US-Sweden Cooperative Research: Biochemical Studies of Pheromone Perception in Agrotis Segetum

该奖项将支持纽约州立大学石溪分校的Glenn Prestwich博士与瑞典隆德大学的两位瑞典研究人员（生态中心的Christer Lofstedt教授和化学中心的Tommy Liljefors教授）之间的合作研究。该项目的目的是研究信息素检测的机制。自从三十多年前第一个信息素结构发表以来，化学家和生物学家在信息素结构的阐明、工业规模的信息素合成以及信息素在交配干扰和综合虫害管理中的应用方面取得了相当大的成就。相比之下，目前对信息素如何在分子水平上起作用的理解仍然非常初级。在过去的几年里，普雷斯特维奇博士和他的瑞典同事一起研究了萝卜蛾（Agrotis segetum）信息素感知的化学、生物化学、生态学、行为和感觉生理学。利用在石溪分校制备的信息素，研究人员现在建议进行：1)信息素受体和结合蛋白的生化研究，2)信息素类似物的计算机模拟和电生理评估，以及3)生理活性类似物的行为测试。普雷斯特维奇博士将使用隆德大学的分子图形程序来评估在石溪合成的信息素类似物的构象，并将使用隆德大学常规供应的Agrotis segetum蛹和成虫进行生化实验，这些实验需要活的、分阶段的昆虫。此外，他将在隆德实验室建立各种常规生化技术，并为瑞典小组的计算和模型测试提供新的结构。这项研究将受益于普雷斯特维奇博士和他的瑞典合作者在信息素结构化学方面的互补专业知识。该研究结果将对信息素技术的未来应用具有重要意义，如害虫管理。

This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Glenn Prestwich, State University of New York at Stony Brook and two Swedish researchers from the University of Lund, Sweden: Professor Christer Lofstedt of the Ecological Center and Professor Tommy Liljefors of the Chemical Center. The objective of the proposed project is to investigate mechanisms of pheromone detection. Chemists and biologists have developed considerable sophisti- cation in the elucidation of pheromone structures, industrial- scale pheromone synthesis, and in the use of pheromones for mating disruption and integrated pest management, since the publication of the first pheromone structure over thirty years ago. In contrast, current understanding of how pheromones work on a molecular level is still very rudimentary. Dr. Prestwich and his Swedish colleagues have worked together over the past few years on the chemistry, biochemistry, ecology, behavior and sensory physiology of pheromone perception in the turnip moth Agrotis segetum. Using pheromones prepared at Stony Brook, the investigators now propose to conduct: 1) biochemical studies of pheromone receptor and binding proteins, 2) computer simulations and electrophysiological evaluations of pheromone analogs, and 3) behavioral testing of physiologically active analogs. Dr. Prestwich will use molecular graphics programs at the University of Lund to evaluate conformations of pheromone analogs synthesized at Stony Brook, and will also use the routinely available supply of Agrotis segetum pupae and adult moths at Lund for biochemical experiments requiring live, staged insects. In addition, he will establish as routine a variety of biochemical techniques in the Lund laboratories and provide new structures for calculations and model testing by the Swedish groups. This research will benefit from the complementary expertise of Dr. Prestwich and his Swedish collaborators in the chemistry of pheromone structure. The results of this research will have important applications for future uses of pheromone technology, such as pest management.