Chemical Phenotype Matching in Wild Parsnips and Parsnip Webworms: Causes and Consequences

野生防风草和防风草蛛网的化学表型匹配：原因和后果野生防风草受到几种昆虫的攻击，因为它们会产生一种叫做呋喃香豆素的毒素。防风草网虫可以以植物为食，因为它们可以代谢这些毒素。在不同的种群中，植物的化学防御谱与网虫的解毒酶谱非常相似。生物化学特征的密切对应表明植物和昆虫是共同进化的，或互为相互的选择因子。这个项目旨在了解化学剖面是如何匹配的。许多因素，如交替寄主植物的存在、捕食者造成的死亡率以及网虫在种群之间的移动，都可能影响化学剖面匹配的程度。这些因素和其他因素将在中西部一系列自然发生的种群中以及在人为构建的“不匹配”种群中进行检查，以确定生态对化学剖面匹配的速度和程度的影响。在植物中合成防御和在线虫中分解毒素的酶将在分子水平上被表征，以确定这种化学特征匹配背后的遗传机制。共同进化产生的化学剖面匹配对于理解植物与昆虫的相互作用具有重要意义。这项研究在开发农作物抗虫育种、预测害虫进化出对杀虫剂等合成毒素的抗性的速度、以及制定考虑到濒危植物和昆虫物种之间相互作用的保护计划方面具有潜在的价值。

"Chemical phenotype matching in wild parsnips and parsnip webworms: causesand consequences"Wild parsnips are attacked by few insect species because they produce toxins called furanocoumarins. Parsnip webworms can feed on the plant because they can metabolize these toxins. In different populations, the chemical defense profile of the plants closely resembles the detoxification enzyme profile of the webworms. The close correspondence of biochemical profiles indicates that plants and insects coevolve, or act as reciprocal selective agents on each other. This project is aimed at understanding how chemical profiles come to match. Many factors, such as the presence of alternate hostplants, mortality due to predators, and movement of webworms between populations, may influence the degree of chemical profile matching. These factors and others will be examined in a series of naturally occuring populations in the midwest, as well as in artificially constructed "mismatched" populations, to determine ecological influences on the rate and extent of chemical profile matching. . The enzymes that synthesize the defenses in the plants and that dismantle the toxins in the webworm will be characterized at the molecular level, to determine the genetic mechanisms underlying this chemical profile matching.Chemical profile matching resulting from coevolution is of importance in understanding plant-insect interactions in general. This study will be potentially of value in developing applications aimed at breeding for insect resistance in crop plants, at predicting the rate at which insect pests evolve resistance to synthetic toxins such as insecticides, and at constructing conservation plans that take into account interactions between endangered plant and insect species.