Agrawal, A.A., Hastings, A.P., Lenhart, P.A., Blecher, M., Duplais, C, Petschenka, G., Hawlena, D., Wagschal, V., Dobler, S. (accepted): Convergence and divergence among herbivorous insects specialized on toxic plants: revealing syndromes among the cardenolide-feeders across the insect tree of life. The American Naturalist
Betz, A., Bischoff, R., Petschenka, G. (2024): Late instar monarch caterpillars sabotage milkweed to acquire toxins, not to disarm plant defence. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 291, 20232721, http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.2721
Bischoff, R., Pokharel, P., Miedtke, P., Piepho, H.P., Petschenka, G. (2023): Environmental complexity and predator density mediate a stable earwig-woolly apple aphid interaction. Basic and Applied Ecology, doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2023.12.003
Yang, L., Borne, F., Betz, A., Aardema, M.L., Zhen, Y., Peng, J., Visconti, R., Wu, M., Roland, B.P., Talsma, A.D., Palladino, M., Petschenka, G., Andolfatto, P. (2023): Predatory fireflies and their toxic firefly prey have evolved distinct toxin-resistance strategies. Current Biology, doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.10.063
Espinosa del Alba, L., Petschenka, G. (2023): A simple artificial diet for feeding and sequestration assays for the milkweed bugs Oncopeltus fasciatus and Spilostethus saxatilis (Heteroptera: Lygaeinae). Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 171, 658-667, doi.org/10.1111/eea.13337
Heyworth, H.C., Pokharel, P., Blount, J.D., Mitchell, C., Petschenka, G., Rowland, H.M. (2023): Antioxidant availability trades off with warning signals and toxin sequestration in the large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus). Ecology and Evolution, doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9971
Espinosa del Alba, L., Petschenka, G. (2023): No physiological costs of dual sequestration of chemically different plant toxins in the milkweed bug Spilostethus saxatilis (Heteroptera: Lygaeidae). Journal of Insect Physiology, 147, 104508, doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2023.104508
Dreisbach, D., Bhandari, D.R., Betz, A., Tenbusch, L., Vilcinskas, A., Spengler, B., Petschenka, G. (2023): Spatial metabolomics reveal divergent cardenolide processing in the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and the common crow (Euploea core). Molecular Ecology Resources, doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13786
Dreisbach, D., Heiles, S., Bhandari, D.R., Petschenka, G., Spengler, B. (2022): Spatially-resolved metabolic networks in Danaus plexippus — Combining molecular networking, on-tissue derivatization and high lateral resolution mass spectrometry imaging. Analytical Chemistry, doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c02694
Petschenka, G., Züst, T., Hastings, A.P., Agrawal, A.A., Jander, G. (2022): Quantification of plant cardenolides by HPLC, measurement of Na+/K+-ATPase inhibition activity, and characterization of target enzymes. Methods in Enzymology, doi.org/10.1016/bs.mie.2022.08.003
Moriguchi Jeckel, A., Beran, F., Züst, T., Younkin, G., Petschenka, G., Pokharel, P., Dreisbach, D., Ganal-Vonarburg, S.C, Robert, C.A.M (2022): Metabolization and sequestration of plant specialized metabolites in insect herbivores: Current and emerging approaches. Frontiers in Physiology, https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.1001032
Agrawal, A. A., Espinosa del Alba, L., López-Goldar, X., Hastings, A.P., White, R.A., Halitschke, R., Dobler, S., Petschenka, G., Duplais, C. (2022): Functional evidence supports adaptive plant chemical defense along a geographical cline. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119, e2205073119, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2205073119
Koch, A., Petschenka, G. (2022): Exogene Anwendung von RNA zur umweltfreundlichen Bekämpfung von Schadinsekten. Journal für Kulturpflanzen, 74, 75–84, https://doi.org/10.5073/JfK.2022.03-04.05
Obermeier, C., Mason, A.S., Meiners, T., Petschenka, G., Rostás, M., Will, T., Wittkop, B., Austel, M. (2022): Perspectives for integrated insect pest protection in oilseed rape breeding. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-022-04074-3
Petschenka, G., Halitschke, R., Züst, T., Roth, A., Stiehler, S., Tenbusch, , Hartwig, C., Moreno Gámez , J. F., Trusch, R., Deckert, J., Chalušová, K., Vilcinskas, A., Exnerová, A. (2022): Sequestration of defenses against predators drives specialized host plant associations in preadapted milkweed bugs (Heteroptera: Lygaeinae). The American Naturalist, https://doi.org/10.1086/719196. See interview in PNAS: https://www.pnas.org/post/journal-club/fight-off-predators-insects-evolved-taste-toxic-plants
Beran, F., Petschenka, G. (2022): Sequestration of plant defense compounds by insects: from mechanisms to insect-plant coevolution. Annual Review of Entomology, 67, 163-180, doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-062821-062319
Pokharel, P., Steppuhn, A., Petschenka, G. (2021): Dietary cardenolides enhance growth and change the direction of the fecundity-longevity trade-off in milkweed bugs (Heteroptera: Lygaeinae). Ecology and Evolution, https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8402
Gärttling, D., Schulz, H. (2021): Compilation of Black Soldier Fly frass analyses. Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-021-00703-w
Petschenka, G. (2021): Pflanzengifte als koevolutionäre Vermittler zwischen Insekten und Pflanzen. Entomologie heute, 32, 83-97.
