Center Highlights

The Penn State Center for Chemical Ecology (CCE) home page highlights our latest research in journals and other types of communications as well as jobs and events that would be of interest to chemical ecologists at Penn State, nationally, and internationally. Our home page is a dynamic page, so check back to stay current on CCE. For details on current or previously posted highlights, see Communications.

PSU and the CCE are hosting the 25th Anniversary meeting of the International Society of Chemical Ecology (ISCE), August 17-22, 2008. Meeting information available.

TUMLINSON WINS WOLF FOUNDATION PRIZE IN AGRICULTURE: Jim Tumlinson, director of the Center for Chemical Ecology at PSU, has been awarded the 2008 Wolf Foundation Prize in Agriculture. Read more about Jim's career as a chemist dedicated to identifying insect pheromones and other semiochemicals, investigating the biochemical mechanisms by which these chemical signals are produced and released by insects, and unraveling the chemical relationships among herbivorous insects, their host plants, and their natural enemies.

PSU chemical ecologists are collaborating to study the role of induced secondary metabolites and flavonoids in fungal and insect resistance in sorghum and maize. The Chopra (Crop and Soil Sciences) and Kuldau (Plant Pathology) labs are exploring induced expression of the flavonoid pathway in maize silks and pericarp tissue against Fusarium. See Abstract.

Casey Delphia and other CCE members are studying how inbreeding in horsenettle influences volatile production and insect preference and performance. They have found that inbreeding reduces total volatile production, that Manduca sexta caterpillars prefer inbred plants in choice tests, and that caterpillars grow larger on inbred plants relative to outcrossed plants.

John Tooker joined the Department of Entomology as assistant professor in March 2008, with a specialty in arthropod ecology. John’s research will focus on plant–insect interactions in agricultural systems, including the chemical ecology of host plant defenses, natural enemies, and tritrophic interactions.

Horticulturist Roger Koide and his students investigate the ecology and physiology of mycorrhizal symbioses, interactions between ectomycorrhizal fungi and other soil microbes, and the effects of mycorrhizal fungi on host plant fitness. See Horticultural Ecology lab website for details.

Research Penn State magazine has a several feature articles and summaries of current CCE research. Read about how a parasitic plant (dodder) recognizes its prey by scent, how insect gut microorganisms may yield answers for bioenergy, and the potential culprits in the massive honey bee die-offs in the United States.

Dawn Luthe (Crop and Soil Sciences) and John Carlson (School of Forest Resources) are working on uncovering genetic networks regulating environmental and developmental regulation of floral bud initiation in Populus. They are collaborating with researchers at Mississippi State University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and University of Alabama–Burmingham. Some of this research has been published in Science, Plant Cell, and Genome Research.

CCE entomologists Mike Domingue and Tom Baker used single-cell electrophysiological techniques to demonstrate that changes in olfactory receptor neuron responsiveness occur when male moths are able to fly upwind to the sex pheromone blends of other species. This project and others in the Baker group represent a team effort between Penn State and Cornell chemical ecologists.

CCE biologist Andy Stephenson is part of a team of PSU and international scientists that conducted a 3-year study on the effects of inbreeding on the resistance of wild gourd (Cucurbita pepo subsp. texana) plants to herbivory by cucumber beetles and the impact of the timing of herbivory on reproduction. See American Journal of Botany for a summary of this research.

Scott Geib, a Penn State Entomology graduate student, is studying how Asian longhorned beetle larvae acquire and change their gut community to feed on the inner wood of a variety of hardwod trees. This research could lead to the discovery of novel microbes or enzymes with application to biofuels production. Scott was a 1st place winner in the student paper competition for this research at the annual Entomological Society of America meeting.

A new twist on research in Gary Felton's lab involves investigating the role of trichomes as sensors for herbivores. In tomato plants, trichomes seem to alert the plant to begin producing transcripts for defense protein genes even before the insect takes its first bite.