BIOCOMPLEXITY: Integrating Genomic and Ecological Analysis of Symbiotic Bacteria that Mediate Insect Herbivory

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Moran9981432Many plant-feeding insects are dependent on bacterial symbionts tosupplement their nutrition: without symbionts, these insects cannot grow orreproduce. In some cases, transmission of symbionts occurs only from motherto progeny; these bacteria possess specialized genetic traits that allowthem to better nourish their hosts. Other symbionts infect hosts throughother routes and appear less specialized. Approaches from modern genomicswill be used to explore how gene content and gene expression of long-termsymbionts affect host nutrition and growth under different environments,such as host plants differing in nutritional quality. In addition, theeffects of facultative symbionts on insect growth and survival, currentlyunknown, will be explored. Experiments will test whether these more mobilesymbionts are vectored by parasites of the insect hosts or conferresistance to these parasites.Although bacterial symbionts are central in insect-plant interactions,including those affecting agricultural crops and forests, their biology islittle known. The proposed work would exploit recent developments inmolecular biology to reveal the full range of symbiont effects on thebiology of plant-feeding insects. Results have the potential of exposingnovel, specific methods for insect control that might be less costly orhazardous than commonly used chemical control measures. This project, which is being supported by the Directorates for Biological Sciences and and by the Division of Chemistry and the MPS Office of Multidisciplinary Activities, will impact several scientific fields, and the findings may provide basic information useful for both environmental and biotechnological applications.