Chemical Coevolution of Animals and Plants

动物和植物的化学协同进化

• 批准号: 444663235
• 负责人: Dr. Omer Nevo
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Forschungsgruppe Evolutionsökologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Independent Junior Research Groups
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/444663235?language=en
• 关键词: Chemical; Coevolution; Animals; Plants

To promote seed dispersal, fleshy fruits evolved to attract animals using various adaptations like sugary rewards and colorful displays. Animals evolved to exploit fleshy fruits using adaptations such as attraction to sugar and color vision. In recent years, our work provided evidence that fruit scent - the bouquet of volatile chemicals emitted by ripe fruits - is likely to be a signal whose function is to facilitate seed dispersal, as opposed to a pleasant byproduct of fruit maturation. Moreover, we identified chemicals which are likely to derive from sugar and thus be the substrate on which chemical communication between animals and plants has evolved. Yet these observations are still based on ecological snapshots, and it is therefore unknown whether plants have indeed evolved to signal ripeness through chemical signals. Moreover, given that before this work the chemistry of wild ripe fruit scent was almost unknown, it is unknown whether seed dispersers’ sense of smell evolved to utilize fruit chemical signals. As a result, while it is known that fruit traits drive plant dispersal, speciation and diversification, the role of chemical communication - a critical factor in animal-plant interaction - in driving plant and animal coevolution has remained in the dark. Using figs and lemurs as a model systems, the proposed project will address these questions in three units. The first will use ecological, chemical, genetic and transcriptomic approaches to establish that fruit scent has evolved as an honest signal to seed dispersers. The second will use comparative physiology to establish that fruit-eating animals are selected to respond to the chemicals plants use as signals. The third unit will use a phylogenetic approach to establish how chemical communication has driven plant biogeography. As such, the project will study how animals and plants have co-evolved to communicate using chemical signals, and how this process drove plant evolution in space and time.

为了促进种子的传播，肉质水果进化成了用各种适应方式来吸引动物，比如甜蜜的奖励和五颜六色的展示。动物进化到利用肉质水果，利用对糖的吸引和颜色视觉等适应能力。近年来，我们的工作提供了证据，证明水果气味--成熟水果散发出的挥发性化学物质的气味--很可能是一种信号，其功能是促进种子的传播，而不是水果成熟时令人愉快的副产品。此外，我们还确定了可能来自糖的化学物质，从而成为动植物之间化学交流的进化底物。然而，这些观察仍然是基于生态快照，因此还不清楚植物是否真的进化到通过化学信号来发出成熟的信号。此外，考虑到在这项工作之前，野生成熟水果气味的化学成分几乎是未知的，还不清楚种子传播者的嗅觉是否进化为利用水果化学信号。因此，虽然已知水果特性推动植物的扩散、物种形成和多样化，但化学交流--动植物相互作用的关键因素--在推动植物和动物的共同进化中的作用仍然是未知的。使用无花果和狐猴作为模型系统，拟议的项目将分三个单元解决这些问题。第一个将使用生态、化学、遗传和转录方法来确定水果气味已经演变为向种子传播者发出的诚实信号。第二项研究将使用比较生理学来确定，选择吃水果的动物是为了对植物用作信号的化学物质做出反应。第三个单元将使用系统发育方法来确定化学通信是如何驱动植物生物地理学的。因此，该项目将研究动物和植物如何共同进化以使用化学信号进行交流，以及这一过程如何推动植物在空间和时间上的进化。