DynaMo Seminar with Dr Daniel Giddings Vassão

Dr Daniel Giddings Vassão
Project Group Leader
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology,
Jena, Germany
Link to Daniel Vassão's research

Detoxification and effects of activated plant defenses in insect herbivores
While many plant defensive chemicals can be harmless or even beneficial to humans, these well-defended plant tissues can cause negative developmental effects on most small herbivores. Therefore, many insect herbivores employ biochemical mechanisms to avoid the toxicity of such plant compounds. In this talk I’ll compare the metabolic strategies used by some insect pests against plant activated (two-component) chemical defenses, with a special emphasis on glucosinolates. Within these examples I’ll additionally show how detoxification itself can lead to negative physiological effects, and how experimentally disrupting a herbivore’s detoxification ability can affect not only the herbivore, but also its enemies.

Everybody is welcome!

Arranged by DynaMo (dynamo.ku.dk)
Contact person: Meike Burow, mbu@plen.kku.dk