Angharad M. R. Gatehouse is an

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

in the UK. Gatehouse is Professor of Invertebrate Molecular Biology at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

, is on the Council of the International Congress of Entomology, and is the Director of Expertise for BioEconomy.

Research

Gatehouse's research examines plant and pest insect interactions at the molecular level, and how this can be used for

integrated pest management Integrated pest management (IPM), also known as integrated pest control (IPC) integrates both chemical and non-chemical practices for economic control of pests. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization defines IPM as "the careful consideratio ...

. She has researched compounds for novel

biopesticide A biopesticide is a biological substance or organism that damages, kills, or repels organisms seens as pests. Biological pest management intervention involves predatory, parasitic, or chemical relationships. They are obtained from organisms incl ...

s which may have less or no impact on non target organisms such as pollinators and predators. Her team tested the Hv1a/GNA

fusion protein Fusion proteins or chimeric (kī-ˈmir-ik) proteins (literally, made of parts from different sources) are proteins created through the joining of two or more genes that originally coded for separate proteins. Translation of this '' fusion gene'' ...

as a potential biopesticide, the compound combines a venom toxin of an Australian funnel web spider and

snowdrop ''Galanthus'' (from Ancient Greek , (, "milk") + (, "flower")), or snowdrop, is a small genus of approximately 20 species of bulbous perennial herbaceous plants in the family (biology), family Amaryllidaceae. The plants have two linear leav ...

lectin Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins that are highly specific for sugar Moiety (chemistry), groups that are part of other molecules, so cause agglutination (biology), agglutination of particular cells or precipitation of glycoconjugates an ...

and they found it did not have detrimental effects on honeybees. Her work has looked at how plants interact with insects and how this can be manipulated to reduce the attraction of crop plants to insect pests. She tested gene edited rice plants which suppress the production of serotonin with an inactivated ''CYP71A1'' gene, the plants were more resistant to the brown plant-hopper and the striped stem borer. Her team identified that the compound

limonene Limonene () is a colorless liquid aliphatic hydrocarbon classified as a cyclic monoterpene, and is the major component in the essential oil of citrus fruit peels. The (+)-isomer, occurring more commonly in nature as the fragrance of oranges, ...

makes Marigold plants good companion plants with

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

es in enclosed glasshouse conditions, as they repel the insect pest the glasshouse whitefly.

Books

* ''Environmental Impact of Genetically Modified Crops'', edited with Natalie Ferry, published by

CABI CABI (in various spellings) is an abbreviation that may refer to: * Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI, sometimes also referred to as CAB International), a UK-based nonprofit inter-governmental organisation for scientific res ...

in 2009.

Honours and awards

* Awarded the Certificate of Distinction by the International Congress of Entomology in 2016, the 'world's top honour for entomology'. * Fellow of the

Royal Society of Biology The Royal Society of Biology (RSB), previously called the Society of Biology, is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom created to advance the interests of biology in academia, industry, education, and research. Fo ...

in 2016.

External links

Newcastle University profile
*

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gatehouse, Angharad Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British entomologists British women entomologists 21st-century British scientists