|
|
In
the Department
of Entomology in the School of
Integrative Biology
in the Life Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Affiliated with the Department of Cell and Developmental
Biology, the Institute for
Genomic Biology,
and the Graduate Programs in Neuroscience,
and in Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology.
320 Morrill Hall, 505 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL
61801
Phone: 217-333-0489; FAX: 217-244-3499; Email: hughrobe@uiuc.edu
I have now retired and am not taking students or postdocs.
My lab currently has two major research areas: the molecular basis of insect chemoperception and comparative insect genomics. Past research projects have included nematode chemoreceptors, DNA transposons in insects and mammals, Wolbachia bacteria that cause cytoplasmic incompatibility in insects, insect molecular phylogenies, ancient DNA from amber fossil insects, mating behavior of Drosophila fruit flies, and behavioral ecology of damselflies.
Chemoperception
(olfaction and taste) is a primary sense of insects, for example, being
involved in mate recognition in most species, host plant and animal location in
phytophagous and blood-feeding insects, and social communication in termites,
ants, and honey bees. A large superfamily of transmembrane chemoreceptor proteins
was initially described from the Drosophila genome sequences. We have described
similar receptors in mosquito, moth, and honey bee antennae, and are examining
them in other upcoming arthropod genome sequences. We are studying their
expression, ligand specificity, and evolution.
Following on
from work with my colleague Gene Robinson's honey bee brain
EST project , I became involved with the honey bee
genome project. We are involved with most on-going arthropod genome
projects outside of the genus Drosophila. This work in comparative insect
genomics is primarily concerned with their chemoreceptor superfamilies, but
also with gene loss in various lineages, especially Drosophila flies. These
genes are commonly ancient with orthologs in vertebrates, and their loss from
Drosophila flies means they can only be studied in non-drosophilid insects.
Updated August
2019
This site was created by David Lampe and is maintained by Hugh Robertson
