Université de Fribourg

Bottom-Up and top-down effects influence Bruchid beetle individual performance but not population densities in the field

Zaugg, Isabelle ; Benrey, Betty ; Bacher, Sven

In: PLoS ONE, 2013, vol. 8, no. 1, p. e55317

Plant quality (bottom-up) and natural enemies (top-down) can influence the individual performance of herbivorous insects on their host plants, but few studies measured at the same time the influence on population densities in the field. We investigated if plant quality of different wild common bean populations, Phaseolus vulgaris L. (Fabaceae), affects the performance of the bean weevil,...

Université de Fribourg

QUES, a new Phaseolus vulgaris genotype resistant to common bean weevils, contains the Arcelin-8 allele coding for new lectin-related variants

Zaugg, Isabelle ; Magni, Chiara ; Panzeri, Dario ; Daminati, Maria Gloria ; Bollini, Roberto ; Benrey, Betty ; Bacher, Sven ; Sparvoli, Francesca

In: Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 2012, p. -

In common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), the most abundant seed proteins are the storage protein phaseolin and the family of closely related APA proteins (arcelin, phytohemagglutinin and α-amylase inhibitor). High variation in APA protein composition has been described and the presence of arcelin (Arc) has been associated with bean resistance against two bruchid beetles, the bean weevil...