Interactions between Maize root-associated fungi and the Western Corn Rootworm

玉米根萤叶甲（Diabrotica virgifera virgifera，WCR）是一种新的严重的玉米害虫，由于其幼虫的根部取食，将在欧洲玉米产区造成重大损失。根损伤还将导致真菌侵入受损植物组织的可能性，从而增加严重的问题，例如，与产生真菌毒素的镰刀菌的发病率增加有关。该项目的目的是了解幼虫在玉米根部的发育和真菌群落的变化之间的相互作用，作为WCR喂养的结果。我们推测不同土壤类型和不同的玉米品种将支持不同的真菌群落在玉米根际，这可能会影响WCR幼虫的摄食和发育。幼虫喂养反过来会引起真菌群落的变化，并可能增加真菌毒素产生镰刀菌的丰度。将测试土壤中镰刀菌密度的发生率与玉米植株侵染和相应真菌毒素水平之间的关系。为了评估丛枝菌根（AM）的影响，通常在玉米根中遇到，并且已知其干扰幼虫摄食，也可能干扰真菌定殖，还将在存在或不存在额外AM接种物的情况下建立实验。

The new serious maize pest Diabrotica virgifera virgifera (Western Corn Rootworm, WCR) will cause heavy losses in European maize production areas due to root feeding of the larvae. Root damage will also cause a potential for fungi to invade damaged plant tissue adding serious problems, e.g., related to an increased incidence of mycotoxin producing Fusarium spp. The project aims at understanding the interactions between larval development in the roots of maize and fungal community changes as a result of WCR feeding. We hypothesize that different soil types and different maize cultivars will support different fungal communities in the rhizosphere of maize which might affect WCR larval feeding and development. Larval feeding in turn will induce fungal community changes and might increase the abundance of mycotoxin-producing Fusarium spp. The relationship between incidence of Fusarium sp. densities in the soil and infestation of maize plants and corresponding mycotoxin levels will be tested. To assess the effect of arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM), commonly encountered in maize roots and which are known to interfere with larval feeding and might also interfere with fungal colonization experiments will be also established in the presence or absence of an additional AM inoculum.