Zimmermann, Beate, Ingrid Claß-Mahler, Moritz von Cossel, Iris Lewandowski, Jan Weik, Achim Spiller, Sina Nitzko, …, Petschenka, G., …, Bahrs, E. (2021): Mineral-ecological cropping systems—a new approach to improve ecosystem services by farming without chemical synthetic plant protection. Agronomy, doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11091710.
Berger, A., Petschenka, G., Degenkolb, T., Geisthardt, M., Vilcinskas, A. (2021): Insect collections as an untapped source of bioactive compounds—Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) and cardiotonic steroids as a proof of concept. Insects, 12(8), 689; doi.org/10.3390/insects12080689
Dreisbach, D., Petschenka, G., Spengler, B., Bhandari, D.R. (2021): 3D-surface MALDI mass spectrometry imaging for visualising plant defensive cardiac glycosides in Asclepias curassavica. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 413, 2125–2134, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03177-y
Pokharel, P., Sippel, M., Vilcinskas, A., Petschenka, G. (2020): Defense of Milkweed Bugs (Heteroptera: Lygaeinae) against Predatory Lacewing Larvae Depends on Structural Differences of Sequestered Cardenolides. Insects, 11(8), 485. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11080485
Züst, T., Strickler, S. R., Powell, A. F., Mabry, M. E., An, H., Mirzaei, M., York, T., Holland, C. K., Kumar, P., Erb, M., Petschenka, G., Gómez, J.-M., Perfectti, F., Müller, C., Pires, J. C., Mueller, L. A., Jander, G. (2020). Independent evolution of ancestral and novel defenses in a genus of toxic plants (Erysimum, Brassicaceae). eLife, 9. doi.org/10.7554/eLife.51712
Havlikova, M., Bosakova, T., Petschenka, G., Cabala, R., Exnerova, A., Bosakova, Z. (2020). Analysis of defensive secretion of a milkweed bug Lygaeus equestris by 1D GC-MS and GC×GC-MS: sex differences and host-plant effect. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 3092. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60056-9
Taverner, A. M., Yang, L., Barile, Z. J., Lin, B., Peng, J., Pinharanda, A., Rao, A., Roland, B.P., Talsma, A.D., Wei, D., Petschenka, G., Palladino, M.J., Andolfatto, P. (2019). Adaptive substitutions underlying cardiac glycoside insensitivity in insects exhibit epistasis. eLife, 8:e48224, doi: 10.7554/eLife.48224
Jones, P.L., Petschenka, G., Flacht, L., Agrawal, A.A. (2019): Cardenolide intake, sequestration, and excretion by the monarch butterfly along gradients of plant toxicity and larval ontogeny. Journal of Chemical Ecology 45, 264-277.
Züst, T., Petschenka, G., Hastings, A.P., Agrawal, A.A. (2019): Toxicity of milkweed leaves and latex: chromatographic quantification versus biological activity of cardenolides in 16 Asclepias species. Journal of Chemical Ecology, doi.org/10.1007/s10886-018-1040-3
Petschenka, G., Fei, C.S., Araya, J.J., Schröder, S., Timmermann, B.N., Agrawal, A.A. (2018): Structure-activity relationships for plant cardiac glycosides on insect Na+/K+-ATPases: Implications for monarch-milkweed coevolution. Frontiers in Plant Science 9:1424, doi: 10.3389/fpls.2018.01424
Mohammadi, S., Petschenka, G., French, S.S., Mori, A., Savitzky, A.H. (2018): Snakes exhibit tissue-specific variation in cardiotonic steroid sensitivity of Na+/K+-ATPase. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part B 217, 21-26.
