Butterfly eggs represent a critical stage: while they will soon develop into catrpillars that consume large amounts of leaf tissue, they are also a vulnerablke target for early intervention. Some plants can kill insect eggs soon after they are laid but many important vegetable crops lack this defence, making them vulnerable to insect damage.

Unravel the molecular and genetic mechanism of pest egg-killing in Brassicaceae and Solanaceae plants to develop crops resistance against leaf-chewing insects.

1. screening multiple crop varieties for their egg-killing trait
2. identify the genetic loci associated with egg-killing defence
3. validate functions of the candidate R genes in the egg-killing defence
4. evaluate costs and benefits of egg-killing