Team:KU Leuven/Project/E.coligy

Our BanAphids produce Methyl Salicylate (MeS) and E-β-farnesene (EBF), a phytohormone and a pheromone, respectively. This will offer the plants a protection mechanism. MeS will activate plant defence systems and attract natural aphid predators and parasitoids. Furthermore, EBF will repel aphids off the plant and, as a secondary effect, also attract natural aphid predators and parasitoids. MeS and EBF are naturally used in the communication between plants, predators and aphids. Consequentely, our BanAphids will blend into the ecosystem and enhance the communication between plants, predators and aphids.If you want to expand your knowledge about these natural occuring communication systems, you can read the background page.

Various experiments with both plants and insects were performed by us. In the wetlab page. This validates that our BanAphids will work as intended and allows us to optimise our system.

We also modelled the impact of our BanAphids on the environment, which can be found in the Modelling tab, under the under Ecosystem level.The information obtained here is useful to plan field experiments and gives essential information to future costumers.