Project Number: 6618-22000-028-02
Project Type: Specific C/A

Start Date: Jun 26, 2000
End Date: Sep 30, 2004

Objective:
Evaluate molecular response of citrus and tomato to insect feeding damage. Insects have developed methods to feed on their preferred plant hosts in a way that prevents plant defenses from interfering with the insect feeding process. Understanding what plant defensive mechanisms are prevented from being activated and which ones are activated, but ineffective will help in development of novel control strategies. Experiments will be performed to: (1) determine what, if any plant defense mechanims are induced in response to insect feeding in citrus (leaf miner, psyllid, and aphid) and tomato (whitefly); 2) characterize the usefulness of using arrayed citrus genes to identify transcript changes in tomato; 3) correlate transcript abundance changes in tomato with whitefly induced irregular fruit ripening, an economically important physiological disorder associated with feeding of Bemisia tabaci B biotype.

Approach:
Array-based gene expression screening and real-time RT-PCR quantification of transcript changes in citrus and tomato as a result of insect feeding will be evaluated. Plant samples from control and insect infested plants will be obtained and processed for this work. Expression differences will be compared using both arrayed citrus genes and tomato genes to determine the usefulness of heterologous array-hybridization experiments. Insect induced transcript changes will be verified using real-time RT-PCR. Results will be correlated with function of differentially expressed sequence products. This information will be used to develop working hypotheses on molecular responses and their role in defense or physiological processes.

Project Team

Shatters, Robert - Bob McKenzie, Cindy Weathersbee, Albert - Allen Charles Powell - Professor (561)462-5800

Project Annual Reports

FY 2003   FY 2002   FY 2001   FY 2000

Related National Programs

Crop Protection & Quarantine (304)