Area of interest

I am interested in the communication systems of animals and plants with a focus on insects. More specifically, in my projects I identify chemicals that govern mate finding and host seeking behaviors of insects. While my background is in analytical chemistry, I take an integrative approach to study insects including physiology, behavior, electrophysiology, and chemistry.

Current projects

I have been working on the chemical ecology of the invasive woodwasp Sirex noctilio in the last few years. Previously, with James H. Tumlinson at Penn State University, I identified the main components of the female produced contact sex pheromone and investigated attractive volatile profiles emitted by selected pine hosts. Currently, at Coby Schal’s lab at the Department of Entomology at NCSU, I am screening candidate compounds for trapping identified from pine using gas chromatography coupled with electroantennogram detection (GC-EAD). This is a project in collaboration with Fred Hain at our department, and funded by USDA APHIS/FS. 

I am also investigating the oviposition behavior of the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Working together with Loganathan Ponnusamy and Charles Apperson in our department, we use olfactometer bioassay and GC-EAD to identify chemicals that attract gravid females to sites where they lay eggs. These compounds are likely to improve trapping efficiency in the field. 

In a third project, I conduct chemical and functional studies on the free lipid layer of the cuticle of insects. Cuticular lipids save insects from desiccation and often play a role in communication, however, there is little known about the spatial distribution of these compounds on the surface. I am interested in the mechanism and regulation of deposition processes. In collaboration with Marianna Zhukovskaya, in St. Petersburg (Russia), my colleague Ayako Wada-Katsumata and I study the role of self-grooming in the maintenance of the cuticular lipid layer.

Selected publications

Böröczky, K., Zylstra, K.E., McCartney, N.B. , Mastro, V.C., Tumlinson, J.H. Volatile profile differences and the associated Sirex noctilio activity in two host tree species in the Northeastern United States, Journal of Chemical Ecology, in revision.

Cooperband, M.F., Böröczky, K., Hartness, A., Jones, T.H., Zylstra, K.E., Tumlinson, J.H., Mastro, V.C. Male-produced pheromone in the European woodwasp, Sirex noctilio. Journal of Chemical Ecology, DOI 10.1007/s10886-012-0060-7.

Schwartzberg, E. G., Böröczky, K., Tumlinson, J.H. (2011). Pea aphids, Acyrthosiphon pisum, suppress induced plant volatiles in broad bean, Vicia faba. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 37(10), 1055-1062.

Ponnusamy L., Böröczky, K., Wesson, D. M., Schal, C., Apperson, C. S. (2011). Bacteria stimulate hatching of yellow fever mosquito eggs. PLoS ONE, 6(9): e24409.

Böröczky, K., Crook, D.J., Jones, T.H., Kenney, J.C., Zylstra, K.E., Mastro, V.C., Tumlinson, J.H. (2009). Monoalkenes as contact sex pheromone components of the woodwasp Sirex noctilio, Journal of Chemical Ecology, 35(10), 2002–2011.

Lelito, J.P., Böröczky, K., Jones, T.H., Fraser, I., Mastro, V.C., Tumlinson, J.H., Baker, T.C. (2009). Behavioral evidence for a contact sex pheromone component of the emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). Journal of Chemical Ecology, 35(1), 104–110.

Böröczky, K., Park, K-Ch., Minard, R.D., Jones, T.H., Baker, T.C., Tumlinson, J.H. (2008). Differences in cuticular lipid composition of the antennae of Helicoverpa zea, Heliothis virescens, and Manduca sexta. Journal of Insect Physiology, 54(10-11), 1385–1391.

Sobik, P., Grunenberg, J., Böröczky, K., Laatsch, H., Wagner-Doebler, I., Schulz, S. (2007). Identification, synthesis, and conformation of tri- and tetrathiacycloalkanes from marine bacteria. Journal of Organic Chemistry, 72(10), 3776–3782.

Böröczky, K., Laatsch, H., Wagner-Doebler, I., Stritzke, K., Schulz, S. (2006). Cluster analysis as selection and dereplication tool for the identification of new natural compounds from large sample sets. Chemistry and Biodiversity, 3, 622–634.