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.

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.

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

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.