Abstract
The overall objective of our study is to assess olfactory responses of Ips typographus to the interaction between the beetle?s fungal associates and their common host Picea abies. Living trees, either treated or untreated with a wound-signalling plant hormone in order to obtain trees with different resistance, will be inoculated with symbiotic fungi and a root-rot fungus. We will collect headspace samples continuously after inoculation to be used for testing olfactory perception on beetle antennae by means of advanced neurophysiology. Headspace and phloem samples will be analyzed chemically with special emphasis on oxygenated compounds and chirality. Differences in the development between fungal species related to tree resistance will be evaluated, and be compared to beetle olfaction. Transcriptome data from inoculated phloem will be used to relate the origin of specific compounds to tree defence or fungal activity. The project will be an interdisciplinary cooperation combining forest field assays, advanced chemistry and molecular tools with advanced methods in insect neurobiology. The group of Prof R Unelius, Linnaeus Univ., Kalmar will house the project and the study will be performed in close cooperation with Prof P Krokene, Norsk Inst. for Skog og Landskap, Ås, Norway, and with Dr T Zhao, group of Prof A-K Borg-Karlson, at KTH, Stockholm. Electrophysiology work will be done in the group of Prof B Hansson, Dept of Evol. Neuroethology at MPI, Jena, Germany.
Sweden