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Employee Directory

Michel Cusson

Michel Cusson

Research Scientist, Insect Physiology and Biochemistry

Laurentian Forestry Centre
1055 du P.E.P.S., P.O. Box 10380, Stn. Sainte-Foy
Québec, Quebec, Canada
G1V 4C7

Telephone: 418-648-3944
E-mail: Michel.Cusson@RNCan-NRCan.gc.ca

Research Subject Areas

Profile

Our research encompasses insect physiology, biochemistry, endocrinology and virology. Our ultimate objective is to identify proteins that could form the basis of, or be the target of, new pest control products designed to manage populations of forest pests, such as the spruce budworm.

Although wide-ranging, our research topics have a central focus: juvenile hormone (JH). This hormone orchestrates insect development and reproduction. High levels of this hormone in immature insects prevent metamorphosis from being triggered after the final moult, thereby ensuring that juvenile traits persist until the end of larval development. In adults, JH is essential for various reproductive activities, including gonad maturation and sex pheromone production. Finally, JH plays a role in regulating a variety of behaviours and processes, including migration, diapause, and caste differentiation in social insects.

Since JH is essentially specific to insects (exception: it is detected in some plants of the genus Cyperus), it represents a promising target for the development of pest control products with a reduced impact on non-target organisms. In fact, following identification of the hormone’s molecular structure, in 1967, scientists were quick to predict the advent of a new generation of JH-based insecticides. This is because they realized that applying juvenile hormone to insects just before or during metamorphosis would cause an irreversible disruption in this process. A few commercial analogues of JH have proven effective for controlling insect pests in the adult stage, but these products are not very useful for controlling phytophagous insects, which generally have to be eradicated during the larval stage.

Disrupting the physiology of phytophagous insects (e.g. caterpillars) calls for a very different approach that involves interfering with the action of JH: blocking biosynthesis or blocking its molecular action. Compounds that can do this would cause or simulate a sharp drop in hormone levels, thereby triggering early metamorphosis in young larvae, with fatal consequences. In addition, such compounds would inhibit reproductive activities in adults.

In this context, our laboratory’s activities can be grouped in either of two categories:

Adjunct professor at the Département de biologie and Département de biochimie et de microbiologie, Université Laval (http://www.bcm.ulaval.ca/:)

Education

Degree in biology from the Université de Sherbrooke (1981), master’s degree in pest management from Simon Fraser University (1985), and Ph.D. in biology from Université Laval (1989). Postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto (laboratory of Stephen S. Tobe) (1989-1991).

Current Research Projects

Publications

Research Team