Name: choice and no-choice assays for testing the resistance of a. thaliana to chewing insects
Uploaded: 2008-05-14T16:15:00
Duration: 8 min 24 s
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Choice and No-Choice Assays for Testing the Resistance of A. thaliana to Chewing Insects at JoVE.com

No Choice Experiment:
<ol>
<li>Carefully enclose the Arabidopsis plant of interest in a plastic cup. In this case: Col-0 (WT) and a mutant impaired in the production of JA. Make sure you limit damage to the leaves. For that I use the back of this paintbrush. </li>
<li>Use a fine paintbrush to take a freshly hatched larvae from the colony on cabbage. </li>
<li>Carefully place the larva on the Arabidopsis plants. </li>
<li>Weight larva at day 4, 7, 10. TIP: Grow your plants under short day conditions (8 hr light) to increase vegetative growth (1 larva can fulfill its full life cycle on 1 plant).</li>
</ol>
Choice Experiment:
<ol>
<li>Two plants are selected, one of each genotype. Best is to grow plants in the same pot, to limit other factors, such as tray effects, etc. </li>
<li>Place the plants in a butterfly cage. </li>
<li>Select a fertile female. I usually catch a female that is actively laying eggs in the rearing colony. </li>
<li>Release the female in the cage with the choice of two plants for 24 hrs. </li>
</ol>
TIP 1: To eliminate an affect of learning, do not reuse females for subsequent choice tests.
TIP 2: One can only compare plants that have a similar growth phenotype. Alternatively, you could mount a leaf from each genotype on top of a Erlenmeyer flask and compare their attractiveness to a female.
Please visit <a href="http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.arplant.59.032607.092825">Annual Reviews of Plant Biology</a> for more information about this protocol and plant immunity to insect herbivory.
&nbsp;

choice and no-choice assays for testing the resistance of a. thaliana to chewing insects

Larvae of the small white cabbage butterfly are a pest in agricultural settings. This caterpillar species feeds from plants in the cabbage family, which include many crops such as cabbage, broccoli, Brussel sprouts etc. Rearing of the insects takes place on cabbage plants in the greenhouse. At least two cages are needed for the rearing of Pieris rapae. One for the larvae and the other to contain the adults, the butterflies. In order to investigate the role of plant hormones and toxic plant chemicals in resistance to this insect pest, we demonstrate two experiments. First, determination of the role of jasmonic acid (JA - a plant hormone often indicated in resistance to insects) in resistance to the chewing insect Pieris rapae. Caterpillar growth can be compared on wild-type and mutant plants impaired in production of JA. This experiment is considered "No Choice", because larvae are forced to subsist on a single plant which synthesizes or is deficient in JA. Second, we demonstrate an experiment that investigates the role of glucosinolates, which are used as oviposition (egg-laying) signals. Here, we use WT and mutant Arabidopsis impaired in glucosinolate production in a "Choice" experiment in which female butterflies are allowed to choose to lay their eggs on plants of either genotype. This video demonstrates the experimental setup for both assays as well as representative results.

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Choice and No-Choice Assays for Testing the Resistance of A. thaliana to Chewing Insects at JoVE.com

Choice and No-Choice Assays for Testing the Resistance of A. thaliana to Chewing Insects

Plant resistance to chewing insect herbivores can be tested in several ways. Here, we demonstrate how to set-up a choice and a no-choice experiment with the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to identify resistance against the pest species Pieris rapae.

Larvae of the small white cabbage butterfly are a pest in agricultural settings. This caterpillar species feeds from plants in the cabbage family, which ...

Research

JoVE Journal

Biology

Testing Visual Sensitivity to the Speed and Direction of Motion in Lizards

Testing visual sensitivity in any species provides basic information regarding behaviour, evolution, and ecology. However, testing specific features of ...

Neurocircuit Assays for Seizures in Epilepsy Mutants of Drosophila

Neurocircuit Assays for Seizures in Epilepsy Mutants of Drosophila

Drosophila melanogaster is a useful tool for studying seizure like activity. A variety of mutants in which seizures can be induced through either physical ...

Pharmacological and Functional Genetic Assays to Manipulate Regeneration of the Planarian Dugesia japonica

Pharmacological and Functional Genetic Assays to Manipulate Regeneration of the Planarian Dugesia japonica

Free-living planarian flatworms have a long history of experimental usage owing to their remarkable regenerative abilities1. Small fragments excised from ...

Biophysical Assays to Probe the Mechanical Properties of the Interphase Cell Nucleus: Substrate Strain Application and Microneedle Manipulation

In most eukaryotic cells, the nucleus is the largest organelle and is typically 2 to 10 times stiffer than the surrounding cytoskeleton; consequently, the ...

Toxicological Assays for Testing Effects of an Epigenetic Drug on Development, Fecundity and Survivorship of Malaria Mosquitoes

Insecticidal resistance poses a major problem for malaria control programs. Mosquitoes adapt to a wide range of changes in the environment quickly, making ...

Design and Development of Aptamer&#8211;Gold Nanoparticle Based Colorimetric Assays for In-the-field Applications

The design and development of an aptamer&#8211;gold nanoparticle (AuNP) colorimetric assay for the detection of small molecules for in-the-field ...

Methods for the Extraction of Endosymbionts from the Whitefly Bemisia tabaci

Methods for the Extraction of Endosymbionts from the Whitefly Bemisia tabaci

Bacterial symbionts form an intimate relationship with their hosts and confer advantages to the hosts in most cases. Genomic information is critical to ...

Protocols for Testing the Toxicity of Novel Insecticidal Chemistries to Mosquitoes

New classes of insecticides with novel modes of action are needed to control insecticide resistant populations of mosquitoes that transmit diseases such ...

A Labor-saving and Repeatable Touch-force Signaling Mutant Screen Protocol for the Study of Thigmomorphogenesis of a Model Plant Arabidopsis thaliana

A Labor-saving and Repeatable Touch-force Signaling Mutant Screen Protocol for the Study of Thigmomorphogenesis of a Model Plant Arabidopsis thaliana

Plants responding to both intracellular and extracellular mechanical stimulations (or force signals) and develop special morphological changes, a called ...

A Finite Element Approach for Locating the Center of Resistance of Maxillary Teeth

The center of resistance (CRES) is regarded as the fundamental reference point for predictable tooth movement. The methods used to estimate the CRES of ...