Collaborative Research: Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics of P450 Genes in Desert Drosphila

9317885 Fogleman/Mcintyre 细胞色素P450基因产生酶，使昆虫能够耐受有毒化学物质，如杀虫剂和某些植物化合物。 一些植物通过制造对试图以它们为食的动物有毒的化学化合物来保护自己免受昆虫（和其他食草动物）的侵害。 细胞色素P450酶通常通过改变化学结构来解毒化合物。 因此，对P450基因的研究将为昆虫如何对杀虫剂和/或植物防御化学品产生抗性提供信息。%%% 该建议涉及使用昆虫植物模型系统。 昆虫是果蝇属的果蝇，植物是生长在美国西南部和墨西哥的索诺兰沙漠的柱状仙人掌。 已经获得了关于该模型系统的大量背景信息，包括关于果蝇的生态学和遗传学的数据以及仙人掌产生的有毒化学物质的鉴定和表征。 采用现代分子遗传学技术，本提案中包括的实验将研究P450基因如何进化以及它们如何受到调控。 更好地理解昆虫进化P450介导的抗性的机制以及P450抗性基因的遗传调控机制将代表昆虫生态遗传学和进化领域的重大进展。

9317885 Fogleman/Mcintyre Cytochrome P450 genes produce enzymes that allow insects to tolerate poisonous chemicals such as insecticides and certain plant compounds. Some plants protect themselves from insects (and other herbivores) by making chemical compounds that are toxic in the animals which try to feed on them. Cytochrome P450 enzymes detoxify chemical compounds, usually by changing their chemical structure. The study of P450 genes, therefore, will provide information as to how insects become resistant to insecticides and/or plant defensive chemicals. %%% This proposal involves the use of an insect plant model system. The insects are fruit flies of the genus Drosophila, and the plants are columnar cacti which grow in the Sonoran Desert of Southwestern United States and Mexico. A wealth of background information on this model system has already been obtained including data on the ecology and genetics of the fruit flies and identification and characterization of the toxic chemicals that the cacti produce. Employing modern techniques of molecular genetics, the experiments included in this proposal will investigate how P450 genes evolve and how they are regulated. A better understanding of the mechanisms by which insects evolve P450 mediated resistance and by which P450 resistance genes are genetically regulated would represent a major advancement in the areas of insect ecological genetics and evolution.