Specialization and Host Shifts in Herbivorous Insects

草食昆虫的专业化和宿主转移

• 批准号: 9421643
• 负责人: Douglas Futuyma
• 金额: $ 25万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1995
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1995-03-15 至 1999-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9421643&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Specialization; Host; Shifts; Herbivorous; Insects

9421643 Futuyma This project will use a group of closely related, specialized leaf beetles to study genetic constraints on the capacity to adapt to new host plants. Research combining genetic analyses of the relationship among insect populations will be combined with selection experiments where leaf beetles are "forced" to adapt to new hosts. These experiments will determine if genetic change occurs that reduces the adaptation of the experimental beetles to their normal host. The experiments will test the leading hypothesis of host specialization - that trade-offs occur in adaptation to different resources. This hypothesis is an important component of explanations concerning species divergence and the origins of biological diversity. Agricultural insect pests frequently adapt to crops that are related to their wild plant hosts, and to pest-resistant cultivars that are developed at considerable expense. This research will aid in understanding what kinds of plants an insect species can or can not adapt to. Answers will aid in the development of pest-control strategies such as determining the kinds of genes that can be engineered from wild into cultivated plants or the use of economically unimportant "trap" crops to prevent potential pests from adapting to valuable crops.

9421643 Futuyma 该项目将使用一组密切相关的专门叶甲虫来研究适应新寄主植物的能力的遗传限制。 结合昆虫种群之间关系的遗传分析的研究将与叶甲虫“被迫”适应新宿主的选择实验相结合。 这些实验将确定是否发生基因变化，从而降低实验甲虫对其正常宿主的适应能力。 这些实验将检验宿主专业化的主要假设——在适应不同资源时会发生权衡。 这一假说是解释物种分化和生物多样性起源的重要组成部分。 农业害虫经常适应与其野生植物寄主相关的作物，以及花费大量资金培育的抗害虫品种。 这项研究将有助于了解昆虫物种可以适应或不能适应哪些植物。 答案将有助于制定害虫控制策略，例如确定可以从野生植物转化为栽培植物的基因种类，或使用经济上不重要的“诱捕”作物来防止潜在害虫适应有价值的作物。