Mohammad Mehrabadi

Tarbiat Modares University | TMU · Department of Entomology

The broad mite, Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks) (Acari: Tarsonemidae) is a highly significant pest in tropical and subtropical regions, with a wide host range that encompasses over 60 plant families. In particular, it can be a major and economically damaging pest on pepper plants, causing significant losses to the crop. The life table parameters...

Characteristics of the digestive enzymes of the fifth instar larvae of the beet moth were determined to achieve a superior understanding of the digestive physiology of the pest. After dissecting the larval digestive tube, optimum acidity for the activity of α-amylase and α-glucosidase was obtained 8–9, and 8 for β-glucosidase, respectively. The opt...

Urban forest trees are vital components of urban ecosystems, offering a range of benefits that are essential for improving the livability and sustainability of cities, providing numerous advantages for both the environment and public health. They enhance air quality by filtering pollutants, assist in regulating urban temperatures, and alleviate the...

Baculoviruses have been extensively studied for their potential in microbial pest control, but the mechanisms behind their mode of action still need to be addressed. Here we report differential expression of a cellular miRNA, Sfr-miR-184, from Sf9 cells in response to Autographa californica multicapsid Nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) infection. Our r...

The box tree moth (BTM), Cydalima perspectalis, and the fall webworm (FWW), Hyphantria cunea are two invasive forest pests in northern Iran. Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are usually compatible with integrated pest management programs. In this study, the efficacy of five isolates of EPNs was evaluated against the two pests in laboratory and fie...

BACKGROUND Wolbachia are widespread intracellular bacteria in insects that often have high rates of spread due to their impact on insect reproduction. These bacteria may also affect the mating behavior of their host with impacts on the fitness of host progeny. In this study, we investigated the impact of Wolbachia on a preference for mating with yo...

Wolbachia are the most widespread intracellular alphaproteobacteria in insects with a variety of phenotypic effects on the fitness and reproduction of their host, but much less is known about how these bacteria affect host behavior. In this study, we asked whether Wolbachia affects the foraging behavior of the parasitoid wasp Habrobracon hebetor (H...

DNA methylation is an epigenetic process that involves the chemical modification of DNA, leading to the regulation of its transcriptional activity. It is primarily known for the addition of methyl groups to cytosine in DNA. The whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a polyphagous pest insect and a vector that is responsible for transmitting numerous plant viru...

Populations of urban forest trees have declined in recent decades owing to various threats. The present study focused on the role of biotic agents, as there is a lack of detailed long-term records on diseases affecting urban forest trees. Pathogenic fungi from Acer negundo, A. velutinum, Ailanthus altissima, Albizia julibrissin, Carpinus betulus, C...

The tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick, 1917), is a devastating invasive pest that has seriously threatened tomato crops. This pest has spread rapidly across several continents, and its global distribution demonstrates its ability to adapt to climate variability. In this context, the pupa is the most resistant stage when exposed to long-term...

Following pathogen infection in a host, extensive changes occur in the host’s gene expression pattern to suppress infection and increase the chance of host survival. Likewise, many pathogens have evolved to evade/suppress host immunity and increase their survival within the host. In this study, we assessed the NF-κB (Imd and Toll) essential gene ex...

The European grapevine moth, Lobesia botrana (Denis and Schiffermueller) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is a significant pest causing economic damage to vineyards worldwide. In this research, the cold tolerance of the pupae and its relationship with diapause was investigated at 23 ± 0.5 °C, 70 ± 5% RH, and LD 12:12 h. One-day-old eggs were transferred...

Recently, neuropeptide F2 (NPF2) has been demonstrated to increase food consumption and body weight in the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera. This study evaluated the effect of NPF2 on the adult female reproductive system of H. armigera. Daily NPF2 injections increased oocyte size, ecdysteroid titre in ovaries and haemolymph and the expression...

The fall webworm, Hyphantria cunea (Drury, 1773) (Lepidoptera, Erebidae), is one of the most important pests of forest trees in northern Iran. In order to identify the native parasitoids of this pest a survey was conducted in Guilan province, in 2019. The larvae and pupae of the fall webworm suspected being parasitized, were collected from differen...

