Evolution of energetics in flying insects

能量代谢是所有生物功能的核心。在动物中，涉及能量代谢的生理和生物化学是基于一个保守的蓝图，它被调整以服务于不同的功能（例如在组织之间）和广泛的表现（例如运动）。我对参与能量学的生理系统和生化途径如何在个体之间变化以及它们如何随着进化时间的变化而产生在动物性能中观察到的多样性感兴趣。为了解决这些问题，我研究了昆虫飞行的能量学。昆虫飞行是研究能量代谢的一个很好的模型，因为不同物种的飞行行为差异很大，而且飞行是动物进行的最昂贵的活动。在蜜蜂和黄蜂中，不同物种飞行肌肉细胞的能量需求相差好几倍；然而，我们不知道解释这种变化的潜在机制。运用生理学和进化领域的各种方法，我研究了物种和个体的特征如何决定飞行的能量需求。我也研究昆虫如何适应不断增加的飞行能量需求。我工作的另一个主要组成部分是研究能量学的细胞基础，它们的新陈代谢。细胞能量产生的变化包括通过改变形成代谢途径的酶的性质或数量来调整代谢途径。动物也可以使用不同的燃料来为肌肉提供动力。肌肉细胞的其他特性会随着飞行的强度而调整，比如细胞膜。这项工作的意义对我们理解动物能量学的多样性以及它如何进化以面对新的挑战至关重要。我的研究提供了传粉昆虫飞行性能和影响它的变量的信息。了解正常代谢和能量学的基本原理，为发现环境或人为因素可能影响蜜蜂健康的变化提供了基础。

Energy metabolism is central to all biological functions. In animals, the physiology and biochemistry involved in energy metabolism is based on a conserved blueprint which is adjusted to serve different functions (e.g. among tissues) and wide-ranging performances (e.g. locomotion). I am interested in how physiological systems and biochemical pathways involved in energetics vary among individuals and how they change over evolutionary time to generate the diversity observed in animal performance. To address these questions, I study the energetics of flight in insects. Insect flight is a good model to study energy metabolism because flight performance varies widely across species and it is the most expensive activity performed by animals. In bees and wasps, the energy requirements of flight muscle cells vary several-fold across species; nevertheless, we do not know the underlying mechanisms that explain this variation. Using various approaches developed to integrate the fields of physiology and evolution, I investigate how characteristics of a species and an individual determine the energy requirements for flight. I also study how insects can adjust to conditions increasing energy demand for flight. Another major component of my work studies the cellular basis of energetics, their metabolism. Variation in cellular energy production involves adjusting metabolic pathways by changing the properties or quantities of the enzymes that form the pathways. Animals can also use different fuels to power muscles. Other properties of muscle cells are adjusted with the intensity of flight, such as cell membranes. The implications of this work are fundamental to our understanding of diversity in animal energetics and how it evolves to face new challenges. My research provides information on flight performance of pollinators and the variables affecting it. Knowing the fundamentals of normal metabolism and energetics provides the basis to detect changes due to environmental or human factors that can affect bee health.