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Anna Laura Erdei

Anna Laura Erdei
postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Plant Protection Biology

Presentation

I am a plant biologist with a broad interest in volatiles mediating interactions between insects, plants and microbes. With the guidance of Marie Bengtsson and Peter Witzgall I am studying the chemical communication Cydia pomonella in order to gain a deeper understanding in the volatiles affecting the behavior of this insect with the long term perspective of finding new possibilities for pest management. I have experience in volatile collection and analysis, sensory measurements, behavioral studies, and field experiments.

 

Teaching

 2022 -  2023    practical classes in chemistry

                          Kemi, ekologi och statistik KE006

                          Department of Plant Protection Biology

                           SLU, Alnarp

2023                  teaching on PhD course

                          Insect Chemical Ecology

                          Department of Plant Protection Biology

                          SLU, Alnarp

2022 - 2023    organizing and teaching on PhD course

                          Analytical methods in chemical ecology

                          Department of Plant Protection Biology

                          SLU, Alnarp

2022                 supervision of student projects

                         Chemical Ecology for Sustainable Insect Pest Control, Bl1346

                          Department of Plant Protection Biology

                          SLU, Alnarp

2014 - 2017     practical classes in plant anatomy for Biology students

                        Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary

Research

 Graduating as a plant biologist I had a strong interest in plant metabolites but I was also interested in invertebrate physiology and behavior. During my doctoral studies i have been studying the biosynthesis and degradation of chlorophyll precursors using fluroescence and absroption spectroscopy. 

I have grown an interest toward plant - herbivore - microbiome interactions  and the volatile cues mediating them. In paralell with finishing my PhD I have started to work at the Plant Protection Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences under the supervision of Béla Péter Molnár studying the olfaction of Drosophila suzukii and the difference in the sensory sensitivity of seasonal morphs and the interaction of D. suzukii with fruit epiphytic yeasts. I have participated in several projects including the identification of Duponchelia fovealis sex pheromones and studying the suprising repellency of fungal alcohols for the fungus gnath Lycoriella  ingenua. During my first research research at Department of Plant Protection Biology I have been designing specific lures for Drosophila suzukii and conduting field intervention studies and investigated if Desmodium intercropping system reduces pest population through repelling adult moths or preventing larval dispersion and lowering survival probability. In my postdoctoral project I am working on identifing novel ligands of the odorant receptors of Cydia pomonella in order to understand the olfactory cues mediating the behavior of females. 

Background

 2022-        postdoctoral researcher

                   Department of Plant Protection Biology

                   Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden

2021-2022  research fellow

                    Plant Protection Institute 

                    Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

2020-2021 researcher

                   Department of Plant Protection Biology

                   Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden

2017-2021 assistant research fellow               

                   Plant Protection Institute of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest 

2021           PhD  in Environmental biology summa cum laude

                   Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest 

2014-2016 phytotechnologist 

                   Biopolus – Living Island, aeroponic plant factory , Budapest, Hungary

2016           internship as phytotechnologist 

                   Climate KIC- Pioneers into Practice

                  Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands 

2014           Biology MSc, plant biology specialisation, graduated with Honours

                   Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest

2012           Biology BSc,  graduated with Honours

                   Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest 

Selected publications

Erdei, A. L., David, A. B., Savvidou, E. C., Dzemedzionaite, V., Chakravarthy, A., Molnar, B. P., & Dekker, T. (2022). The push-pull intercrop Desmodium does not repel, but intercepts and kills pests. Elife, in press

Erdei, A. L., Preti, M., Bengtsson, M., & Witzgall, P. (2024). Host plant odour and sex pheromone are integral to mate finding in codling moth. bioRxiv, 2023-10. under review

Szelényi M. O., Erdei A. L., Molnár B. P., Tholt G. (2024) Antennal olfactory sensitivity and its age-dependence in the hemimetabolous insect Metcalfa pruinosa. Journal of applied entomology, accepted

Moustafa, M. A., Fouad, E. A., Ibrahim, E., Erdei, A. L., Kárpáti, Z., & Fónagy, A. (2023). The Comparative Toxicity, Biochemical and Physiological Impacts of Chlorantraniliprole and Indoxacarb on Mamestra brassicae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Toxics, 11(3), 212.

Sousa, M., Mulaosmanovic, E., Erdei, A. L., Bengtsson, M., Witzgall, P., & Alsanius, B. W. (2023). Volatilomes reveal specific signatures for contamination of leafy vegetables with Escherichia coli O157: H7. Food Control, 146, 109513.

Erdei, A. L., Szelényi, M. O., Deutsch F., Rikk P., Molnár P. B. (2022) Lure design for Drosophila suzukii based on liquid culture of fruit epiphytic yeasts: Comparing the attractivity of fermentation volatiles for seasonal morphs. Journal of Applied Entomology. In press 

Kecskeméti, S., Szelényi, M. O., Erdei, A. L., Geösel, A., Fail, J., & Molnár, B. P. (2020). Fungal volatiles as olfactory cues for female fungus gnat, Lycoriella ingenua in the avoidance of mycelia colonized compost. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 46(10), 917-926.

Mbaluto, C.M., Ayelo, P.M., Duffy, A.G., Erdei, A. L., Tallon A. K. Xia, S., Caballero-Vidal G., Spitaler, U.,  Szelényi, M. O. Duarte, G. A., Walker, W. B. & Becher, P. G. (2020) Insect chemical ecology: chemically mediated interactions and novel applications in agriculture. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 14, 671–684 (2020). 

Szelényi, M. O., Erdei, A. L., Jósvai, J. K., Radványi, D., Sümegi, B., Vétek, G., & Kárpáti, Z. (2020). Essential oil headspace volatiles prevent invasive box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis) oviposition—Insights from electrophysiology and behaviour. Insects, 11(8), 465.

Erdei, A. L., Kósa, A., & Böddi, B. (2019). Distinct UV-A or UV-B irradiation induces protochlorophyllide photoreduction and bleaching in dark-grown pea (Pisum sativum L.) epicotyls. Photosynthesis research, 140(1), 93-102.

Molnár, P. B., Bognár, C., Erdei, A. L., Fujii, T., Vági, P., Jósvai, J. K., & Kárpáti, Z. (2018). Identification of the Female-Produced Sex Pheromone of an Invasive Greenhouse Pest, the European Pepper Moth (Duponchelia fovealis). Journal of chemical ecology, 44(3), 257-267.

Erdei, A. L., Kósa, A., Kovács-Smirová, L., & Böddi, B. (2015). Wavelength-dependent photooxidation and photoreduction of protochlorophyllide and protochlorophyll in the innermost leaves of cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata). Photosynthesis research, 1-11.


Contact

Postdoctor at the Department of Plant Protection Biology
Postal address:
Växtskyddsbiologi, Box 190
234 22 LOMMA
Visiting address: Sundsvägen 10, Alnarp