Benjamin J. Parker

The paper shows that mobile genetic elements drive phenotypic divergence in the insect symbiont Regiella insecticola by mediating gene gains and losses that affect host defense.

The paper studies the evolution of densoviral endogenous elements in aphids, finding lineage-specific variation and evidence for both vertical and horizontal transmission.

The paper identifies widespread heritable iflaviruses in aphids, showing they are transmitted vertically and co-localize with bacterial symbionts in bacteriocytes.

The paper presents a new draft genome of Aulacorthum solani, correcting contamination in the existing genome and providing functional annotations for most predicted genes.

The paper investigates how bacteria influence the virulence of an aphid-specific fungus, showing that protective bacteria reduce fungal virulence and that fungi can acquire host-associated bacteria during infection.

The paper identifies an endogenous viral element in the potato aphid genome, showing that RNAseq can misidentify viruses due to homology with transcribed elements.