Role of early signalling events in plant-insect interactions

The role of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases in plant-insect interactions.

Plants and herbivorous insects interact at the most fundamental of levels. With few exceptions, in the battle waged daily between these two groups of organisms, one serves as food source, the other as consumer. From a plant’s perspective, success in this interaction is measured by its ability to defend itself from devastation by insect feeding. From an insect’s perspective, success is measured ...

Early signalling events of autophagy.

Autophagy is a conserved cellular degradative process important for cellular homoeostasis and survival. An early committal step during the initiation of autophagy requires the actions of a protein kinase called ATG1 (autophagy gene 1). In mammalian cells, ATG1 is represented by ULK1 (uncoordinated-51-like kinase 1), which relies on its essential regulatory cofactors mATG13, FIP200 (focal adhesi...

Plant polyploidy and insect/plant interactions.

We used flow cytometry and extensive geographic surveys of herbivore attack to test whether repeated evolution of autotetraploidy in the perennial herb Heuchera grossulariifolia Rydb. (Saxifragaceae) has created evolutionary barriers to attack by the specialist moth herbivore Greya politella (Prodoxidae). We found that the moth has colonized tetraploid as well as diploid populations, has coloni...

Plant–insect Interactions and Pollution

Maternal Effects in Insect-Plant Interactions:

Maternal effects occur when the phenotype or environment of a mother affects the phenotype of her offspring via some mechanism other than the transmission of genes. The primary objective of this review is to use examples from my own research on the interaction between seed beetles and their host plants to illustrate how maternal effects influence ecological interactions in nature. I explain how...