Course detail

LET5809 - Plant Resistance to Insects


Credit hours

In-class work
per week
Practice
per week
Credits
Duration
Total
4
2
8
15 weeks
120 hours

Instructor
Aline Sartori Guidolin

Objective
1. To teach graduate students concepts of plant resistance to insects and insect-plant interaction. 2.
Demonstrate plant defense strategies and insect responses to these defenses. 3. Promote critical
discussion of current scientific literature and advances in the field.

Content
I. Types of insect–plant interactions, ecology of herbivory and manipulation of plant resources by
insects; II. History and concepts of plant resistance; III. Types of resistance: antixenosis, antibiosis and
tolerance; IV. Physical, chemical and morphological aspects of plant resistance, plant secondary
metabolites; V. Biotic and abiotic factors that determine plant resistance; SAW. Techniques for
evaluating plant resistance; VII. Insecticide plants, examples of resistant cultivars, push-pull; VIII.
Conventional and biotechnology-based plant genetic breeding, Bt plants; IX. Plant defense strategies:
acquired resistance, gene-to-gene resistance, indirect defense, constitutive resistance and induced
resistance; X. Plant immune system:jasmonic acid and salicylic acid pathways; XI. Biochemical routes of
insect defense to plant compounds; XII. Identification of elicitors, effectors and plant defense molecules,
and the applicability of these molecules for the development of insect-resistant plants; XIII. “Omics” and
gene editing for plant resistance studies; XIV. Plant-pathogen-insect interaction; XV. Plant defenses in
relation to oviposition and tritrophic interactions; XVI. Integration of plant resistance into IPM programs.

Bibliography
Books:
Baldin, E.L.L.; Vendramim, J.D.; Lourenção, A.L. (2019). Resistência de plantas: a insetos fundamentos
e aplicações. Fealq.
Tanda, A. (2022) Molecular Advances in Insect Resistance of Field Crops. Springer
Voelckel, C., Jander, G. (2014). Annual plant reviews, Insect-plant interactions (Vol. 47). John Wiley &
Sons.
Walters, D.R. (2011). Plant defense: Warding off attack by pathogens, herbivores, and parasitic plants.
Wiley-Blackwell.
Walters, D.; Newton, A. Lyon, G. (2007). Induced resistance for plant defence: A sustainable approach
to crop protection. Blackwell Publishing.
Reviews:
Singh, J.; Kumar, D.; Chauhan, S. et al. (2023). Role of omics approaches in vegetable breeding for
insect pest resistance. SN Applied Science, V.5, 364.
Stout, M.; Bernaola, L.; Acevedo, F. (2024). Recent history and future trends in host–plant resistance.
Annals of the Entomological Society of America. DOI:10.1093/aesa/saae006
Edições especiais:
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata (2017). Special issue – Insect-plant interactions: host selection,
herbivory, and plant resistance. Disponível em:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/15707458/2017/162/1
Frontiers in Plant Science (2023) Special Issue - Omics in plant-insect interactions. Deisponível
em:https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/53294/omics-in-plant-insect-interactions/articles