REU: Consequences of Leaf Lifetime for Photosynthetic Physiology, Secondary Metabolism, and Anatomy in Tropical Plants

叶片寿命与生理的关系 和次生代谢产物的产生 长寿是一个严重缺乏信息的领域。 这 通过各种假设和严格的实验， 设计，寻求更好地理解这些关系并 提供关于叶子和植物之间相互作用的基线数据， 寿命、叶生理学和次级代谢产物的产生。 从这项研究中获得的信息将有助于 了解不同寿命叶片的植物 保护这些重要的光合组织免受食草动物的侵害 和病原体。 这些信息在理论上是有用的。 关于农作物和森林光合作用的思考 系统，并在描述如何多酚防御植物 自然界中的物种已经进化了。 此外，委员会认为， 将识别可能未知的化合物或结构 并且可以证明作为天然杀虫剂是有用的。 例如在 根据原提案中提交的初步数据， 我们筛选的15种已知酚类化合物中 组织存在于来自巴拿马的植物中。

The relationship between leaf longevity and the physiology and secondary metabolite production among leaves varying in longevity is an area severely lacking in information. This proposal, through various hypotheses and rigorous experimental designs, seeks to better understand these relationships and to provide baseline data about the interactions between leaf longevity, leaf physiology, and secondary metabolite production. Information gained from this study will be useful in understanding how plants with leaves of varying longevity may defend these important photosynthetic tissues against herbivores and pathogens. Such information would be useful in theoretical considerations dealing with photosynthesis of crop and forest systems, and in describing how the polyphenolic defenses of plant species in natural communities have evolved. Furthermore, compounds or structures will be identified that may not be known and may prove useful as natural insecticides. For example, on the basis of preliminary data submitted in the original proposal, none of the 15 known phenolic compounds for which we screened tissue were present in the plants from Panama.