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Chicago, Illinois, USA
21st – 25th August 2022
Within the conference, there are several sub-divisions with specific themes, including the Agrochemicals division, which comprised of several symposia. I was involved with co-organising a symposium within this division, entitled ‘Early Career Symposium: Deciphering plant-insect-microorganism signals for sustainable crop production’, along with my co-organiser, who is based at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Our symposium consisted of two sessions; one which was entirely in-person, and one which was hybrid, where speakers who could not travel to Chicago could present via a virtual platform.
A range of speakers undertaking chemical ecology research presented during our symposium. Chemical Ecology is the study of the chemical interactions between organisms, and this symposium focussed on how these chemical signals, produced during the tritrophic interactions between microbes, plants and insects, could be used to improve the sustainability of crop production. One presentation of particular interest demonstrated the plant growth promoting capabilities of beneficial soil microbes, and how inoculation of plants with these microbes could alter plant leaf chemistry, including the production of plant volatiles, which could subsequently deter pests, whilst also attracting natural enemies of these pests. Several presentations also discussed research characterising volatile compounds produced by plant pathogens, demonstrating how these volatiles could be used as attractant signals to insects, which can subsequently vector the pathogen to increase its spread. This area of work is of particular interest to me, and could be used to improve monitoring systems of pests using the volatiles produced by plant pathogens.
During the symposium, I presented my post-doctoral research entitled ‘Investigating the role of acute oak decline (AOD)-associated bacterial volatiles on the behaviour of the two-spotted oak buprestid Agrilus biguttatus (Coleoptera: Buprestidae)’ which is part of Work Package 1 of BAC-STOP, within the Bacterial Plant Diseases programme. The project involves determining whether chemical cues produced by the pathogenic bacteria which cause Acute Oak Decline are used as attractive signals for the beetle A. biguttatus, which could use the signals to locate the bacteria and spread the disease further. By identifying bacterial volatile compounds attractive towards the beetle, semiochemicals based lures can be optimised to monitor the spread of the beetle, and slow down the spread of AOD. There were plenty of questions following my talk, which I plan to address in the coming months through further research.
Whilst the speakers from our symposium were largely based at universities and research institutes, the conference also had a range of speakers from industry. A particular theme within the industry presentations was how natural products produced by plants and beneficial microorganisms can be used for sustainable pest and pathogen management. This broadly involves determining a role for these metabolites in inhibiting pathogens/pests, identifying the metabolites showing interesting biological activities, and scaling up the production of these bioactive metabolites to an industrial scale, as well as looking at the genetics underpinning the biosynthesis of these metabolites. These presentations provided interesting insight into how laboratory research can be scaled-up to address real world problems facing agriculture, through identifying more sustainable alternatives to chemical inputs.
Overall, the conference was a great opportunity to interact with a range of researchers across academic, industrial and government backgrounds, and to learn about the different pathogen and pest challenges faced by different countries around the globe. I would like to acknowledge the BSPP for the travel award, and for giving me the opportunity to present my research.
Dr Gareth Thomas
Rothamsted Research
Billboard advert for the American Chemical Society Annual Fall Meeting, 2022, outside the convention centre.
The Chicago River.
