Punya Nachappa, PhD
Associate Professor, Entomology, Department of Agricultural Biology, Colorado State University

Understanding how plants respond to insect herbivores can provide new insights into plant-insect chemical communication and coevolution and facilitate new approaches to crop protection. Cannabis is known for the presence of cannabinoids, which include Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) and more than 100 related secondary metabolites. In addition to cannabinoids, C. sativa also possesses a range of defense mechanisms (namely terpenes and phenolic compounds) that are conserved across dicots and well described in other model plant species. To date, no study has analyzed the degree to which cannabinoids confer pest resistance relative to other defensive traits in C. sativa. Hence, the goal of our project is to understand how variation in secondary metabolites in C. sativa affects key hemp pests by using and developing novel genetic tools and technology. Outcomes of this research will not only advance basic research in the field of plant-insect coevolution but also has practical applications for breeding for pest resistance in hemp.