SYSTEMATIC ANALYSES OF INSECT RESISTANCE & DEFENSE IN Arabidopsis AND RELATED SPECIES

Heiko Vogel Max-Planck-Institute of Chemical Ecology Genetics and Evolution Tatzendpromenade 1a 07745 Jena Thuringia Germany

Arabidopsis thaliana has proven to be an excellent model system for studying plant defense against bacterial and fungal pathogens. This work has greatly benefited from recent advances in genomics. We are using Arabidopsis and related species of the genus Arabis to study plant defenses against insects such as Plutella xylostella (Diamondback Moth). To identify defense-related genes we employ the following approaches: 1. Screen for mutants with altered insect sensitivity 2. QTL mapping to exploit naturally occurring variation 3. Positional cloning of candidate genes 4. Identify defense-related genes (differential display and cDNA subtraction), followed by reverse genetics The expression profiles of induced genes are monitored by membrane based approaches. Their functional relevance is studied by shot-gun transformation with sense and antisense constructs.