Noah Kerness Whiteman

The paper shows that host diversity maintains genetic diversity in herbivore populations by preserving rare variants and reducing fitness trade-offs.

The paper investigates anti-parasitoid immune mechanisms in Drosophilidae, finding that horizontal gene transfer of CdtB is more prevalent than melanotic encapsulation in some clades.

This study shows that toxin resistance in monarch butterflies allowed them to expand their milkweed host range by enabling survival on a broader range of cardenolide-defended plants.

This study identifies odorant receptors in Drosophila that detect toxic mustard oils, showing that herbivorous relatives have expanded and adapted these receptors for hostplant recognition.

This study identifies alternative splicing of TRPA1 as a key mechanism driving reduced electrophile sensitivity in S. flava, enabling adaptation to toxic Brassicales plants.

This study uses genome editing in Drosophila to trace the evolution of horizontally transferred immune toxins, showing fusionB enhances survival and suppresses parasitoid wasp development.

This study investigates how Scaptomyza flava, an herbivorous drosophilid, evolved reduced aversion to bitter plant compounds by altering bitter taste sensitivity and receptor expression.