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All Outputs (17)

RNAi of the elastomeric protein resilin reduces jump velocity and resilience to damage in locusts (2024)
Journal Article
Rogers, S. M., Cullen, D. A., Labonte, D., Sutton, G. P., Vanden Broeck, J. J., & Burrows, M. (2025). RNAi of the elastomeric protein resilin reduces jump velocity and resilience to damage in locusts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 122(1), Article e2415625121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2415625121

Resilin, an elastomeric protein with remarkable physical properties that outperforms synthetic rubbers, is a near-ubiquitous feature of the power amplification mechanisms used by jumping insects. Catapult-like mechanisms, which incorporate elastic en... Read More about RNAi of the elastomeric protein resilin reduces jump velocity and resilience to damage in locusts.

Global perspectives and transdisciplinary opportunities for locust and grasshopper pest management and research (2024)
Journal Article
Ries, M. W., Adriaansen, C., Aldobai, S., Berry, K., Bal, A. B., Catenaccio, M. C., Cigliano, M. M., Cullen, D. A., Deveson, T., Diongue, A., Foquet, B., Hadrich, J., Hunter, D., Johnson, D. L., Karnatz, J. P., Lange, C. E., Lawton, D., Lazar, M., Latchininsky, A. V., Lecoq, M., …Cease, A. (2024). Global perspectives and transdisciplinary opportunities for locust and grasshopper pest management and research. Journal of Orthoptera Research, 33(2), 169-216. https://doi.org/10.3897/jor.33.112803

Locusts and other migratory grasshoppers are transboundary pests. Monitoring and control, therefore, involve a complex system made up of social, ecological, and technological factors. Researchers and those involved in active management are calling fo... Read More about Global perspectives and transdisciplinary opportunities for locust and grasshopper pest management and research.

Non-invasive characterization of the elastic protein resilin in insects using Raman spectroscopy (2023)
Journal Article
Woodrow, C., Cullen, D. A., Montealegre-Z, F., & Gonzalez-Rodriguez, J. (2024). Non-invasive characterization of the elastic protein resilin in insects using Raman spectroscopy. International journal of biological macromolecules, 254(2), Article 127967. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.127967

Resilin is an extremely efficient elastic protein found in the moving parts of insects. Despite many years of resilin research, we are still only just starting to understand its diversity, native structures, and functions. Understanding differences i... Read More about Non-invasive characterization of the elastic protein resilin in insects using Raman spectroscopy.

Ear pinnae in a neotropical katydid (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) function as ultrasound guides for bat detection (2022)
Journal Article
Pulver, C. A., Celiker, E., Woodrow, C., Geipel, I., Soulsbury, C. D., Cullen, D. A., Rogers, S. M., Veitch, D., & Montealegre-Z, F. (2022). Ear pinnae in a neotropical katydid (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) function as ultrasound guides for bat detection. eLife, 11, Article e77628. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.77628

Early predator detection is a key component of the predator-prey arms race and has driven the evolution of multiple animal hearing systems. Katydids (Insecta) have sophisticated ears, each consisting of paired tympana on each foreleg that receive sou... Read More about Ear pinnae in a neotropical katydid (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) function as ultrasound guides for bat detection.

Sexual repurposing of juvenile aposematism in locusts (2022)
Journal Article
Cullen, D. A., Sword, G. A., Rosenthal, G. G., Simpson, S. J., Dekempeneer, E., Hertog, M. L., Nicolaï, B. M., Caes, R., Mannaerts, L., & Broeck, J. V. (2022). Sexual repurposing of juvenile aposematism in locusts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(34), Article e2200759119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2200759119

Adaptive plasticity requires an integrated suite of functional responses to environmental variation, which can include social communication across life stages. Desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) exhibit an extreme example of phenotypic plasticity... Read More about Sexual repurposing of juvenile aposematism in locusts.

Quantification of bush-cricket acoustic trachea mechanics using Atomic Force Microscopy nanoindentation (2022)
Journal Article
Siamantouras, E., Woodrow, C., Celiker, E., Cullen, D. A., Hills, C. E., Squires, P. E., & Montealegre-Z, F. (2022). Quantification of bush-cricket acoustic trachea mechanics using Atomic Force Microscopy nanoindentation. Acta Biomaterialia, 153, 399-410. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2022.08.056

Derived from the respiratory tracheae, bush-crickets’ acoustic tracheae (or ear canals) are hollow tubes evolved to transmit sounds from the external environment to the interior ear. Due to the location of the ears in the forelegs, the acoustic trach... Read More about Quantification of bush-cricket acoustic trachea mechanics using Atomic Force Microscopy nanoindentation.

Oxytocin/vasopressin-like neuropeptide signaling in insects (2019)
Book Chapter
Muratspahić, E., Monjon, E., Duerrauer, L., Rogers, S. M., Cullen, D. A., Vanden Broeck, J., & Gruber, C. W. (2020). Oxytocin/vasopressin-like neuropeptide signaling in insects. In G. Litwack (Ed.), Vasopressin (29-53). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.vh.2019.08.011

The origin of the oxytocin (OT)/vasopressin (VP) signaling system is thought to date back more than 600 million years. OT/VP-like peptides have been identified in numerous invertebrate phyla including molluscs, annelids, nematodes and insects. Howeve... Read More about Oxytocin/vasopressin-like neuropeptide signaling in insects.

Extracellular nutrient digestion and absorption in the insect gut (2019)
Journal Article
Holtof, M., Lenaerts, C., Cullen, D., & Vanden Broeck, J. (2019). Extracellular nutrient digestion and absorption in the insect gut. Cell and Tissue Research, 377(3), 397-414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-019-03031-9

Insects are the most abundant and diverse class of animals on the planet. One explanation for their success is their extraordinary ability to successfully consume a wide range of foods. Like all heterotrophic organisms, insects need to acquire vital... Read More about Extracellular nutrient digestion and absorption in the insect gut.

