. Annual report. Harvard University. Museum of Comparative Zoology. Fred Ausubel and Saomi Fierce. Half of the world's insect species feed on plants. Considering their agricultural importance, we still know relatively little about the genetic mechanisms underlying plant-insect interactions. In a long-term collaboration, Naomi Pierce and Frederick Ausubel (Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School) have used experimental infections of the plant genetic model Arabidopsis thalianavAth die genetically characterized pathogen Pseudomonas syringae to dissect defense-signaling pathways and virule
. Annual report. Harvard University. Museum of Comparative Zoology. Fred Ausubel and Saomi Fierce. Half of the world's insect species feed on plants. Considering their agricultural importance, we still know relatively little about the genetic mechanisms underlying plant-insect interactions. In a long-term collaboration, Naomi Pierce and Frederick Ausubel (Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School) have used experimental infections of the plant genetic model Arabidopsis thalianavAth die genetically characterized pathogen Pseudomonas syringae to dissect defense-signaling pathways and virulence factors involved in plant-pathogen interactions. By adding to this system a generalist herbivore, the cabbage looper Trichoplusia rd, they discovered complex three-way interactions involving pathogen virulence, host resistance and susceptibility to attack by pathogens and herbivores. In their most recent paper, published as a cover story in Genome Biology Evolution with postdoctoral fellow Noah Whiteman (now at die University of Arizona) as first author, they extend diis research by genetically characterizing Scaptomyza flava, a drosophilid fly whose leaf-mining larvae specialize on plants in die Brassicaceae—the mustard family—which includes vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, as well as Arabidopsis. They show diat diis genetically tractable system can be used to investigate padiways underlying plant-insect interactions. When fed upon, Arabidopsis generates increased amounts of defense compounds called glucosinolates. However, these toxins do not deter S. flava. Although the glucosinolates of Arabidopsis still adversely affect larval development—indicating that the flies are not entirely immune to the plants' defenses—these specialists are able to detoxify them and thrive on the plants. The expression of a number of stress- related genes in die flies suggest diat these genes may play a role in die detoxification process. Insects cause major damage
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