Casey Philbin

• PhD
• University of Nevada, Reno

Scytonemin, a UV-protective pigment produced by cyanobacteria, is essential for microbial survival under extreme solar radiation. Recent studies suggest its structural analog, scytonemin imine, may serve as a biosynthetic marker for cyanobacteria exposed to intense light. Here, we present a structural revision, revealing scytonemin imine as a cycli...

Six new nostocyclophanes and four known compounds have been isolated from Nostoc linckia (Nostocaceae) cyanobacterial strain UTEX B1932. The new compounds, nostocyclophanes E–J (1–6), were characterized by NMR and MS techniques. The known compounds were nostocyclophanes B–D, previously isolated from this strain, and dedichloronostocyclophane D. Str...

Plant–insect interactions are common and important in basic and applied biology. Trait and genetic variation can affect the outcome and evolution of these interactions, but the relative contributions of plant and insect genetic variation and how these interact remain unclear and are rarely subject to assessment in the same experimental context. Her...

Species richness in tropical forests is correlated with other dimensions of diversity, including the diversity of plant–herbivore interactions and the phytochemical diversity that influences those interactions. Understanding the complexity of plant chemistry and the importance of phytochemical diversity for plant–insect interactions and overall for...

Intraspecific phytochemical variation across a landscape can cascade up trophic levels, potentially mediating the composition of entire insect communities. Surprisingly, we have little understanding of the processes that regulate and maintain phytochemical variation likely because these processes are complex and operate simultaneously both temporal...

Plant-insect interactions are common and important in basic and applied biology. Trait and genetic variation can affect the outcome and evolution of these interactions, but the relative contributions of plant and insect genetic variation and how these interact remain unclear and are rarely subject to assessment in the same experimental context. Her...

To understand the implications of the forensic anthropological practice of “ancestry” estimation, we explore terminology that has been employed in forensic anthropological research. The goal is to evaluate how such terms can often circulate within social contexts as a result, which may center forensic anthropologists as constituting “race” itself t...

Specialized plant-insect interactions are a defining feature of life on earth, yet we are only beginning to understand the factors that set limits on host ranges in herbivorous insects. To understand the colonization of alfalfa by the Melissa blue butterfly, we quantified arthropod assemblages and plant metabolites across a wide geographic region,...

Modern metabolomic approaches that generate more comprehensive phytochemical profiles than were previously available are providing new opportunities for understanding plant‐animal interactions. Specifically, we can characterize the phytochemical landscape by asking how a larger number of individual compounds affect herbivores and how compounds cova...

Tolyporphins L-R (2-8) have been isolated from a mixed cyanobacterium-microbial culture. The structures of tolyporphins L and M have been revised to four constitutional isomers, isolated as two mixtures of dioxobacteriochlorins (2/3 and 4/5). In contrast, tolyporphin P (6) is a fully oxidized tetrapyrrole, while tolyporphins Q and R (7 & 8) are oxo...

Plant‐insect interactions are ubiquitous, and have been studied intensely because of their relevance to damage and pollination in agricultural plants, and to the ecology and evolution of biodiversity. Variation within species can affect the outcome of these interactions. Specific genes and chemicals that mediate these interactions have been identif...

Plant-insect interactions are ubiquitous, and have been studied intensely because of their relevance to damage and pollination in agricultural plants, and to the ecology and evolution of biodiversity. Variation within species can affect the outcome of these interactions, such as whether an insect successfully develops on a plant species. Whereas sp...

Foundational theories in plant-animal interactions are being updated with input from modern metabolomic approaches that offer more comprehensive phytochemical profiles than were previously available. Here we use a recently-formed plant-insect interaction, the colonization of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) by the Melissa blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa...

Phytochemical traits are a key component of plant defense theory. Chemical ecology has been biased towards studying effects of individual metabolites even though effective plant defenses are comprised of diverse mixtures of metabolites. We tested the phytochemical landscape hypothesis, positing that trophic interactions are contingent upon their sp...

Phytochemical variation among plant species is one of the most fascinating and perplexing features of the natural world and has implications for both human health and the functioning of ecosystems. A key area of research on phytochemical variation has focused on insects that feed on plants and the enormous diversity of plant-derived compounds that...

Studies of herbivores and secondary consumer communities rarely incorporate a comprehensive characterization of primary producer trait variation, thus limiting our understanding of how plants mediate community assembly of consumers. We took advantage of recent technological developments for efficient generation of phytochemical, microbial and genom...

A longstanding paradigm in ecology is that there are positive associations between herbivore diversity, specialization, and plant species diversity, with a focus on taxonomic diversity. However, phytochemical diversity is also an informative metric, as insect herbivores interact with host-plants not as taxonomic entities, but as sources of nutrient...

Prenylflavonoids are an unique class of phytochemicals found in the inflorescences of the hop plant (Humulus lupulus). These flavonoids have demonstrated a wide range of biological activities, which may be influenced by their stereochemical configuration. Additionally, recent studies suggest that hop prenylflavonoids are subject to biotransformatio...