Opposing the mustard-oil bomb with a glutathione bomb

Background and Project: The cabbage stem flea beetle (Psylliodes chrysocephala) is currently the most serious pest of oilseed rape in Northern Europe and is perfectly adapted to feed on cruciferous plants. The tissue damage caused by these insects triggers the release of toxic mustard oils, so-called isothiocyanates. To prevent intoxication by these compounds, P. chrysocephala possess enormous amounts of the tripeptide glutathione in their gut which renders the isothiocyanate harmless by binding to it.

The goal of the PhD project is to identify the molecular mechanisms responsible for this detoxification strategy by focusing on the questions of how is glutathione is synthesized in these beetles, and which enzymes (glutathione-S-transferases) are responsible for the conjugation of the isothiocyanate with glutathione. To answer these questions the candidate will use a comparative transcriptomics approach to identify candidate genes which will be then tested by reverse genetics (RNA interference) and functional characterization of recombinant proteins.

Candidate profile: The candidate should have experience in at least one of the following fields: molecular biology, bioinformatics, protein biochemistry.