosum Riley, 1879 (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) to volatile blends emitted by maize (Zea mays L.) with singular and stacked events after oviposition by Spodoptera frugiperda Smith, 1797 (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) moths. Additionally, we examined possible variations in gene expression and on oviposition-induced volatiles. We used a Y-tube olfactometer to test for the wasp responses to volatiles released by maize plants oviposited by S. frugiperda and not-oviposited plants. Using the real-time PCR technique (qRT-PCR), we analyzed the expression of lipoxygenase and three terpene synthases genes, which are enzymes involved in the synthesis of volatile compounds that attract parasitoids of S. frugiperda. Olfactometer tests showed that T. pretiosum is strongly attracted by volatiles from transgenic maize emitted by S. frugiperda oviposition (VTPRO 3, more than 75% individuals were attracted). The relative expression of genes TPS10, LOX e STC was higher in transgenic hybrids than in the conventional (isogenic line) hybrids. The GC-MS analysis revealed that some volatile compounds are released exclusively by transgenic maize. This study provides evidence that transgenic hybrids enhanced chemical cues under oviposition-induction and helped to increase T. pretiosum efficiency in S. frugiperda control. This finding shows that among the evaluated hybrids, genetically modified hybrids can improve the biological control programs, since they potentialize the egg parasitoid foraging, integrating pest management.

Although the application of CRISPR/Cas9 genome engineering approaches was first reported in apicomplexan parasites only 3 years ago, this technology has rapidly become an essential component of research on apicomplexan parasites. This review briefly describes the history of CRISPR/Cas9 and the principles behind its use along with documenting its implementation in apicomplexan parasites, especially Plasmodium spp. and Toxoplasma gondii. We also discuss the recent use of CRISPR/Cas9 for whole genome screening of gene knockout mutants in T. gondii and highlight its use for seminal genetic manipulations of Cryptosporidium spp. Finally, we consider new variations of CRISPR/Cas9 that have yet to be implemented in apicomplexans. Whereas CRISPR/Cas9 has already accelerated rapid interrogation of gene function in apicomplexans, the full potential of this technology is yet to be realized as new variations and innovations are integrated into the field.

In a recent issue of Politics and the Life Sciences Mark Walker presented a compelling proposition for reducing evil in the world via an interdisciplinary program he calls the “Genetic Virtue Project” (GVP). As Walker explains, the purpose of the GVP is “to discover and enhance human ethics using biotechnology genetic correlates of virtuous behavior.” PLS subsequently published several critiques of this proposal. While most of these critiques focused on conventional doubts about the technical feasibility or the ethics of such interventions, the more fundamental concern revealed by both Walker's proposal and its critiques is in the largely unquestioned assumption that more morality is necessarily better. Human history is marked by a gradual if uneven extension of moral concern to increasingly distant others, which many take as evidence of the rationality of morality. There is substantial evidence, though, that this expansion is fundamentally biological in origin and therefore not ultimately limited by rationality. Because these expanding moral feelings feel so good to us, we are incapable of perceiving the danger from their ever-expanding focus, in particular from the sincere but increasingly maladaptive collective policies they will engender. Utilizing the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche as a platform, the feasibility of different natural and cultural responses to this impending crisis of caring are examined, none of which are found capable of counteracting this expanding morality. Instead, the best hope for a successful response to this dangerous expansion of caring is actually a sort of reverse GVP, in which the biological mechanisms for this unchecked moral expansion are manipulated via genetic engineering to dial back this expansion. However, the likelihood of actually implementing such an admittedly counterintuitive and controversial program within an increasingly democratized world is doubtful. Ultimately, if we are unable to overcome this betrayal by our best intentions, where does that leave us as a species?

Selective breeding and improved nutritional management over the past 20–30 years has resulted in dramatic improvements in growth efficiency for pigs and poultry, particularly lean tissue growth. However, this has been achieved using high-quality feed ingredients, such as wheat and soya that are also used for human consumption and more recently biofuels production. Ruminants on the other hand are less efficient, but are normally fed poorer quality ingredients that cannot be digested by human subjects, such as grass or silage. The challenges therefore are to: (i) maintain the current efficiency of growth of pigs and poultry, but using more ingredients not needed to feed the increasing human population or for the production of biofuels; (ii) improve the efficiency of growth in ruminants; (iii) at the same time produce animal products (meat, milk and eggs) of equal or improved quality. This review will describe the use of: (a) enzyme additives for animal feeds, to improve feed digestibility; (b) known growth promoting agents, such as growth hormone, β-agonists and anabolic steroids, currently banned in the European Union but used in other parts of the world; (c) recent transcriptomic studies into molecular mechanisms for improved growth efficiency via low residual feed intake. In doing so, the use of genetic manipulation in animals will also be discussed.

Draft genome sequences for Schistosoma japonicum and S. mansoni are now available. The schistosome genome encodes ∼13 000 protein-encoding genes for which the functions of few are well understood. Nonetheless, the new genes represent potential intervention targets, and molecular tools are being developed to determine their importance. Over the past 15 years, noteworthy progress has been achieved towards development of tools for gene manipulation and transgenesis of schistosomes. A brief history of genetic manipulation is presented, along with a review of the field with emphasis on reports of integration of transgenes into schistosome chromosomes.

An earlier mathematical model exploring the use of genetically manipulated mosquitoes for malaria control suggested that the prevalence of malaria is reduced significantly only if almost all mosquitoes become completely resistant to malaria. Central to the model was the ‘cost of resistance’: the reduction of a resistant mosquito's evolutionary fitness in comparison with a sensitive one's. Here, we consider the possibility of obtaining more optimistic outcomes by taking into account the epidemiological (in addition to the evolutionary) consequences of a cost of resistance that decreases the life-span of adult mosquitoes (the most relevant parameter for the parasite's epidemiology). There are two main results. First, if despite its cost, resistance is fixed in the population, increasing the cost of resistance decreases the intensity of transmission. However, this epidemiological effect is weak if resistance is effective enough to be considered relevant for control. Second, if the cost of resistance prevents its fixation, increasing it intensifies transmission. Thus, the epidemiological effect of the cost of resistance cannot compensate for the lower frequency of resistant mosquitoes in the population. Overall, our conclusion remains pessimistic: so that genetic manipulation can become a promising method of malaria control, we need techniques that enable almost all mosquitoes to be almost completely resistant to infection.

Selected studies in chemical ecology are described that have led to the identification of semiochemicals playing key roles in pest behaviour. In some instances, these compounds can provide alternatives to insecticides, but novel integrated control programmes including use of semiochemicals are described which have greater potential for the future. Thus, semiochemicals can be used to increase the efficacy of entomophagous fungi and to manipulate populations of beneficial insects. New strategies are being developed which use both antifeedant and attractant semiochemicals to deter insects from crops and aggregate them in areas where they can be destroyed. For the long term, strategies are described that employ genetic manipulation of crop plants so that pests are controlled by semiochemicals produced directly in the plants.