Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

4 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Biology

Identification of Metabolically Active Bacteria in the Gut of the Generalist Spodoptera littoralis via DNA Stable Isotope Probing Using ¹³C-Glucose

Yongqi Shao^*1, Erika M Arias-Cordero^*1, Wilhelm Boland¹

¹Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

The active bacterial community associated with the gut of Spodoptera littoralis, was determined by stable-isotope-probing (SIP) coupled to pyrosequencing. Using this methodology, identification of the metabolically active bacteria species within the community was done with high resolution and precision.

Biology

Isolation of Viable Multicellular Glands from Tissue of the Carnivorous Plant, Nepenthes

Sandy Rottloff¹, Axel Mithöfer², Ute Müller³, Roland Kilper³

¹Laboratoire Agronomie et Environnement, Université de Lorraine, ²Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, ³aura optik

Plants glands are specialized structures responsible for the biosynthesis and secretion of many compounds involved in interactions with the biotic environment. To enable studies on their molecular and biochemical features, a mechanical micropreparation technique was established in order to isolate single metabolically active glands, here from the carnivorous plant Nepenthes.

Neuroscience

High-resolution Quantification of Odor-guided Behavior in Drosophila melanogaster Using the Flywalk Paradigm

Michael Thoma¹, Bill S. Hansson¹, Markus Knaden¹

¹Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

The automated tracking system Flywalk is used for high-resolution quantification of odor-guided behavior in Drosophila melanogaster.

Biology

Transposon-insertion Sequencing as a Tool to Elucidate Bacterial Colonization Factors in a Burkholderia gladioli Symbiont of Lagria villosa Beetles

Ramya Ganesan¹, Martin Kaltenpoth^1,2, Laura V. Flórez^1,3

¹Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University, ²Department of Insect Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, ³Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Section for Organismal Biology, University of Copenhagen

This is an adapted method for identifying candidate insect colonization factors in a Burkholderia beneficial symbiont. The beetle host is infected with a random mutant library generated via transposon mutagenesis, and library complexity after colonization is compared to a control grown in vitro.