Dr Trent Perry
Rm 403, Bio21 Institute
University of Melbourne
Phone: +61 3 8344 2359
Fax: +61 3 9347 5352
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Trent Perry completed a B. Comm/B. Sci(Hons) degree at The University of Melbourne.  He completed a PhD in 2005 under the supervision of Assoc Prof Philip Batterham and Prof John McKenzie characterising neonicotinoid and spinosad resistance in Drosophila melanogaster.  Trent is currently on an Australian Wool Innovation Research Fellowship looking at spinosad resistance and its mechanisms in Sheep blowfly (Lucilia cuprina) and Sheep Bodylice (Bovicola ovis).  

Research Interests 

Concentrating on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) binding insecticides, we use Drosophila melanogaster to model and predict insecticide resistance mechanisms, particularly target-site mediated resistance.  Spinosyns and neonicoitinoids are insecticide classes that target different nAChRs.  Strains resistant to spinosad and strains resistant to neonicotinoids have been successfully generated and characterised in the lab.  In addition to the resistance mechanism, we are investigating the way the insecticide binds to the receptor, which insecticides bind to the ten different nAChR genes, whether pest organisms have orthologues to these and if they also bind the insecticide.  We are also working on increasing the understanding the expression and regulation of the nAChRs both temporally and spatially.

Publications 

Perry T, McKenzie JA, Batterham P A Da6 knockout strain of Drosophila melanogaster confers a high level of resistance to spinosad INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 37 (2): 184-188 FEB 2007 

Kristina Jackson Behan, Jason Fair, Shalini Singh, Michael Bogwitz, Trent Perry, Vladimir Grubor, Fiona Cunningham, Charles D. Nichols, Tara L. Cheung, Philip Batterham and John Archie Pollock Alternative splicing removes an Ets interaction domain from Lozenge during Drosophila eye development  DEVELOPMENT GENES AND EVOLUTION 215 (8): 423-435 AUG 2005

Pyke FM, Bogwitz MR, Perry T, Monk A, Batterham P, McKenzie JA The genetic basis of resistance to diazinon in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster GENETICA 121 (1): 13-24 MAY 2004 

Daborn PJ, Yen JL, Bogwitz MR, Le Goff G, Feil E, Jeffers S, Tijet N, Perry T, Heckel D, Batterham P, Feyereisen R, Wilson TG, ffrench-Constant RH. A single P450 allele associated with insecticide resistance in Drosophila  SCIENCE 297 (5590): 2253-2256 SEP 27 2002