Charles Descoins Jr
|
Charles did electrophysiological recordings on moth larvae in our laboratory, during his PhD under the direction of Frédéric Marion-Poll and Paul-Henry Ducrot, in 1996-1999. He worked on the sensory perception of phytoecdysteroids and on the chemical synthesis of agarofuranes, which are antifeedants produced in Celastraceae. He did an impressive job in designing chemical synthesis steps to build agarofurane molecules. He was also concerned by extraction of natural agarofuranes from plants, which he did in Spain.
He was the first in our group to demonstrate that phytoecdysteroids are detected by gustatory receptors in several insect species, namely Mamestra brassicae, Bombyx mori, Spodoptera littoralis and Ostrinia nubilalis. In this work, we suggested that the gustatory neurones that respond to these substances belong to a special class, designed to detect antifeedant molecules. These neurons may share many characteristics with bitter receptors in mammals, that respond to a large number of different molecules, like alkaloids.
His phD thesis was:
Study of the antifeedant effect of molecules related to agarofuranes obtained by chemical synthesis or extracted from plants.
He published papers on chemical synthesis of agarofuranes and two papers on deterrent receptors in moths:
After his PhD, Charles started a post-doctoral work at the University of Reims (France) on bubble formation and foam stability in Champagne wines. He then worked as a freelance consultant on sparkling wine technology and viticulture & oenological products trading. Now, he happily works on cognac quality and chemistry... (hips).
Last revised: janvier 19, 2014