Project properties
Title Visualizing plant responses to aphid feeding on single-cell level
Group Entomology, Laboratory of
Project type thesis
Credits 24-39
Supervisor(s) Sebastian Tonn (Postdoc)
Examiner(s) Karen Kloth
Contact info sebastian.tonn@wur.nl
Begin date 2024/12/01
End date 2025/05/31
Description Aphids pose a major threat to agriculture, causing damage and spreading plant viruses. While insecticides offer a solution, they come with significant environmental costs. In our project we focus on understanding how plants naturally defend themselves against aphids, paving the way for breeding resistant crops and reducing our reliance on harmful chemicals.

For this MSc thesis/ internship project, we want to really zoom in on the interaction between plants and aphids. To feed, aphids insert their needle like stylet into the phloem inside the plants vascular tissue. To reach there, they maneuver their flexible stylet through the plant apoplast, passing by, and occasionally “test-tasting”, many plant cells on the way. This is a critical process for the aphids survival and reproduction. However, we know very little about how the plant cells react during this close interaction.

We want to use microscopy and fluorescent plant immunity reporters to get a first glimpse of what happens in these plant cells. We are working with Arabidopsis thaliana and the green peach aphid Myzus persicae. This is a great model system because there are many transgenic Arabidopsis lines available that express fluorescent reporter proteins. For example reporters for the different hormonal pathways involved in plant immunity (e.g. salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, ethylene). If there is an induction of the salicylic acid mediated immune pathway, these plants express a fluorescent protein that we can visualize with a fluorescence microscope. This would allow us to directly observe the plants response ot the aphid on a cellular level.

You will work with both aphids and plants and make use of advanced microscopic techniques (cryo-sectioning, light microscopy, confocal fluorescence microscopy, two-photon microscopy).
Used skills You will develop several to all of these skills: Planning and designing experiments to study plant-aphid interactions, aphid rearing, sample preparation for microscopy, cryo-sectioning, light microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, image processing, image analysis, electrical penetration graph experiments (EPGs)
Requirements For doing an MSc-thesis or internship at Entomology, the following requirements apply ENT-30806 + a second ENT-course (preferably ENT-30306 or ENT-50806 or ENT-53806). As an alternative for the second ENT-course, PHP-30806 or BHE-30306 can be selected.
Note: these requirements do not apply for MBI students; MBI students should check the requirements for doing an ENT MSc-thesis or internship in the study programme of their specialisation.