S. Patricia Stock, John Vandenberg, Itamar Glazer, and Noël Boemare (eds.)Publisher: CAB International,
Oxfordshire (UK)
2009; 417 pages
ISBN 978-1-84593-478-1
Price: $173 (hardcover)

Insect pathology—the research into insect diseases and their causative organisms—is an ever-evolving and growing scientific discipline with applications in agriculture, medicine, biotechnology, and general biology. Two major interests in this discipline include the successful application of entomopathogens in insect pest control strategies, and the utilization of pathogen-host associations as research model systems of host-parasite interactions. In this book, thirty-six authors have contributed their expertise and produced an up-to-date review of molecular approaches to various areas of research in insect pathology. Entomopathogen groups, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes, are addressed throughout the volume from different angles, demonstrating the diverse applications of past and current molecular techniques. These applications range from molecular species identification and phylogenetic analyses, to analyses of differential gene expression, to construction of recombinant microorganisms. Given its multi-authored nature, the book offers a variety of writing styles. While several chapters contain hands-on instructions in laboratory notebook style, including flow charts and bullet-formatted protocols, others tell fascinating stories about specific events in the life history of the investigated pathogen taxon. At times the book gets a very personal touch when the authors present detailed methods that have proven successful in their particular research projects. Each chapter is followed by an extensive list of references that provides the interested reader with ample material for in-depth study of the subject.

The sixteen chapters of the book are organized into four parts: (1) identification and diagnostics; (2) evolutionary relationships and population genetics; (3) host-pathogen interactions; and (4) genomics and genetic engineering.  The reader also finds a short glossary of molecular terms. Part 1 contains five chapters that summarize the most recent taxonomies of entomopathogenic viruses, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and protozoa. These chapters emphasize how advances in molecular biology have played a major role in the revision of phylogenetic relationships within each pathogen group. In addition, specific methods for specimen collection and identification, including sample preparation and ideal storage, are described. Diagnostic tools range from DNA hybridization techniques to various PCR-based applications to sequence comparisons, and discussions guide the reader towards selection of the most useful methods depending on the research question to be addressed. The following three chapters, representing Part 2, demonstrate how the levels of resolution in phylogenetic studies are influenced by selection of suitable markers, sequence alignment strategies, tree construction methods, and analytical tools (i.e., software). In Part 3, intriguing host-pathogen interactions and their implications in various efforts to control insect pests are presented. All three chapters, although analyzing different host-pathogen systems, focus on strategies employed by various pathogens to increase pathogenicity and/or to evade the insect immune responses. The authors emphasize how understanding the genetic basis of these mechanisms has fostered, for example, the genetic manipulation of baculoviruses including the construction of baculovirus expression vectors, the implementation of paratransgenesis into the management of insect-borne diseases, and the identification of virulence factors produced by mutualistic bacteria of entomopathogenic nematodes. The five chapters of Part 4 go deeper into the subject of genetic engineering, genomics, and functional genomics. The reader learns about different types of recombinant bacteria, various approaches to whole-genome sequencing and comparisons, advances in baculovirus cloning systems, the importance of combined genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics for the generation of transgenic entomopathogenic nematodes, and the relevance of functional genomics to the study of insect-pathogenic fungi.

Future prospects discussed by the various authors underline the increasing importance but also the fast-evolving nature of molecular approaches in insect pathology and related disciplines. The book is not intended to replace classical manuals of techniques in invertebrate pathology, molecular biology, cloning, and functional genomics, many of which the reader will find referenced in the bibliographies. To my mind, the book is excellent reading material for advanced graduate seminars. It may also be very useful for graduate students and researchers who would like to apply molecular tools to address their research questions. The editors and authors succeeded in providing a comprehensive overview of such tools and illustrating with various case studies how powerful these tools can be after they have been optimized.

Verena-Ulrike Lietze
Entomology and Nematology Department
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
E-Mail: vlietze@ufl.edu

American Entomologist
Vol. 57, No.2, Summer 2011