WEES March 27th seminar by Dr. Grit Kunert

Dear all,

We have the pleasure to invite you to attend March’s Wageningen Evolution and Ecology Seminar (WEES) and Workshop!

The Seminar will take place on Thursday 27th of March, from 16:00-17:00 in Forum, C0221. For this seminar, we will welcome Dr. Grit Kunert from MPI for Chemical Ecology (Germany) who will present her work on plant-aphid interactions in a seminar titled “Host Specificity of the Pea-Aphid Complex: a consequence of chemical and ecological interactions”. This event will be followed by drinks at The Spot and an opportunity to meet and have dinner with the Speaker (dinner is at your own costs – if interested please sign up with Maxence Longuemare – maxence.longuemare@wur.nl).

The associated workshop, entitled “Aphids and their endosymbionts: An overview, with special focus on the obligate endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola”, will take place in Forum B0326 from 14:00 to 15:30. During the workshop, Dr. Grit Kunert will explore the world of endosymbionts and discuss how they are transmitted to offspring, their roles in plant defence mechanisms, the challenges to study them and future outlook for the field. Please contact Maxence if you are interested in a scientific discussion with Dr. Grit Kunert and for further information about the workshop.

Please forward this invite to anyone who could be interested!

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Seminar: Host specificity of the pea-aphid complex – a consequence of chemical and ecological interactions (March 27^th 2025, 16h-17h in Forum, C0221)

Dr. Grit Kunert,

Chemical Communication in Plant-Aphid Interactions

MPI for Chemical Ecology – Department of Biochemistry, Germany

The pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum), native to legume plants, comprises at least 15 genetically different biotypes, each of which is adapted to only one or a few different host plants. An aphid biotype can only perform well on its respective native host plant. However, all pea aphid biotypes can develop on the universal host plant Vicia faba. This ecological specialization can be considered as one of the first steps towards sympatric speciation, as the host fidelity of pea aphid biotypes leads to assortative mating, which reduces gene flow between these biotypes. But what are the barriers that aphids face in order to feed and survive on a particular legume plant? And how do they overcome them? While we know more about the barriers – they are of chemical, physiological and ecological nature – we are only beginning to understand how certain aphid biotypes overcome them.

Workshop: Aphids and their endosymbionts: An overview, with special focus on the obligate endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola (March 27^th 2025, 14h-15h30 in Forum, B0326)

Aphids, known for their complex symbiotic relationships, host both obligate and facultative endosymbionts that play several roles in aphids. This workshop will explore the world of endosymbionts with a special focus on the obligate endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola. We will discuss their location within the aphid, the role they play in aphid nutrition, and the consequences this has for aphid performance and fitness. Questions such as how endosymbionts are transferred to offspring and how aphids control endosymbionts will be discussed. In addition, we will also discuss the potential impact of endosymbionts on plant defense mechanisms. We will talk about the challenges of studying the role of endosymbionts due to their inability to be cultured in the laboratory. Finally, we will highlight the open questions that remain unanswered in this field.

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About WEES

WEES is an initiative of PhD students and postdocs at Wageningen University to organize a continuing series of stimulating seminars on contemporary topics in evolution and ecology. For this series we invite researchers from all over the world who have leading roles in their field. We aim to bring together different groups at Wageningen University using a variety of systems, but with a common interest in evolutionary and ecological questions. WEES is funded by graduate schools PE&RC, WIMEK, EPS, and WIAS.

Want to organise seminars yourself? Join WEES!

WEES is looking for new members! We aim for a broad and diverse range in topics and would like to welcome new members to help and include topics not represented yet. If you are curious, send an email to weeswageningen@gmail.com and join one of our meetings.

For more information, please visit www.weeswageningen.n and follow us on X @weeswageningen

On behalf of WEES,