From Molecules to Management: Mechanisms and Consequences of Locust Phase Polyphenism (2017)
Book Chapter
Cullen, D. A., Cease, A. J., Latchininsky, A. V., Ayali, A., Berry, K., Buhl, J., De Keyser, R., Foquet, B., Hadrich, J. C., Matheson, T., Ott, S. R., Poot-Pech, M. A., Robinson, B. E., Smith, J. M., Song, H., Sword, G. A., Vanden Broeck, J., Verdonck, R., Verlinden, H., & Rogers, S. M. (2017). From Molecules to Management: Mechanisms and Consequences of Locust Phase Polyphenism. In H. Verlinden (Ed.), Insect Epigenetics (167-285). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.aiip.2017.06.002

Locusts are grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) that are characterised by their capacity for extreme population density-dependent polyphenism, transforming between a cryptic solitarious phase that avoids other locusts, and a swarming gregarious phas... Read More about From Molecules to Management: Mechanisms and Consequences of Locust Phase Polyphenism.

Born to win or bred to lose: aggressive and submissive behavioural profiles in crickets (2016)
Journal Article
Rose, J., Cullen, D. A., Simpson, S. J., & Stevenson, P. A. (2017). Born to win or bred to lose: aggressive and submissive behavioural profiles in crickets. Animal behaviour, 123, 441-450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.11.021

Aggression between conspecific males is widespread in the animal kingdom, as is the fact that some individuals are far more aggressive than others. Consistent interindividual differences in behavioural profiles are generally regarded as a hallmark fo... Read More about Born to win or bred to lose: aggressive and submissive behavioural profiles in crickets.

Take-off speed in jumping mantises depends on body size and a power-limited mechanism (2016)
Journal Article
Sutton, G. P., Doroshenko, M., Cullen, D. A., & Burrows, M. (2016). Take-off speed in jumping mantises depends on body size and a power-limited mechanism. The journal of experimental biology, 219(14), 2127-2136. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.133728

Many insects such as fleas, froghoppers and grasshoppers use a catapult mechanism to jump, and a direct consequence of this is that their take-off velocities are independent of their mass. In contrast, insects such as mantises, caddis flies and bush... Read More about Take-off speed in jumping mantises depends on body size and a power-limited mechanism.

Pollen feeding proteomics: Salivary proteins of the passion flower butterfly, Heliconius melpomene (2015)
Journal Article
Harpel, D., Cullen, D. A., Ott, S. R., Jiggins, C. D., & Walters, J. R. (2015). Pollen feeding proteomics: Salivary proteins of the passion flower butterfly, Heliconius melpomene. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 63, 7-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibmb.2015.04.004

While most adult Lepidoptera use flower nectar as their primary food source, butterflies in the genus Heliconius have evolved the novel ability to acquire amino acids from consuming pollen. Heliconius butterflies collect pollen on their proboscis, mo... Read More about Pollen feeding proteomics: Salivary proteins of the passion flower butterfly, Heliconius melpomene.

Mantises exchange angular momentum between three rotating body parts to jump precisely to targets (2015)
Journal Article
Burrows, M., Cullen, D. A., Dorosenko, M., & Sutton, G. P. (2015). Mantises exchange angular momentum between three rotating body parts to jump precisely to targets. Current biology : CB, 25(6), 786-789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.01.054

Flightless animals have evolved diverse mechanisms to control their movements in air, whether falling with gravity or propelling against it. Many insects jump as a primary mode of locomotion and must therefore precisely control the large torques gene... Read More about Mantises exchange angular momentum between three rotating body parts to jump precisely to targets.

Rapid behavioural gregarization in the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria entails synchronous changes in both activity and attraction to conspecifics (2014)
Journal Article
Rogers, S. M., Cullen, D. A., Anstey, M. L., Burrows, M., Despland, E., Dodgson, T., Matheson, T., Ott, S. R., Stettin, K., Sword, G. A., & Simpson, S. J. (2014). Rapid behavioural gregarization in the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria entails synchronous changes in both activity and attraction to conspecifics. Journal of Insect Physiology, 65, 9-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2014.04.004

Desert Locusts can change reversibly between solitarious and gregarious phases, which differ considerably in behaviour, morphology and physiology. The two phases show many behavioural differences including both overall levels of activity and the degr... Read More about Rapid behavioural gregarization in the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria entails synchronous changes in both activity and attraction to conspecifics.

Optimizing multivariate behavioural syndrome models in locusts using automated video tracking (2012)
Journal Article
Cullen, D. A., Sword, G. A., & Simpson, S. J. (2012). Optimizing multivariate behavioural syndrome models in locusts using automated video tracking. Animal behaviour, 84(4), 771-784. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.06.031

Locusts exhibit a behavioural syndrome known as 'behavioural phase polyphenism', in which a number of behavioural traits change markedly in response to local population density. 'Solitarious' phase individuals, which are typical of low-density popula... Read More about Optimizing multivariate behavioural syndrome models in locusts using automated video tracking.

Behavioural phase change in the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera, is triggered by tactile stimulation of the antennae (2010)
Journal Article
Cullen, D. A., Sword, G. A., Dodgson, T., & Simpson, S. J. (2010). Behavioural phase change in the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera, is triggered by tactile stimulation of the antennae. Journal of Insect Physiology, 56(8), 937-942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2010.04.023

Density-dependent phase polyphenism is a defining characteristic of the paraphyletic group of acridid grasshoppers known as locusts. The cues and mechanisms associated with crowding that induce behavioural gregarization are best understood in the des... Read More about Behavioural phase change in the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera, is triggered by tactile stimulation of the antennae.