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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Chemistry Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #327779

Title: Plant defense against insect herbivory

Author
item Block, Anna

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/8/2016
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Damage to maize crops by insect herbivores such as beet and fall army worm causes significant impact in the Southern United States in terms of both yield loss and insecticide use. Enhanced understanding of how maize can defend itself against such attacks at a molecular level will enable development of maize varieties with enhanced insect resistance through transgenic manipulation and molecular breeding programs. An important first step in this task is the characterization of the molecular and biochemical responses of fully sequenced maize inbred lines to insect herbivory. To this end we performed comparative physiological, molecular and biochemical analyses of the inbred maize lines B73 and W22 to caterpillar herbivory and elicitor treatment. Differences that were observed between the two lines in regards to chemical defenses and caterpillar feeding provide insight into maize defenses against insect herbivory.