The two-spotted spider mite (TSSM) Tetranychus urticae Koch is one of the most destructive mites in many plants due to its characteristics, such as high reproductive potential, short life cycle, and feeding method. Excessive use of chemical compounds without considering environmental factors has led to high residual toxins in food products and resi...

The endocrine system modulates several physiological functions such as development and metamorphosis in insects. The normal growth and development of insects is interfered with insect growth regulators (IGRs), which act as mimics of insect hormones like juvenile hormone (JH) and ecdysone hormone. The effects of JH and its analogs on systemic immuni...

Background Application of insect growth regulators (IGR) is a good option for insect pest management because of their fewer adverse effects on humans and domestic animals. These compounds are capable of interfering with normal growth and development by mimicking the actions of hormones such as juvenile hormone (JH) or ecdysone. The effect of JH and...

European grapevine moth, Lobesia botrana (Denis and Schiffermuller( (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is considered as a major pest of vineyards in many countries around the world including Iran. Every year, larvae cause significant economic damage to grape fruit in terms of quantity and quality. It is a polyvoltine species with two or four generations pe...

BACKGROUND MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small regulatory non‐coding RNAs that are involved in a variety of biological processes such as immunity, cell signaling and development by regulating gene expression. The whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a polyphagous vector that transmits many plant viruses causing economic damage to crops worldwide. In this study, we...

Insect–bacteria symbiont associations can be found in almost all insect orders which supply an array of physiological and ecological benefits to the host insect. Plant sap‐feeding insects, including psyllids, have developed symbiotic relationships with a variety of bacteria to compensate nitrogen‐poor diets. In this study, we determined the bacteri...

Neoscytalidium novaehollandiae is one of the most important pathogens on woody plants which has increasingly been reported as a pathogen in different hosts in recent years. The pine trees are widely cultured in many cities of Iran. In recent years, dieback symptoms were observed on Pinus eldarica trees in Tehran and Qazvin provinces. The aim of thi...

The life history and demographic parameters of the four aphid species on their host plants and those of the parasitoid reared on each of the six plant-aphid systems were investigated under controlled environmental conditions (25 ± 1 °C, 70 ± 5% RH and L:D 16:8 h). In terms of the resultant net reproduction rate of the parasitoid, M. persicae reared...

Dipteran flies are the second most important group of insect parasitoids after hymenopteran parasitoids and they represent about 20% of all insect parasitoids. The Tachinidae comprises approximately 1500 valid genera and more than 8500 described species in the world and is the largest and most important family of dipteran parasitoids. This family i...

Wolbachia is an endosymbiotic bacterium found in many species of arthropods and manipulates its host reproduction. Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is one of the most common manipulations that is induced when an uninfected female mates with a Wolbachia-infected male. The CI factors (cifA and cifB genes) are encoded by phage WO that naturally infect...

The cover image is based on the Research Article Wolbachia promotes successful sex with siblings in the parasitoid Habrobracon hebetor by Zeynab Bagheri et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.6649.

The entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema borjomiense, was isolated from north Iran, and identified herein based upon morphological and molecular data. The Iranian isolate of this species is characterised by its 645-910 µm long infective juveniles, having brown-golden spicules 52-67 µm long in first, and 30-51 µm long in second generation males. T...

A new species of pterygosomatid mite, Pimeliaphilus lindquisti Khadem-Safdarkhani & Hajiqanbar sp. nov. (Acari: Trombidiformes: Pterygosomatidae) parasitizing Trachyderma (Trachyderma) christophi (Faust, 1875) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Pimeliinae: Pimeliini) from Yazd province, central Iran is described and illustrated based on adult female, deut...

BACKGROUND Wolbachia are intracellular α‐proteobacteria that have a wide distribution among various arthropods and nematodes. They affect the host reproduction favoring their maternal transmission, which sets up a potential conflict in inbreeding situations when the host avoids sexual reproduction preventing inbreeding depression, while Wolbachia p...

