Université de Neuchâtel

2 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Immunology and Infection

Inoculating Anopheles gambiae Mosquitoes with Beads to Induce and Measure the Melanization Immune Response

Antoine M. G. Barreaux^1,2, Priscille Barreaux^1,2, Matthew B. Thomas², Jacob C. Koella¹

¹Laboratoire d'écologie et d'épidémioloigie parasitaire, Institut de biologie, Université de Neuchâtel, ²Merkle Lab, Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State University

Through inoculation with beads, the described technique enables the stimulation of the mosquito melanization response in the hemolymph circulating system. The amount of melanin covering the beads can be measured after dissection as a measure of the immune response.

Environment

Evaluating Dryocosmus Kuriphilus-induced Damage on Castanea Sativa

Eric Gehring^1,2, Bruno Bellosi¹, Ambra Quacchia¹, Marco Conedera¹

¹Insubric Ecosystem Research Group, WSL Swiss Federal Research Institute, ²Laboratory of Soil Biodiversity, Université de Neuchâtel

It is common practice to assess the damage caused by Dryocosmus kuriphilus by considering the abundance of galls alone rather than by also taking related branch corruption into consideration. We propose a composite damage index that takes into account the most important branch features, thus enabling more realistic damage assessment.