Meeting 1234 Minutes

The 1234th meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club was called to order by President Jacob Dayton at 7:44pm on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. 19 members and guests attended with additional attendees on Zoom.

New business: Jay Shetterly read the annual treasurer’s report
Scott Smyers encouraged members to sign up for the 150^th anniversary White Mountains trips to be held In July and August.
Jacob offered an end of year pictorial summary of some of the club’s activities.

Old business: Qian Tang was approved for membership.
The election for the 2024-2025 CEC officers was held.
The officers will be:­
President: Sarah Dendy
Vice President: Michael LaScaleia
Treasurer: Jay Shetterly
Secretary: Andrea Golden
Executive Council: Scott Smyers­­

Our speaker was Jacob Dayton, graduate student at Tufts University and current CEC president.
His talk was entitled “Leveraging the circadian clock to reprogram insect diapause”

The timing of insects’ daily behaviors (feeding and movement, for example) and seasonal development (diapause, migration) affects their population dynamics and distribution. The genetic mechanisms underlying variation in timing are poorly understood. Jacob reported on how manipulating the circadian clock gene function alters the daily activity and larval diapause of the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis), a widespread corn pest. He began with a historical overview of earlier studies, the role of light, and the impact of the corn borer on corn crops. Using CRISPR to delete the protein “period” to disrupt the  insects’ circadian clock, Jacob documented the behavior and development of the resulting mutants, and found that the manipulations impacted behaviors and shortened post-diapause development time.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:58

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