Background Developing new pesticides with multi-function may be a suitable strategy to save time and cost and reduce the emergence of resistant strains of pests and pathogens. The organophosphorus derivatives have not been widely used in agriculture as fungicides. In this work, a series of six α-amino phosphonate derivatives were prepared and teste...

ساز­وکار­های اپی­ژنتیک مانند تغییرات هیستون­ها به­خصوص استیلاسیون و داستیلاسیون، نقش مهمی در شکل­گیری روابط متقابل میزبان -بیمارگر از طریق تنظیم بیان ژن­ها برعهده دارند که توسط آنزیم­های هیستون استیل ترانسفراز و هیستون د استیلازکاتالیز می­شود. از آنجا­که یکی از روش­های کم­خطر کنترل­کننده حشرات آفت استفاده از بیمارگر­ها می­باشد؛ بنابراین، مطالعه در...

ناسازگاری سیتوپلاسمی (CI) معمول­ترین دستکاری تولیدمثلی القا شده توسط باکتری اجباری درون­سلولی Wolbachia است، که در صورت جفت­گیری نرهای آلوده با ماده غیرآلوده اتفاق می­افتد. حاصل ناسازگاری در گونه­های دیپلوئید، مرگ جنینی است و در گونه­های هاپلودیپلوئید ناسازگاری به دو شکل اتفاق می­ا­فتد: توسعه تخم­های بارور به نر (Male development) و مرگ و میر ماده...

The chapter includes progress and activities on entomopathogenic viruses and two other minor groups of microbial, microsporidians and endosymbionts in Iran. In the virus section, the works on isolation, characterization, bioassay, histopathology and semi-mass production on some native and non-native isolates of baculoviruses are presented. These vi...

This study was performed to investigate the age-dependent functional response of Aphidius matricariae Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) at varying densities of tobacco aphid, Myzus persicae nicotianae Blackman (Hemiptera: Aphididae). Six densities (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 numbers) of third instar nymphs of M. persicae nicotianae were daily exposed...

The box tree moth (BTM), Cydalima perspectalis and the fall webworm (FWW), Hyphantria cunea are two invasive pests of forest trees that have been recorded from Hyracinan forests in north Iran for the first time in 2016 and 2002, respectively. In a search for tentative native entomopathogenic nematode species (EPNs) with potential biocontrol ability...

The shield bug, Graphosoma lineatum (Heteroptera, Pentatomidae), harbors extracellular Pantoea‐like symbiont in the enclosed crypts of the midgut. The symbiotic bacteria are essential for normal longevity and fecundity of this insect. In this study, life table analysis was used to assess the biological importance of the gut symbiont in G. lineatum....

Plant secondary metabolites influence the feeding in insects through several modes of action. In this study, the physiological effects of erucin isothiocyanate were investigated on the elm leaf beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola (Müller) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) via impact on crustacean cardioactive peptide (CCAP) and midgut digestive enzymes. Third...

Phytophagous stink bugs typically harbor nutritional symbiotic bacteria in their midgut, to integrate their unbalanced diet. In the Pentatomidae, most symbionts are affiliated to the genus Pantoea, and are polyphyletic. This suggests a scenario of an ancestral establishment of symbiosis, followed by multiple symbiont replacement events by akin envi...

The pistachio green stink bug, Brachynema germari Kolenati (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is one of the most important pests of pistachio nuts in many pistachio-growing regions in Iran. This insect harbors a gammaproteobacterial symbiont, related to the genus Pantoea, in the numerous crypts of its posterior midgut, which is vertically transmitted by in...

The antifeedant activity of nanoemulsion formulation of arugula Eruca sativa Mill. oil was studied against elm leaf beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola (Müller)(Col.:Chrysomelidae) under laboratory conditions at 25±1ºC, 75±5% RH, and LD 16:8 hours. Ingestive LC50 values of the oil were studied in third instar larvae. Then, physiological parameters were e...

All insects, including insect pests, possess symbiotic bacteria inside their body, particularly those feeding on restricted diets, such as plant sap, vertebrate blood, or woody material. These symbiotic associations span a spectrum of types that differ with respect to the effect of the symbiont on the host, such as providing essential nutrients, de...

