Bark beetle outbreaks represent a threat to forests worldwide. Under normal circumstances, they colonize dead or low vigour trees, which promotes nutrient cycling in the ecosystem. However, in large numbers they are capable of colonizing healthy trees, using aggregation pheromones to coordinate these attacks. It has been proven that using pheromone baits as a control strategy to interfere with bark beetle behaviour is effective. Similarly, predators of these beetles are attracted by the presence of the beetles’ pheromones.
As several of these pheromones share the same C5 building block molecules as plant secondary metabolism, in the Van Aken Lab, we have engineered different metabolic pathways to produce insect pheromones from plant metabolism. Having plants producing insect pheromones opens the possibility for using them as natural dispensers of pheromones or as a biofactory for later extraction. Currently in this project, we are engineering alternative enzymes for the current pathways and new cloning strategies for improving the production of these pheromones, as well as new pathways to produce different pheromones.
In this project, we will use several cloning techniques such as Multisite Gateway cloning, Golden Gate cloning and Gibson assembly. We will work with the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana, as well as N. benthamiana and the oilseed crop Camelina sativa. We will use expression analysis via qPCR and GC/MS to evaluate plant metabolite production.
For this project, it is expected to have a student with an interest in plants and molecular biology, as well as biotechnological applications. The start date is flexible, as well as the duration of the project. If you are interested, please contact Olivier Van Aken (olivier.van_aken@biol.lu.se) for more information.
