MetaboKIT is an analytical tool that we offer free of charge for research groups interested in plant-herbivore interactions. With this tool we can reveal both general and specific metabolic patterns of plant defences in insect pests. With international collaboration we aim to obtain data on metabolic patterns of hundreds of species.
MetaboKIT is a part of the larger ChemKing project funded by the Academy of Finland (2021-2025). As such, its actions form a sub-project of its own. So far we have studied metabolic patterns of approximately 200 insect-plant species pairs. Most of the species so far are of Finnish or Estonian origin, and we aim to widen our species scope in 2023 with international collaboration. We focus on Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera, but other types of leaf-feeding insects are welcome as well.
All research groups interested in the metabolic patterns of their study pests are encouraged to contact prof. Juha-Pekka Salminen (University of Turku). We offer two ways for collaboration: (1) Eggs or insect larvae are sent to Turku during Finnish summer or otherwise agreed time window, and we do the MetaboKIT experiments in Turku, or (2) we send the MetaboKIT model compounds to other labs that do the experiments locally with their insects and plants. In the option (2) all experimental samples (i.e. leaves, frass, insects) need to be freeze-dried before shipping them back to Turku for analysis.
The video below summarizes the 15 steps important to the MetaboKIT experiments. Further details can be obtained by contacting prof. JP Salminen (j-p.salminen(at)utu.fi).
