Plant Sex and the Macroevolution of Plant Defenses: A Comparative Approach

植物已经进化出一系列特性来保护它们免受有害昆虫的侵害，不同的植物物种在化学防御水平上有很大差异。尽管在理解植物化学生物学方面取得了实质性进展，但对导致植物在防御方面变化的进化机制缺乏基本了解。最近的研究结果表明，植物繁殖策略的差异可能起着重要的作用。 具体来说，导致遗传多样性丧失的生殖系统也可能导致防御能力降低。 该项目的目的是更好地了解不同的植物繁殖策略是否会影响植物对昆虫的防御能力，并阐明导致这种进化变化的基因。植物和昆虫之间的相互作用对自然和管理的生态系统至关重要，因为昆虫消耗了植物每年产生的大部分生物量。这种破坏每年给农民和林业人员造成数十亿美元的收入损失。因此，重要的是要了解植物物种如何保护自己，以及为什么它们经常在防御昆虫的类型和水平上有所不同。该项目将有助于阐明在植物物种中观察到的植物防御变异的进化和遗传原因，并最终提供对自然和管理生态系统中生物相互作用的更好理解。

Plants have evolved an array of traits that protect them against damaging insects, and different plant species vary dramatically in their level of chemical defenses. Despite substantial progress in understanding the biology of plant chemistry, a basic understanding of the evolutionary mechanisms that cause plants to vary in defense is lacking. Recent results suggest that differences in the reproductive strategies used by plants might play an important role. Specifically, reproductive systems that result in the loss of genetic diversity may also result in lowered defense. The goal of this project is to better understand whether different plant reproductive strategies influence the ability of plants to maintain defenses against insects, and to elucidate the genes that cause such evolutionary change.Interactions between plants and insects are of critical importance to natural and managed ecosystems as insects consume a large proportion of the biomass produced annually by plants. Such damage costs billions of dollars in lost revenue to farmers and foresters each year. It is therefore important to understand how plant species defend themselves and why they frequently vary in the types and levels of defenses they employ against insects. This project will help to elucidate the evolutionary and genetic causes of variation in plant defense observed among plant species, and ultimately provide a better understanding of the biological interactions within natural and managed ecosystems.