The inhibitory potential of an inhibitor peptide based on the pro-region of trypsin zymogen was investigated in Indianmeal moth, P. interpunctella, which is a world-wide insect pest of stored food. Five peptides were designed based on molecular docking simulations. The designed peptide with the best score was selected and synthesized for further sc...

Wheat, Triticum aestivum L. is of one the most important cultivated crop plants that are grown extensively for food in the world. The green wheat aphid, Schizaphis graminum (Rondani) (Hem.: Aphididae) is an important pest of wheat in Iran causes severe damage to the crop. In this research, thermal requirements of parasitoid wasp, Diaretiella rapae...

Aphidius matricariae Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a polyphagous solitary endoparasitoid, attacking more than 40 species of aphids. This parasitoid is an important commercial product of many companies that produce biological control agents. Storage at low temperature increases the shelf life of many biocontrol agents, allowing companies to p...

Gut microbiota modulates various physiologic processes in insects, such as nutrition, metabolic homeostasis, and pathogen exclusion. Maintaining a normal microbiome is an essential element of the gut homeostasis, requiring an extensive network of regulatory immune responses. The molecular mechanisms driving these various effects and the events lead...

This study determined the effects of cold storage of mummies on the biological characteristics of Aphidius colemani Viereck (Hy-menoptera Braconidae), a solitary, koinobiont endoparasitoid of more than 40 species of aphids. The effects of three constant temperatures (5, 7 and 9 °C) at five time periods (5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 days) were evaluated on...

Trypsin is the major protease enzyme existing in the midgut of most insect species. Despite the importance of trypsin enzymes in insects, there is no comprehensive evidence available on the structure and function of this enzyme. Therefore, in the present study, trypsin enzymes from different species including insect and other organisms were analyze...

Bacterial endosymbionts play important roles in ecological traits of aphids. In this study, we characterize the bacterial endosymbionts of A. gossypii collected in Karaj, Iran and their role in the performance of the aphid. Our results indicated that beside Buchnera aphidicola, A. gossypii, also harbors both Hamiltonella defensa and Arsenophonus sp...

The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) is one of the most destructive insect pests, feeding exclusively on wild and cultivated cruciferous species. The attacked plants produce considerable amount of glucosinolates in response to insects' feeding. Herein, we studied digestive activities of P. xylostella on four dif...

In this study, the biological activities and mode of action of 3-butylidene phthalide (3-BPH) were studied. 3-BPH had a superior efficiency against microsclerotia of Macrophomina phaseolina compared to the commercial fungicide tricyclazole. The microsclerotia formation and pigmentation were inhibited at 100 μg/mL. Moreover, the fungicide exhibited...

Background and Objectives Life table parameters are important and key tools to reveal the reproductive and population growth potential of natural enemies regarding control of their prey/host. Materials and Methods The initial population of Cephalonomia tarsalis was collected from wheat storage facilities in Tehran province. Life table parameters of...

Wolbachia are intracellular α-proteobacteria that have a wide distribution among various arthropods and nematodes. They affect the host reproduction favoring their maternal transmission, which sets up a potential conflict in inbreeding situations when the host avoids sexual reproduction preventing inbreeding depression, while Wolbachia pushes it. I...

Following pathogen attack in a host, widespread changes are induced in the host's gene expression, in particular those involved in the immune system, growth and survival. Epigenetic mechanisms have been suggested to be involved in the regulation of these changes through a number of mechanisms. DNA methylation is one of the important epigenetic proc...

The microRNA (miRNA) pathway is an epigenetic mechanism that plays important roles in various biological processes including host-virus interactions by regulating gene expression of the host and/or the virus. Previously, we showed that the cellular microRNAome in Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells is modulated following Autographa californica multip...

The pistachio green stink bug, Brachynema germari Kolenati, is an abundant and economic insect pest in most pistachio-growing regions. Some physiological and ecological features of this pest have been studied, but the microbiological nature of symbiotic bacteria and biological aspects of this host-symbiont interaction have been poorly understood. I...

The Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, is an economic insect pest in most citrus-growing regions and the vector of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (CLas), one of at least three known bacteria associated with Huanglongbing (HLB or citrus greening disease). D. citri harbors bacterial endosymbionts, including Wolbachia pipienti...

Plant-sucking stinkbugs are especially associated with mutualistic gut bacterial symbionts. Here, we explored the symbiotic relationship of a pistachio stinkbug, Acrosternum heegeri Fieber by histological, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), real-time PCR and molecular phylogenetic techniques. Furthermore, the effects of the symbiont on the...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs (18–25 nt) that are produced by all animals and plants as well as some viruses. Their roles have been revealed in many physiological processes including development, cancer, immunity, apoptosis and, host–microbe interactions through post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. In this study, we pr...

Wolbachia are common intracellular bacteria that are generally found in arthropods, including a high proportion of insects and also some nematodes. This intracellular symbiont can affect sex ratio with a variety of reproductive anomalies in the host, including cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) in haplodiploids. In this study, we questioned if the pa...

The aim of this study was to investigate the foraging behavior of Aphidius matricariae (Haliday) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) as a biological control agent of Myzus persicae nicotianae Blackman (Hemiptera: Aphididae), a key and cosmopolitan pest of tobacco fields. To achieve a strategy for the control of this pest and a mass-rearing program of the par...

RNA interference (RNAi) is an extremely conserved defense mechanism. The antiviral role of the RNAi pathway in insects is well documented; however, the relevance of this pathway in other aspects of insect immunity is largely unknown. In this study, we questioned whether RNAi has any function during insect–bacteria interactions. For this, we assesse...

Insect symbionts offer an opportunity to deal with the anticipated elevated demand for novel pest management strategies. One approach is the disruption of essential symbionts required by the pests. In the present study, we examined the effects of symbiont elimination strategies, high temperature and sterilization agents, on the fitness of three sti...

Wolbachia are common intracellular bacteria that are generally found in arthropods including a high proportion of insects and also some nematodes. This intracellular symbiont can affect sex ratio with a variety of reproductive anomalies in the host, including cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) in haplodiploides. In this study, we questioned if the pa...

Witches' broom disease of lime, caused by 'Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia' is considered as one of the most destructive disease of Mexican lime in southern Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The causative phytoplasma is vectored by a leafhopper, Hishimonus phycitis (Distant, 1908). Six ISSR markers and mitochondorial cytochrome c oxidase...

Notwithstanding the advantageous traits of Typhlodromus bagdasarjani Wainstein and Arutunjan to feed on alternative food such as pollen ensuring the long-term control of greenhouses pests, the nutritional ecology and the role of this predator in biological pest control are rarely addressed. In the current study, the predator's development and repro...

Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) is a well-known virus in the Baculoviridae family. Presence of the p35 gene in the AcMNPV genome as a suppressor of the short interfering RNA (siRNA) pathway is a strong reason for the importance of the siRNA pathway in the host cellular defense. Given that, here we explored the roles of...

The rearing possibility of Typhlodromus bagdasarjani (Phytoseiidae) on three factitious prey (Ephestia kuehniella eggs, cysts of Artemia franciscana and Tyrophagus putrescentiae), and nine artificial diets including a basic artificial diet (AD1) and the others (AD2-AD9) consisted of 80% AD1 enriched with different nutrients including maize pollen,...

In a survey on insect-associate heterostigmatic mites in northern forests of Iran, six species of the genus Petalomium Cross, 1965 (Acari: Pygmephoroidea: Neopygmephoridae) were collected from different ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). One species, P. mazandaranicum Abbasi-Moqadam and Hajiqanbar sp. nov., is new to science and described here. Other...

Potato mop-top virus (PMTV) encodes the 8K cysteine-rich viral suppressor of RNA silencing. To gain an insight into N. benthamiana defense mechanisms against 8K suppressor protein, we expressed two 8K suppressors from Peruvian isolates in Nicotiana benthamiana and assessed the expression of its defense genes involved in autophagy (ATG6, ATG2 and AT...