News
Mutualisms
Adaptive plasticity of insect eggs
November 7, 2022. The insect egg is a sessile life stage but not a passive one. So how do eggs sense and respond to their environment? And which adaptations allow them to actively shape it? We cover these questions, and a few others, in our latest with Monika Hilker and Nina Fatouros. Out in the Annual Review of Entomology.
Notice of Award
October 17, 2022. Welcome news from the German Research Foundation! The Program Grant on Organismic Interactions will fund our efforts to study how symbioses fuel evolutionary innovation in leaf beetles. New opportunities to join the group will be advertised soon!
Leaf beetle propagates a phytopathogen in exchange for pupal protection
August 23, 2022. Thrilled to share our latest on a novel defensive mutualism between tortoise beetles and the ascomycete, Fusarium oxysporum. Fusarium confers protection for the beetle, and in exchange, the beetles vector the symbiont to their host plant. Led by Aileen Berasategui and Noa Breitenbach. Out in Current Biology.
Congress of the International Society of Symbiosis, Lyon 2022
August 2, 2022. A wonderful iteration of the ISS congress in Lyon. Ines, Marleny, and Aileen all gave excellent talks on their latest insect-microbe work, and Miguel Ángel netted the Best Poster Award based on his research with Nicole Dubilier and Niko Leisch. Congratulations to you all!