Molecular Systematics and Coevolution in Yucca Moths

9528072 PELLMYR了解决定寄主利用和专一性的机制是研究动植物相互作用、多样化和共同进化过程的核心。本项目将探索寄主丝兰属Tegeticula parategiticula和Prodoxus(昆虫门：鳞翅目：原丝兰科)丝兰蛾的系统发育，以检验关于寄主专一性、互惠性逆转和物种多样性模式的假说。系统发育假说将使用形态计量学和分子工具来开发。后者需要线粒体和核DNA测序，以及变性梯度凝胶电泳。这些结果将被用于检验传粉者和寄主植物之间的一对一寄主专一性、授粉行为的多次逆转、植物-昆虫系统发育的一致性、生活史变化的限制性模式以及作为合作叛逃途径的寄主转移的假设。还将对这些经典模型组中的所有属进行现代系统修订，以研究种间相互作用。这一结果将成为植物-昆虫相互作用最重要的模型系统之一的框架，并将增加我们对植物取食昆虫中寄主转移的理解。这一结果可能会立即应用于农业和应用昆虫学，因为它有助于了解害虫生物在与植物相互作用过程中如何做出反应和随时间变化。

9528072 PELLMYR Understanding the mechanisms that determine host utilization and specificity is central to the study of plant-animal interactions, diversification, and the process of coevolution. This project will explore the phylogenetic systematics of yucca moths in the genera Tegeticula Parategiticula and Prodoxus (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Prodoxidae), some of which are obligate pollinators of their host yucca plants, to test hypotheses about host specificity, reversal of mutualism, and patterns of species diversification among these moths. Phylogenetic hypotheses will be developed using morphometric and molecular tools. The latter entails mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequencing, and denaturing-gradient gel electrophoresis. The results will be used to test hypotheses of one-on-one host specificity between pollinators and their host plants, multiple reversals of pollination behavior, congruence of plant-insect phylogenies, constrained patterns of life history change, and host shifts as a path for defection in cooperation. Modern systematic revisions will also be compiled for all genera in these classical model groups for the study of interspecific interactions. The results will be a framework for one of the most important model systems of plant-insect interactions and will increase our understanding of host shifts in plant feeding insects. The results could have immediate application in agriculture and applied entomology by contributing to understanding how pest organisms respond and change over time in their interactions with plants.