Strong impact of orally administered BCR4 defensin on aphid survival, embryo development, and symbiotic cells in three Acyrthosiphon pisum parthenogenetic lines - Journal of Pest Science Aphids are major crop pests capable of colonizing the main plants grown for human consumption. They have specialized cells, the bacteriocytes, which house the obligate symbiont Buchnera aphidicola tha...

📣 #OurLastPaper is out! A study on the toxic effects of the BCR4 #defensin on survival, embryonic development, and #symbiotic cells in the pea #aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. Collaborative work with @uclouvain.bsky.social CBM Orléans and IGEPP Rennes! doi.org/10.1007/s103...

The evolutionary novelty of insect defensins: from bacterial killing to toxin neutralization - PubMed Insect host defense comprises two complementary dimensions, microbial killing-mediated resistance and microbial toxin neutralization-mediated resilience, both jointly providing protection against path...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38780625/
Looks like a very cool #Drosophila virilis study where a #Defensin #antimicrobialpeptide duplication was modified into a very different peptide product that may have a role in tolerance/resilience by helping keep the host alive after toxin exposure.