US-Sweden Cooperative Research: Biochemical Studies of Pheromone Perception in Agrotis Segetum

该奖项将支持纽约州立大学石溪分校的Glenn Prestwich博士和瑞典隆德大学的两名瑞典研究人员之间的合作研究：生态中心的Christer Lofstedt教授和化学中心的Tommy Liljefors教授。该项目的目标是研究信息素检测的机制。自三十多年前第一个信息素结构发表以来，化学家和生物学家在信息素结构的阐明、工业规模的信息素合成以及信息素用于破坏交配和害虫综合防治方面取得了相当大的进展。相比之下，目前对信息素在分子水平上如何发挥作用的了解仍然非常初级。普雷斯特维奇博士和他的瑞典同事在过去几年里合作研究了芜菁飞蛾Agrotis segetum对信息素感知的化学、生物化学、生态学、行为和感觉生理学。使用石溪实验室准备的信息素，研究人员现在建议进行：1)信息素受体和结合蛋白的生化研究，2)信息素类似物的计算机模拟和电生理评估，以及3)生理活性类似物的行为测试。普雷斯特维奇博士将使用隆德大学的分子图形学程序来评估石溪分校合成的信息素类似物的构象，还将利用隆德的常规供应的小地老虎(Agrotis Segetum)幼虫和成蛾进行需要活体昆虫的生化实验。此外，他将在隆德实验室建立各种生化技术作为常规，并为瑞典小组的计算和模型测试提供新的结构。这项研究将受益于普雷斯特维奇博士及其瑞典合作者在信息素结构化学方面的互补专业知识。这项研究的结果将对信息素技术的未来应用，如害虫管理具有重要的应用价值。

This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Glenn Prestwich, State University of New York at Stony Brook and two Swedish researchers from the University of Lund, Sweden: Professor Christer Lofstedt of the Ecological Center and Professor Tommy Liljefors of the Chemical Center. The objective of the proposed project is to investigate mechanisms of pheromone detection. Chemists and biologists have developed considerable sophisti- cation in the elucidation of pheromone structures, industrial- scale pheromone synthesis, and in the use of pheromones for mating disruption and integrated pest management, since the publication of the first pheromone structure over thirty years ago. In contrast, current understanding of how pheromones work on a molecular level is still very rudimentary. Dr. Prestwich and his Swedish colleagues have worked together over the past few years on the chemistry, biochemistry, ecology, behavior and sensory physiology of pheromone perception in the turnip moth Agrotis segetum. Using pheromones prepared at Stony Brook, the investigators now propose to conduct: 1) biochemical studies of pheromone receptor and binding proteins, 2) computer simulations and electrophysiological evaluations of pheromone analogs, and 3) behavioral testing of physiologically active analogs. Dr. Prestwich will use molecular graphics programs at the University of Lund to evaluate conformations of pheromone analogs synthesized at Stony Brook, and will also use the routinely available supply of Agrotis segetum pupae and adult moths at Lund for biochemical experiments requiring live, staged insects. In addition, he will establish as routine a variety of biochemical techniques in the Lund laboratories and provide new structures for calculations and model testing by the Swedish groups. This research will benefit from the complementary expertise of Dr. Prestwich and his Swedish collaborators in the chemistry of pheromone structure. The results of this research will have important applications for future uses of pheromone technology, such as pest management.