Chemical Defense of Leaf Beetles (Dr. Antje Burse)

Current research topics:

• Chlorophyll degradation in insect gut (Amarsanaa Badgaa)

• Establishment of RNAi in leaf beetles (René Bodemann)

• Identification and characterization of enzymes important for the iridoid biosynthesis in leaf beetle larvae (Sindy Frick)

• Identification and evolution of enzymes involved in chemical defense of leaf beetle larvae (Roy Kirsch)

• De novo biosynthesis versus sequestration: A network of transport systems supports in iridoid producing leaf beetle larvae both modes of defense (Dr. Maritta Kunert)

• Sequestration by leaf beetles: identification and characterization of transport proteins (Gerhard Pauls)

• Bioinformatic analyses of cDNA sequences derived from various leaf beetles (Magdalena Stock)

• Characterization of putative transport proteins within leaf beetle larvae carrying defensive precursors (Anja Strauss)

• Biosynthetic studies (Dr. Karla Tolzin-Banasch)