Collaborative Research: Diapause Energetics in the Apple Maggot Rhagoletis Pomonella: a Functional Link between Life History Evolution and Insect-host Plant Associations.

昆虫害虫每年对全世界的农作物造成数十亿美元的损失。 随着农业的持续全球化，农作物通常被引入新的地点，在那里它们将接触新的昆虫害虫，并且昆虫害虫经常被无意中引入新的地区，在那里它们接触新的农作物。 因此，一个关键的问题是，是什么因素促使或阻止昆虫在一种新植物上定居？ 苹果蛆（Rhagoletis pomonella）是一种模型系统，用于了解以植物为食的昆虫如何转移到新的宿主上。 这些蛆原产于北美，历史上以山楂树的果实为食。 然而，大约350年前，英国和荷兰的定居者将驯化的苹果引入美国东北部，R。苹果蠹蛾开始以苹果果实为食，并已成为驯化苹果的重要害虫。 在苹果和山楂一起生长的地区，这两种植物在夏天的不同时间结果实。 成虫在果实上产卵，寿命很短。 这导致了苹果蝇和山楂蝇发生时间的分离，这对R。苹果蠹蛾成为苹果害虫。 人们对这种果蝇的生活史时间和向苹果转移的遗传学了解很多，但对促进这种转移的生理特征知之甚少。该项目将调查生活史时序的生理学，并确定三个关键的生理特征，脂肪储存，代谢率和身体大小，在苹果和山楂蝇之间是否存在差异，并确定它们是否与生活史时序差异相关的特定遗传标记有关。 这项工作将提供第一个合成的生理学，遗传学和生活史的时间在植物饲养的昆虫，并将作为基础，了解生理学如何可能影响生活史的时间和促进或防止昆虫和植物之间的新的相互作用，一个关键问题，为进化生物学和农业。 公共机构在教育推广和培训方面有着良好的记录，包括传统上代表性不足的群体。 该项目将包括对博士后、研究生和本科生的培训。 将气候相关生理学与昆虫寄主小种形成联系起来，将为理解气候变化导致的寄主范围变化和未来害虫问题提供重要信息。

Insect pests cause billions of dollars of damage to crop plants world-wide each year. With the continuing globalization of agriculture, crops are routinely introduced into new locations where they will come into contact with novel insect pests, and insect pests are frequently inadvertently introduced to new areas where they come into contact with novel crops. Therefore, a critical question is what are the factors that facilitate or prevent insects from becoming established on a novel plant? The apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella, is a model system for understanding how plant-feeding insects can move onto new hosts. These maggots are native to North America and historically fed on the fruits of hawthorn trees. However, after domesticated apples were introduced into the northeastern United States approximately 350 years ago by English and Dutch settlers, R. pomonella began feeding on apple fruits and has become a significant pest of domesticated apples. In areas where apples and hawthorns occur together, the two plants produce fruit at different times during the summer. The adult flies, which lay their eggs on the fruit, are short lived. This has lead to a separation in the timing of occurrence of the apple and hawthorn flies, which was critical for R. pomonella to become a pest of apples. Much is known about the genetics of life history timing and the shift onto apples in this fly, but little is known about the physiological traits that have facilitated the shift. This project will investigate the physiology of life history timing and determine if three critical physiological traits, fat storage, metabolic rate, and body size, differ between the apple and hawthorn flies, and determine if they are linked to specific genetic markers that are associated with differences in life history timing. This work will provide the first synthesis of physiology, genetics, and life history timing in a plant-feeding insect and will serve as a foundation for understanding how physiology may affect life history timing and either facilitate or prevent novel interactions between insects and plants, a critical question for both evolutionary biology and agriculture. The PIs have a strong record in educational outreach and training, including traditionally underrepresented groups. This project will include training of postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students. Linking climate related physiology to insect host race formation will provide important information for understanding host range change and future pest problems as a consequence of climate variation.