Centennial Honors College
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2014
Poster Presentation
Genes Altered in Corn Plants to Caterpillar Herbivory
Sarah Warren, Cody Grotts, William Hudson, and Eric Butz
Faculty Mentor: Richard Musser
Biology
We studied the effects of Helicoverpa zea caterpillar labial saliva on corn leaves gene
expression. Caterpillars with labial salivary glands (mock-ablated) and without (ablated)
ate corn leaves for 24 hr; then, the leaf mRNA was analyzed with corn microarrays. The
bulk of the genes were quantitatively altered more so by mock-ablated caterpillars with
labial salivary glands than ablated caterpillars. Particularly notable were genes encoding
chitinases, polyphenol oxidase, protease inhibitors, and threonine deaminase were
more highly stimulated by mock-ablated caterpillars than ablated caterpillars. We show
that caterpillar labial saliva is an essential component of herbivory that can alter plant
gene expression.