Genetics of Host Affiliation in Herbivorous Beetles (Chrysomelidae)

草食性甲虫（叶甲科）宿主的遗传学

• 批准号: 8817912
• 负责人: Walter Eanes
• 金额: $ 22.24万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1989
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1989-01-01 至 1993-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8817912&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Genetics; Host; Affiliation; Herbivorous; Beetles

Hundreds of thousands of species of insects feed on plants. Most of these species, including most the small minority that are serious pests of crops and timber, are highly host-specific in respect of the kinds of plants on which they feed. The evolution of any feature, such as preference for a particular food plant, requires that there has existed genetic variation in that feature. Therefore, understanding why particular host plant insect herbivore associations have evolved can be provided by assaying the genetic variation within insect populations for those features associated with successful use of a particular species of plants. Dr. Futuyma will work with species of Ophraella, a group of beetles in which each species is associated only with one or another genus of plants in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). This research is among the first attempts to determine whether historical evolutionary events that can be deduced from phylogenetic studies can be predicted at all from genetic analyses of contemporaneous species. As such, it seeks to synthesize two very different research programs in evolutionary biology - deduction of evolutionary history and genetic analysis of evolutionary processes. More particularly, it addresses the question of whether or not genetic analysis can shed light on why insect species have adapted to some plants rather than others. This work also has implications for the management of crop and timber pests. The present research can serve as a model for assays of genetic variation in insects that may enable crop entomologists to predict the likelihood that insects may become pests, even if at first they are not.

成千上万种昆虫以植物为食。这些物种中的大多数，包括大多数少数严重危害农作物和木材的物种，就它们赖以生存的植物种类而言，具有高度的寄主特异性。任何特征的进化，例如对特定食用植物的偏好，都需要在该特征中存在遗传变异。因此，通过分析昆虫种群中与成功利用特定植物物种相关的特征的遗传变异，可以了解为什么特定寄主植物的食草动物协会已经进化。Futuyma博士将与Ophraella的物种合作，Ophraella是一组甲虫，其中每个物种只与向日葵科(菊科)的一种或另一种植物有关。这项研究是第一次尝试确定是否可以通过对同时代物种的遗传分析来预测从系统发育研究中推断出的历史进化事件。因此，它试图综合进化生物学中两个截然不同的研究项目--演绎进化史和对进化过程进行遗传分析。更具体地说，它解决了基因分析是否可以解释为什么昆虫物种适应了一些植物而不是另一些植物的问题。这项工作对农作物和木材病虫害的管理也有影响。目前的研究可以作为分析昆虫遗传变异的模型，使作物昆虫学家能够预测昆虫可能成为害虫的可能性，即使一开始它们不是。