蝠蛾是冬虫夏草的寄主昆虫，栖息于青藏高原的高寒地带，对低温形成了独特的适应性，是昆虫抗寒性研究的一个极好材料。但蝠蛾饲养困难、发育期长，已有的耐寒性研究非常有限，生理生化和分子生物学领域基本是空白。我们成功建立了虫草蝠蛾的室内人工种群，解决了实验材料来源这个关键问题。本项目将围绕耐寒性这一科学问题，阐明虫草蝠蛾的耐寒性特征，结合低温处理下差减杂交所获得的差异性表达基因和代谢小分子构建的代谢网络，揭示虫草蝠蛾抗寒系统应对低温环境时的整体调节路径，并在此基础上，寻找虫草蝠蛾抗寒性适应调节的关键代谢途径和具有调节功能的重要基因和酶，验证其在虫草蝠蛾抗寒性调节中所起的作用，阐明虫草蝠蛾抗寒的生理基础和分子机制, 揭示其耐寒性的本质。这项研究将加深人们对这种具有重要价值昆虫的基础生物学的认识，为人工栽培冬虫夏草提供理论和技术支持, 并可能在抗寒机制上有新的发现，丰富和发展昆虫抗寒性的理论和应用研究。

Hepialus spp., host of Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Berk.) G.H. Sung, J.M. Sung, Hywel-Jones & Spatafora, grown at the Tibetan Plateau from an altitude above 3,000 m up to the snow line and formed specific adaptation to the cold environment, is a very good material to study cold tolerance. However, with slow growth and great difficulty in arificial rearing, the research about the cold tolerance of Hepialus spp. is very limited. We have successfully set up the laboratory population of Hepialus armoricanus Oberthür, make it possible to provide sufficient larvae for the cold tolerance study. In this project, we are going to clarify the characterization of the cold tolerance of H. armoricanus, indicate the whole regulatory pathways of H. armoricanus toward the cold pressure by combining the results of differently expressed genes from SSH study and the metabolic networks of small molecular metabolites, upon these, find and test the roles of the key metabolic pathways and also the key genes and enzymes with important regulatory function in the anti-cold system of H. armoricanus. With the illuminations of the physiological bases and molecular mechanisms of cold responding system of H. armoricanus, this project will improves our knowledge toward the basic biology of this high economic value insect, provide theoretical and technical support to the artificial rearing of Ophiocordyceps sinensis. Furthermore, it is highly possible to make some new discoveries on the cold resistance mechanism, enrich and progress the theory and application of insect cold resistance study.