Petschenka, G., Wagschal, V., von Tschirnhaus, M., Donath, A., Dobler, S. (2017): Convergently evolved toxic secondary metabolites in plants drive the parallel molecular evolution of insect resistance. The American Naturalist, DOI: 10.1086/691711
Petschenka, G., Agrawal, A.A. (2016): How herbivores coopt plant defenses: Natural selection, specialization, and sequestration. Current Opinion in Insect Science 14, 17-24.
Petschenka, G., Agrawal, A.A. (2015): Milkweed butterfly resistance to plant toxins is linked to sequestration, not coping with a toxic diet. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 282, 20151865, DOI 10.1098/rspb.2015.1865.
Dobler, S., Petschenka, G., Wagschal, V., Flacht, L. (2015): Convergent Adaptive Evolution – How Insects Master the Challenge of Cardiac Glycoside-Containing Host Plants. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 157, 30-39.
Bramer, C., Dobler, S., Deckert, J., Stemmer, M., Petschenka, G. (2015): Na+/K+-ATPase resistance and cardenolide sequestration: basal adaptations to host plant toxins in the milkweed bugs (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae: Lygaeinae). Proceedings of the Royal Society B 282, DOI 10.1098/rspb.2014.2346.
Petschenka, G., Fandrich, S., Sander, N., Boppré, M., Dobler, S. (2013): Stepwise evolution of resistance to toxic cardenolides via genetic substitutions in the Na+/K+-ATPase of milkweed butterflies (Lepidoptera: Danaini). Evolution 67, 2753-2761.
Petschenka, G., Pick, C., Wagschal, V., Dobler, S. (2013): Functional evidence for physiological mechanisms to circumvent neurotoxicity of cardenolides in an adapted and a non-adapted hawk-moth species. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 280, DOI 10.1098/rspb.2012.3089.
Agrawal, A.A., Petschenka, G., Bingham, R.A., Weber, M.G., Rasmann, S. (2012): Toxic cardenolides: chemical ecology and coevolution of specialized plant-herbivore interactions. New Phytologist 194, 28-45.
Petschenka, G., Offe, J., Dobler, S. (2012): Physiological screening for target-site-insensitivity and localization of Na+K+-ATPase in cardenolide adapted Lepidoptera. Journal of Insect Physiology 58, 607-612.
Dobler, S., Petschenka, G., Pankoke, H.C. (2011): Coping with toxic plant compounds - the insect's perspective on iridoid glycosides and cardenolides. Phytochemistry 72, 1593-604.
Petschenka, G., Bramer, C., Pankoke, H., Dobler, S. (2011): Evidence for a deterrence effect of cardenolides on Nephila spiders. Basic and Applied Ecology 12, 260-267.
Sehlmeyer, S., Wang, L., Langel, D., Heckel, D.G., Mohagheghi, H., Petschenka, G., Ober, D. (2010): Flavin-Dependent Monooxygenases as a Detoxification Mechanism in Insects: New Insights from the Arctiids (Lepidoptera). PLoS ONE 5, e10435.
Petschenka, G., Dobler, S. (2009): Target-site sensitivity in a specialized herbivore towards major toxic compounds of its host plant: The Na+K+-ATPase of the Oleander hawk-moth (Daphnis nerii) is highly susceptible to cardenolides. Chemoecology 19, 235-239.
Petschenka, G., Tavakoli, M., Trusch, R. (2006): Description of the unknown female of Agriopis beschkovi Ganev, 1987 (Geometridae: Ennominae), and illustration of the larvae. Nota Lepidopterologica 29, 27-35.
Petschenka, G. (2006): On the Morphology of Bittacus hageni BRAUER, 1860 and Bittacus italicus (MÜLLER, 1766) (Mecoptera: Bittacidae). Entomologische Zeitschrift 116, 124-126.
Petschenka, G. (2003): Erstfund von Eratophyes amasiella (Herrich-Schäffer, 1855) in Baden Württemberg (Lep., Oecophoridae). Melanargia, 15, 181-184.*
