To begin to understand the changes in plant gene expression in response to the phloem-feeding insects, the laboratory is studying the responses of tomato and squash plants to silverleaf whitefly infestations. We have shown that whitefly feeding does not induce the wound octadecanoid pathway.
Tomato plants perceive whitefly feeding as being similar to fungal or bacterial pathogen invasion.
Current efforts are focused on understanding the role of the oxidative burst in whitefly-plant interactions. Since the silverleaf whitefly induces novel and economically important developmental disorders in cucurbits, we have also studied squash responses to silverleaf whitefly feeding. Several novel SLW genes that are strictly correlated with developmental disorder induction and systemically expressed after silverleaf whitefly feeding are being studied. Additional research efforts have been focused on constructing of seedless mandarins and pathogen- and insect tolerant citrus. The myriad plant responses to herbivores.