gary blomquist

Gary Blomquist

Emeritus Professor

Summary

The "biorational" approach to insect control involves the development of specific chemicals that interfere with biochemical and physiological processes unique to insects. The goal of our research is to gain an understanding of basic biochemical processes that are unique to insects such that these processes can be exploited for insect control. Toward this end, projects in my laboratory use molecular and biochemical approaches to gain an understanding of the production and endocrine regulation of sex pheromones in the common housefly, the cotton boll weevil and bark beetles.

Other work involves determining the mechanisms of enzymes involved in cuticular lipid formation and studying comparative aspects of fatty acid biochemistry in insects. Bark beetles are extremely destructive forest pests, and we are investigating the processes of how they form their monterpenoid aggregation pheromones. In another project, we have demonstrated that a number of invertebrates can synthesize linoleic acid, which was previously thought to be an essential fatty acid for all animals, and are currently studying the gene for this and other desaturases. The long term goal of this research is to gain the necessary basic information such that environmentally compatible insect control techniques can be developed.

Education

B.S. 1969 University of Wisconsin - La Crosse
Ph.D. 1973 Montana State University

Publications

Book Chapter(s)

Insect Hydrocarbons: Biochemistry and Chemical Ecology.

2016

In E. Cohen and B. Moussian (Ed.), Extracellular Composite Matrices in Arthropods (pp. 221-252). Springer International

Ginzel, M. D., Blomquist, G.

Pheromone production in bark beetles.

2016

In C Tittiger and GJ Blomquist (Ed.), Advances in Insect Physiology (vol. 50, pp. 235-263). Advances in Insect Physiology/Elsevier.

Tittiger, C., Blomquist, G.

Pine Bark Beetles

2016

In Tittiger, C and Blomquist, GJ (Ed.), (pp. 304). Advances in Insect Physiology

Tittiger, C., Blomquist, G.

Pheromone Production: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

2012

In Gilbert, LI (Ed.), Insect Endocrinology (vol. 1, pp. 523-567). Amsterdam: Academic Press - Elsevier.

Blomquist, G., Jurenka, R., Schal, C., Tittiger, C.

Introduction, history and overview of insect hydrocarbons.

2010

Insect Hydrocarbons: Biology, Biochemistry and Chemical Ecology

Blomquist, G., Bagneres, A

Site of synthesis, mechanism of transport and deposition of hydrocarbons.

2010

Insect Hydrocarbons: Biology, Biochemistry and Chemical Ecology, Cambridge Press.

Blomquist, G., Bagneres, A

Structure and analysis of insect hydrocarbons.

2010

Insect Hydrocarbons: Biology, Biochemistry and Chemical Ecology, Cambridge Press.

Blomquist, G

Journals

Functional characterization of CYPrG11 - a highly conserved enzyme in the western honeybee Apis mellifera.

2018

Insect Molecular Biology, 27, 661-674

Blomquist, G. J.

Mountain Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) CYP4Gs convert long and short chain alcohols and aldehydes to hydrocarbons.

2018

Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 102, 11-20

MacLean, M., Gurnea, T., Nadeau, J., Tittiger, C., Blomquist, G. J.

Comparative transcriptomics of mountain pine beetle pheromone-biosynthetic tissues and functional analysis of CYP6DE3.

2017

BMC Genomics, 18, 311.

Nadeau, J., Petereit, J., Tillett, R.J., Jung, K., Footoohi, M., MacLean, M., Young, S., Blomquist, G., Tittiger, C

Cuticular hydrocarbon profiles as a chemotaxonomic tool for three blowfly species (Diptera: Calliphoridae) of forensic interest

2017

Journal of Natural History Vol. 51, Iss. 25-26, 2017

Rodrigo Rocha Barbosa, Marina Vianna Braga, Gary James Blomquist & Margareth Maria de Carvalho Queiroz

Desiccation tolerance in Anopheles coluzzii: the effects of spiracle size and cuticular hydrocarbons.

2016

Journal of Experimental Biology, 219(11), 1675-1688

Arcaz, A. C., Huestis, D. L., Dao, A., Yaro, A., Diallo, M., Andersen, J., Blomquist, G., Lehmann, T.

Drosphila Spidey/Kar regulates oenocyte growth via P13-kinase signaling.

2016

PLOS GENETICS, 12(8), e1006154

Cinnamon, E., Makki, R., Sawala, A., Wickenberg, L., Huestis, D., Blomquist, G., Tittiger, C., Paroush, Z., Gould, A.

Identification of Megaselia scalaris (Loew, 1866)(Diptera: Phoridae) in muumified human body from Itacambira (MG), Brazil, using scanning electron microscopy and cuticular hydrocarbons.

2015

Journal of Natural History/Taylor and Francis, 8.

Blomquist, G., Braga, M. V., other authors,

Exo-Brevicomin biosynthesis in the fat body of the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae.

2014

J. Chem. Ecol, 40, 181-189.

Song, M., Gorzalski, A., Nguyen, T., Liu, X. T., Jeffrey, C., Blomquist, G. J., Tittiger, C.

Cuticular hydrocarbons as a tool for the identification of insect species: Puparial cases from Sarcophagidae

2013

Acta Tropica, 128, 479-485

Braga, M. V., Pinto, Z. T., de Carvatho Queiroz, M. M., Matsumoto, N., Blomquist, G.

Functional characterization of myrcene hydroxylases from two geographically distinct Ips pini populations.

2013

Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 43, 336-343.

Song, M., Kim, A. C., MacLean, M., Young, S., Ginzel, M., Blomquist, G., Tittiger, C

Cuticular hydrocarbons from the bed bug Cimex lectularius L.

2011

Biochemical Systematics and Ecology, Elsevier, 39, 283-285.

Feldlauger, M. F., Blomquist, G.

. Isolation, endocrine regulation and transcript distribution of a putative primary JH-response gene from the pine engraver, Ips pini Coleoptera: Scolytidae

2009

Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 38, 256-267.

Bearfield, J. C., Box, C. I., Keeling, C. I., Young, S., Blomquist, G., Tittiger, C.

Myrcene hydroxyases do not determine enantiomeric composition of pheromonal ipsdienol in Ips spp.

2009

Journal of Chemical Ecology, 34, 1584-1592

Sandstrom, P., Ginzel, M. D., Bearfield, J. C., Blomquist, G., Tittiger, C., Welch, W. H

Proceedings

Cytochromes P450 associated with insecticide resistance catalyse cuticular hydrocarbon production in Anopheles gambiae.

2016

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 113(33), 9268-9273.

Balibanidou, V., Kambouraki, A., MacLean, M., Blomquist, G. J., Tittiger, C., Juarez, M., Mijailovsky, S., Chalepakis, G., Anthousi, A., Hemmingway, J., Antoine, S., Lynd, A., Lycett, G., Vontas, J.