MT3M: Anupoma Niloya Troye

Anupoma Niloya Troye – Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD – CSIC)

Uncovering the Epigenetic Component of Plant-Herbivore Interactions

What if plants could remember about their enemies? This video explains how plants can deal with herbivory or insect feeding from Epigenetic perspective. Plants being sessile need to survive by adapting to rapid environmental changes such as insect outbreaks and introduced pests. My main is to understand the role of epigenetics, specifically contribution of DNA methylation variation to herbivory stress in plants. I am using 3 diverse wild plants which are an annual plant biofuel crop Thlaspi, herbaceous perennial plant woodland strawberry, and a long-lived woody tree Poplar. The diversity in our wild plants gives us amazing possibility to investigate how epigenetic mechanisms contribute to stress responses and long-term adaptation in plants of different life history. I am working as part of Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN project EpiDiverse in EBD-CSIC, Spain. My supervisors are Conchita Alonso, Mónica Medrano from Plant-animal interaction group. Watch my video if you want to learn more!