CENTENNIAL HONORS COLLEGE
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2016
PosterPresentation
CaterpillarGeneExpressioninRelationtoPlantDefenses
AhmedRosenjeandJacobJ.Vincent
FacultyMentor:RichardO.Musser
Biology
The caterpillar Helicoverpa zea, causes tremendous economic crop damage. This caterpillar is a
generalistfeederfeedingonawiderangeofcrops.Ourstudyfocusesonthegenesalteredfromfeeding
ondifferentplantsources.Weallowed6thinstarH.zeatofeedonawiderangeofdietaryfactorsand
plants such as tomato, corn and soybean. After 24 hours harvested the caterpillars organs such as
midgut, fat body, malpighian tubules, and salivary glands were total RNA purified for gene expression
measurementwithqPCR.Ourinitialresultsshowthatthecaterpillarhascompensatoryupregulationof
digestiveanddetoxificationgenes.