I am a plant biologist with a broad interest in volatiles mediating interactions between insects, plants and microbes. With the guidance of Marie Bengtsson and Peter Witzgall I am studying the chemical communication Cydia pomonella in order to gain a deeper understanding in the volatiles affecting the behavior of this insect with the long term perspective of finding new possibilities for pest management. I have experience in volatile collection and analysis, sensory measurements, behavioral studies, and field experiments.
2022 - 2023 practical classes in chemistry
Kemi, ekologi och statistik KE006
Department of Plant Protection Biology
SLU, Alnarp
2023 teaching on PhD course
Insect Chemical Ecology
Department of Plant Protection Biology
SLU, Alnarp
2022 - 2023 organizing and teaching on PhD course
Analytical methods in chemical ecology
Department of Plant Protection Biology
SLU, Alnarp
2022 supervision of student projects
Chemical Ecology for Sustainable Insect Pest Control, Bl1346
Department of Plant Protection Biology
SLU, Alnarp
2014 - 2017 practical classes in plant anatomy for Biology students
Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary
Graduating as a plant biologist I had a strong interest in plant metabolites but I was also interested in invertebrate physiology and behavior. During my doctoral studies i have been studying the biosynthesis and degradation of chlorophyll precursors using fluroescence and absroption spectroscopy.
I have grown an interest toward plant - herbivore - microbiome interactions and the volatile cues mediating them. In paralell with finishing my PhD I have started to work at the Plant Protection Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences under the supervision of Béla Péter Molnár studying the olfaction of Drosophila suzukii and the difference in the sensory sensitivity of seasonal morphs and the interaction of D. suzukii with fruit epiphytic yeasts. I have participated in several projects including the identification of Duponchelia fovealis sex pheromones and studying the suprising repellency of fungal alcohols for the fungus gnath Lycoriella ingenua. During my first research research at Department of Plant Protection Biology I have been designing specific lures for Drosophila suzukii and conduting field intervention studies and investigated if Desmodium intercropping system reduces pest population through repelling adult moths or preventing larval dispersion and lowering survival probability. In my postdoctoral project I am working on identifing novel ligands of the odorant receptors of Cydia pomonella in order to understand the olfactory cues mediating the behavior of females.
2022- postdoctoral researcher
Department of Plant Protection Biology
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden
2021-2022 research fellow
Plant Protection Institute
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
2020-2021 researcher
Department of Plant Protection Biology
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden
2017-2021 assistant research fellow
Plant Protection Institute of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest
2021 PhD in Environmental biology summa cum laude
Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest
2014-2016 phytotechnologist
Biopolus – Living Island, aeroponic plant factory , Budapest, Hungary
2016 internship as phytotechnologist
Climate KIC- Pioneers into Practice
Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
2014 Biology MSc, plant biology specialisation, graduated with Honours
Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest
2012 Biology BSc, graduated with Honours
Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest
Erdei, A. L., David, A. B., Savvidou, E. C., Dzemedzionaite, V., Chakravarthy, A., Molnar, B. P., & Dekker, T. (2022). The push-pull intercrop Desmodium does not repel, but intercepts and kills pests. Elife, in press
Erdei, A. L., Preti, M., Bengtsson, M., & Witzgall, P. (2024). Host plant odour and sex pheromone are integral to mate finding in codling moth. bioRxiv, 2023-10. under review
Szelényi M. O., Erdei A. L., Molnár B. P., Tholt G. (2024) Antennal olfactory sensitivity and its age-dependence in the hemimetabolous insect Metcalfa pruinosa. Journal of applied entomology, accepted
Moustafa, M. A., Fouad, E. A., Ibrahim, E., Erdei, A. L., Kárpáti, Z., & Fónagy, A. (2023). The Comparative Toxicity, Biochemical and Physiological Impacts of Chlorantraniliprole and Indoxacarb on Mamestra brassicae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Toxics, 11(3), 212.
Sousa, M., Mulaosmanovic, E., Erdei, A. L., Bengtsson, M., Witzgall, P., & Alsanius, B. W. (2023). Volatilomes reveal specific signatures for contamination of leafy vegetables with Escherichia coli O157: H7. Food Control, 146, 109513.
Erdei, A. L., Szelényi, M. O., Deutsch F., Rikk P., Molnár P. B. (2022) Lure design for Drosophila suzukii based on liquid culture of fruit epiphytic yeasts: Comparing the attractivity of fermentation volatiles for seasonal morphs. Journal of Applied Entomology. In press
Kecskeméti, S., Szelényi, M. O., Erdei, A. L., Geösel, A., Fail, J., & Molnár, B. P. (2020). Fungal volatiles as olfactory cues for female fungus gnat, Lycoriella ingenua in the avoidance of mycelia colonized compost. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 46(10), 917-926.
Mbaluto, C.M., Ayelo, P.M., Duffy, A.G., Erdei, A. L., Tallon A. K. Xia, S., Caballero-Vidal G., Spitaler, U., Szelényi, M. O. Duarte, G. A., Walker, W. B. & Becher, P. G. (2020) Insect chemical ecology: chemically mediated interactions and novel applications in agriculture. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 14, 671–684 (2020).
Szelényi, M. O., Erdei, A. L., Jósvai, J. K., Radványi, D., Sümegi, B., Vétek, G., & Kárpáti, Z. (2020). Essential oil headspace volatiles prevent invasive box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis) oviposition—Insights from electrophysiology and behaviour. Insects, 11(8), 465.
Erdei, A. L., Kósa, A., & Böddi, B. (2019). Distinct UV-A or UV-B irradiation induces protochlorophyllide photoreduction and bleaching in dark-grown pea (Pisum sativum L.) epicotyls. Photosynthesis research, 140(1), 93-102.
Molnár, P. B., Bognár, C., Erdei, A. L., Fujii, T., Vági, P., Jósvai, J. K., & Kárpáti, Z. (2018). Identification of the Female-Produced Sex Pheromone of an Invasive Greenhouse Pest, the European Pepper Moth (Duponchelia fovealis). Journal of chemical ecology, 44(3), 257-267.
Erdei, A. L., Kósa, A., Kovács-Smirová, L., & Böddi, B. (2015). Wavelength-dependent photooxidation and photoreduction of protochlorophyllide and protochlorophyll in the innermost leaves of cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata). Photosynthesis research, 1-11.