Glucosinolates present classical examples of plant compounds affecting insect-plant interactions. They are found mainly in the family Brassicaceae, which includes several important crops. More than 120 different glucosinolates are known. The enzyme myrosinase, which is stored in specialized plant cells, converts glucosinolates to the toxic isothiocyanates. Insect herbivores may reduce the toxicity of glucosinolates and their products by excretion, detoxification, or behavioral adaptations. Glucosinolates also affect higher trophic levels, via reduced host or prey quality or because specialist herbivores may sequester glucosinolates for their own defense. There is substantial quantitative and qualitative variation between plant genotypes, tissues, and ontogenetic stages, which poses specific challenges to insect herbivores. Even though glucosinolates are constitutive defenses, their levels are influenced by abiotic and biotic factors including insect damage. Plant breeders may use knowledge on glucosinolates to increase insect resistance in Brassica crops. State-of-the-art techniques, such as mutant analysis and metabolomics, are necessary to identify the exact role of glucosinolates.

A large part of the environmental impact of animal production systems is due to the production of feed. Insects are suggested to efficiently convert feed to body mass and might therefore form a more sustainable food and/or feed source. Four diets were composed from by-products of food manufacturing and formulated such as to vary in protein and fat content. These were offered to newly hatched Argentinean cockroaches, black soldier flies, yellow mealworms, and house crickets. The first two species are potentially interesting as a feed ingredient, while the latter two are considered edible for humans. Feed conversion efficiency, survival, development time, as well as chemical composition (nitrogen, phosphorus, and fatty acids), were determined. The Argentinean cockroaches and the black soldier flies converted feed more efficiently than yellow mealworms, and house crickets. The first two were also more efficient than conventional production animals. On three of the four diets yellow mealworms and house crickets had a feed conversion efficiency similar to pigs. Furthermore, on the most suitable diet, they converted their feed as efficiently as poultry, when corrected for edible portion. All four species had a higher nitrogen-efficiency than conventional production animals, when corrected for edible portion. Offering carrots to yellow mealworms increased dry matter- and nitrogen-efficiency and decreased development time. Diet affected survival in all species but black soldier flies, and development time was strongly influenced in all four species. The chemical composition of Argentinean cockroaches was highly variable between diets, for black soldier flies it remained similar. The investigated species can be considered efficient production animals when suitable diets are provided. Hence, they could form a sustainable alternative to conventional production animals as a source of feed or food.

Every plant is a member of a complex insect community that consists of tens to hundreds of species that belong to different trophic levels. The dynamics of this community are critically influenced by the plant, which mediates interactions between community members that can occur on the plant simultaneously or at different times. Herbivory results in changes in the plant's morphological or chemical phenotype that affect interactions with subsequently arriving herbivores. Changes in the plant's phenotype are mediated by molecular processes such as phytohormonal signaling networks and transcriptomic rearrangements that are initiated by oral secretions of the herbivore. Processes at different levels of biological complexity occur at timescales ranging from minutes to years. In this review, we address plant-mediated interactions with multiple species of the associated insect community and their effects on community dynamics, and link these to the mechanistic effects that multiple attacks have on plant phenotypes.

Several soil-borne microbes such as mycorrhizal fungi and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria can help plants to deal with biotic and abiotic stresses via plant growth promotion and induced resistance. Such beneficial belowground microbes interact in a bidirectional way via the plant with aboveground insects such as herbivores, their natural enemies and pollinators. The role of these interactions in natural and agricultural ecosystems is receiving increased attention, and the molecular and physiological mechanisms involved in these interactions should be the focus of more attention. Here, we review the recent discoveries on plant-mediated interactions between beneficial belowground microbes and aboveground insects.

Our results describe a complete and highly concordant map of both the molecular and cellular olfactory components on the maxillary palp of the adult female An. gambiae mosquito. These results also facilitate the understanding of how An. gambiae mosquitoes sense olfactory cues that might be exploited to compromise their ability to transmit malaria.