Gut bacteria oversee the special relationship between the green mint leaf beetle and watermint

BMC Plant Biology recently published research investigating the role of gut bacteria of Chrysolina herbacea (the mint leaf beetle) in the process of co-adaptation to Mentha aquatica (the watermint). Here, two of the authors of the article tell us more.

Pietro Alifano & Massimo E. Maffei 2 Mar 2017

Pietro Alifano & Massimo E. Maffei

Pietro Alifano is full professor of General Microbiology and head of the Laboratory of Microbiology at the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies (University of Salento, Italy). His research interests mainly focus on molecular mechanisms underlying host-parasite interaction, and genetic regulation of bacterial secondary metabolism.

Massimo E. Maffei is full professor of Plant Physiology and head of the Plant Physiology Section at the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology(University of Turin, Italy). His main interest is in plant-insect and plant-microbial interactions from a physiological, molecular and biochemical viewpoint.