Parsnip Webworms as Selective Agents on Primary Metabolites of Wild Parsnip

防风草网虫作为野生防风草初级代谢物的选择剂

• 批准号: 9628977
• 负责人: May Berenbaum
• 金额: $ 26万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1996
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1996-07-15 至 2000-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9628977&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Parsnip; Webworms; Selective; Agents; Primary

9628977 Berenbaum Although the presence of toxins in plants has long been associated with resistance to insects, the idea that low nutrient quality can similarly protect plants against their insect enemies has remained untested for over forty years. The goal of this project is to measure variation in the nutritional quality of Pastinaca sativa, the wild parsnip, and determine whether the low levels of such vital insect nutrients as protein, fatty acids, vitamins, and sugars are associated with escape from attack by Depressaria pastinacella, the principal insect enemy of the plant. This project is of interest not only because it can contribute to the conceptual understanding of plant-insect interactions, which collectively constitute the principal form of biological interaction on the planet, but also because it can potentially lead to new and environmentally compatible approaches to pest control. Breeding strains of crop plants that are resistant to insect damage based on their low content of essential insect nutrients can lead to pest control without use of synthetic organic insecticides. Nutrients that are essential requirements for insects but are relatively important in human diets can be specifically targeted for manipulation. Many plant pests feed on only a narrow range of crop species; because of their extremely specialized diet, plant-feeding insect pests are particularly vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies in their diet in that missing nutrients in many cases cannot be compensated for by switching to other plant species. Adoption of such a control strategy can lead to improved yields, reduced risks of resistance acquisition, and reduced impacts on nontarget species compared with conventional pesticide treatments.

9628977贝伦鲍姆尽管植物中毒素的存在长期以来一直与抗虫性有关，但低营养质量同样可以保护植物免受害虫侵害的想法40多年来一直没有得到验证。这个项目的目标是测量野生防风草叶蜂营养质量的变化，并确定重要的昆虫营养物质，如蛋白质、脂肪酸、维生素和糖的低水平是否与逃脱该植物的主要害虫天敌--甜菜夜蛾的攻击有关。这个项目之所以令人感兴趣，不仅是因为它有助于从概念上理解植物-昆虫相互作用--植物-昆虫相互作用共同构成了地球上生物相互作用的主要形式，而且还因为它可能导致新的、与环境相容的虫害控制方法。培育因昆虫必需营养素含量低而抗虫害的作物品种，可以在不使用合成有机杀虫剂的情况下控制虫害。昆虫的基本需求，但在人类饮食中相对重要的营养物质，可以被特别地作为操纵的目标。许多植物害虫只以少数作物种类为食；由于它们的食物极其特殊，以植物为食的害虫特别容易受到食物中营养不足的影响，因为在许多情况下，缺乏的营养无法通过转向其他植物物种来弥补。与传统的农药处理相比，采用这样的控制策略可以提高产量，降低获得抗药性的风险，并减少对非目标物种的影响。