{"doi":"10.1371/journal.pone.0316776","title":"Standardized methods for rearing a moth larva, Manduca sexta, in a laboratory setting","abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    The larval tobacco hornworm,\n                    <jats:italic>Manduca sexta</jats:italic>\n                    , has been used in a laboratory setting for physiological studies and for pathogen virulence studies. This moth offers a much larger size than the commonly used wax moth (\n                    <jats:italic>Galleria mellonella</jats:italic>\n                    ), and it can thus be used for a greater variety of assays, such as repeated sampling of the same individual, growth measurements, and tissue sampling. Yet their occasional use in research has led to a minimally documented set of rearing methods. To facilitate further adoption of this insect model, we expanded on previously reported protocols and developed our own rearing methods, which we report here. Our protocol requires little specialized equipment, with a cost less than $100/month for the feeding and maintenance of a laboratory colony of about five hundred larvae of differing instar phases. The low cost generalized equipment and supplies, and the simplification of the standardized protocols allows for an easy entry point for rearing tobacco hornworm populations. We also describe a few methods that are relevant to the uses of these organisms as infection models.\n                  </jats:p>","journal":"PLOS One","year":2025,"id":653962,"datarank":0.3059145010124864,"base_score":1.9459101490553132,"endowment":1.9459101490553132,"self_citation_contribution":0.29188652235829704,"citation_network_contribution":0.01402797865418937,"self_endowment_contribution":0.29188652235829704,"citer_contribution":0.01402797865418937,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":6,"citer_count":4,"citers_with_citation_signal":1,"citers_with_endowment":1,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":288062,"name":"Craig R. Miller","orcid":"0000-0001-7920-4994","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":167486,"name":"James J. Bull","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1278835,"name":"Emma Spencer","orcid":"0000-0002-9982-8152","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Standardized methods for rearing a moth larva, Manduca sexta, in a laboratory setting","abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    The larval tobacco hornworm,\n                    <jats:italic>Manduca sexta</jats:italic>\n                    , has been used in a laboratory setting for physiological studies and for pathogen virulence studies. This moth offers a much larger size than the commonly used wax moth (\n                    <jats:italic>Galleria mellonella</jats:italic>\n                    ), and it can thus be used for a greater variety of assays, such as repeated sampling of the same individual, growth measurements, and tissue sampling. Yet their occasional use in research has led to a minimally documented set of rearing methods. To facilitate further adoption of this insect model, we expanded on previously reported protocols and developed our own rearing methods, which we report here. Our protocol requires little specialized equipment, with a cost less than $100/month for the feeding and maintenance of a laboratory colony of about five hundred larvae of differing instar phases. The low cost generalized equipment and supplies, and the simplification of the standardized protocols allows for an easy entry point for rearing tobacco hornworm populations. We also describe a few methods that are relevant to the uses of these organisms as infection models.\n                  </jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":1.791759469228055,"endowment":1.791759469228055,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"40299873","pmcid":"PMC12040098","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W4409916555","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"National Institute of General Medical Sciences","grant_id":"P20GM104420","title":null},{"funder_name":"National Institutes of Health","grant_id":"2P20GM104420-06A1","title":"Center for Modeling Complex Interactions"}],"total_grants":2,"fwci":1.9796,"citation_percentile":0.85659201,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2025,"count":1},{"year":2026,"count":4}],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0316776&type=printable","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0316776&type=printable","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0316776","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0316776","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40299873","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://doaj.org/article/454ca3122a0d456fabba040d6780c7c9","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/12040098","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12040098","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12040098?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.18.629232","host_type":""},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39763740","host_type":""},{"url":"http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.18.629232","host_type":""},{"url":"http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0316776","host_type":""}],"fields_of_study":["Insect Resistance and Genetics","Insect and Pesticide Research","Viral Infectious Diseases and Gene Expression in Insects","0106 biological sciences","01 natural sciences"],"mesh_terms":["Animals","Larva","Manduca"],"keywords":["Manduca sexta","Biology","Galleria mellonella","Larva","Manduca","Insect","Sphingidae","Instar","Zoology","Toxicology","Ecology","Virulence","Science","Q","R","Medicine","Animals","Article","Research Article"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Good health and well-being"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[{"name":"doi"}],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-11T02:26:21.727694Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}