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Title: Potato defense against Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say): microarray gene expression profiling of potato (Solanum tuberosum) by Colorado potato beetle infestation and regurgitant treatment of

Author
item Lawrence, Susan
item Novak, Nicole
item JU, CHELSEA - UNIV. OF ALBETA,CANADA
item COOKE, JANICE - UNIV. OF ALBERTA, CANADA

Submitted to: Plant Cell and Environment
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/5/2008
Publication Date: 6/7/2008
Citation: Lawrence, S., Novak, N., Ju, C., Cooke, J. 2008. Potato, Solanum Tuberosum, defense against Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say): Microarray gene expression profiling of potato by Colorado potato beetle regurgitant treatment of wounded leaves. Journal of Chemical Ecology. 34(8)1013-1025. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10886-008-9507-2.

Interpretive Summary: Colorado potato beetle costs hundreds of millions of dollars for pesticide control and yield loss each year in the United States. Understanding the natural defenses of the plant to this insect pest will allow scientists to know what genes should be manipulated to produce a plant that is better able to mount a defensive response to insect attack. Plants respond by mounting a defense to the actual mechanical damage, but they also respond to chemicals produced by the insect. This work increases our understanding of the specific plant/pest interaction and will be of interest to scientists studying plant resistance to pests.

Technical Abstract: Colorado potato beetle is the leading pest of solanaceous plants, however little is known about the interaction of this beetle with the potato plant. Using the 11,421 EST solanaceae microarry profiling services at TIGR we have begun investigating the genes that are differentially expressed by infestation or by the addition of regurgitant to wounded leaves. When an adjusted P value of < 0.01 is used, 97 or 68 genes are induced by infestation for 1 hr or 4 hr, respectively. Only 11 genes are induced by regurgitant treatment of wounded leaves when compared to wounding alone while 15 genes are repressed by this treatment. Northern analysis was performed to confirm the regurgitant-induced expression of these genes.