Transforming Chemical Ecology by Enabling Measurement of Volatile Compounds in the Field

该项目将在落基山生物实验室（RMBL）安装一台气相色谱-质谱仪（GC-Mass Spec），为野外生物学家探索气味打开大门。 作为五种感官之一，嗅觉在昆虫和其他动物与植物的互动中发挥着重要作用，包括植物是否被授粉或食用。 由于人类摄入的卡路里中有三分之一来自动物授粉的植物，因此对授粉的基本了解对粮食安全至关重要。 更广泛地说，由于与免疫系统有关的原因，嗅觉影响动物如何识别亲属，选择配偶，记住事件并赋予它们情感价值。最近的突破允许使用GC-Mass Spec来检测排放到空气中的非常少量的化学物质。 目前部署的设备主要局限于人工实验室环境。 该项目将为来自美国各地的学生和科学家提供一个机会，研究化学品在自然野外环境中调解植物和动物之间关系的作用。具体的研究项目将包括探索在吸引传粉者的同时避免被吃掉的压力如何影响植物的进化，化学物质影响昆虫吃植物的方式，以及揭示昆虫开始使用植物作为食物的进化途径。 RMBL将为科学家和学生提供如何使用该设备的培训，通过我们的教育计划，接触到不同的文化群体，少数民族参与率很高。该项目将在落基山生物实验室安装最先进的岛津气相色谱-质谱仪（GC-MS）2010 Ultra，具有热解吸和传统溶剂解吸注射端口。 利用最近的技术改进，这一设备将能够在生态环境中识别植物排放的挥发性化学品。 该项目将向美国一个主要研究实地站的用户提供第一台此类仪器，并将通过在成本效益的基础上改善仪器的使用来加强科学基础设施。 除了支持来自世界各地的数十位科学家的研究外，共同研究者的黛安·坎贝尔（加州大学欧文分校）和罗伯特·拉古索（康奈尔大学）将把花卉挥发物（例如，吲哚和α-蒎烯），以研究如何相互作用与传粉者和种子捕食者影响自然选择的花卉性状组合。 艾米丽穆尼（科罗拉多大学，科罗拉多斯普林斯）和凯伦穆尼（加州大学欧文分校）将建立在过去和正在进行的研究之间的相互作用的草本宿主植物波泰，蚜虫蚜虫helianthi，其当地占主导地位的食草昆虫，捕食者和蚂蚁的攻击和保护蚜虫，分别。 作为他对食草动物进化基因组结构的研究的一部分，诺亚·怀特曼（加州大学伯克利分校）将鉴定Cardamine cordifolia的挥发物，以设计实验，使Scaptomyza nigrita苍蝇在行为试验中暴露于活性化合物。 此外，RMBL将提供化学分析培训，包括为新手提供为期一周的课程，以及为那些有GC-MS经验但没有特定型号机器的人提供课程。 我们将把这些设备用于培训多样化的科学工作人员。 超过38%的参与者在我们的研究经验本科课程是少数民族。我们预计，这些学生中的一些将学习分析色谱，扩展他们的技能超越生物学，从而提高未来的职业机会。有关落基山生物实验室的更多信息可以在rmbl.org上找到。

This project will open up the world of smell to exploration by field biologists by installing a Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer (GC-Mass Spec) at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL). As one of the five senses, smell plays a large role in how insects and other animals interact with plants, including whether a plant is pollinated or eaten. Because one-third of the calories that humans eat come from plants that are pollinated by animals, a basic understanding of pollination is important to food security. More broadly, smell, for reasons related to immune systems, affects how animals recognize relatives, choose mates, remember events and attach emotional value to them. Recent breakthroughs allow the use of a GC-Mass Spec to detect very small amounts of chemicals emitted into the air. Currently deployed equipment has primarily been confined to artificial, laboratory settings. This project will provide students and scientists from across the United States an opportunity to study the role of chemicals in mediating the relationships between plants and animals in a natural, field setting. Specific research projects will include exploring how the simultaneous pressures of avoiding being eaten while attracting pollinators affect the evolution of plants, the manner in which chemicals affect where insects eat plants, as well as shed light into the evolutionary pathways by which insects began to use plants as food. RMBL will provide training to scientists and students on how to use the equipment, reaching diverse cultural groups through our education programs, which have a high minority participation rate.This project will install a state-of-the-art Shimadzu Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) 2010 Ultra, with both thermal desorption and conventional solvent-desorption injection ports, at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. Taking advantage of recent technological improvements, this equipment will allow the identification of volatile chemicals emitted by plants in an ecological context. This project will provide the first such instrument to users at a major research field station in the US and will enhance scientific infrastructure by improving access to instrumentation on a cost effective basis. In addition to supporting research by scores of scientists from around the world, Co-PI's Diane Campbell (UC-Irvine) and Robert Raguso (Cornell) will incorporate floral volatiles (e.g., indole and á-pinene) into studies of how interactions with pollinators and seed predators influence natural selection on floral trait combinations. Emily Mooney (Univ. of CO, Colorado Springs) and Kailen Mooney (UC-Irvine) will build upon past and ongoing studies of the interactions between the herbaceous host plant Ligusticum porteri, the aphid Aphis helianthi, its locally dominant insect herbivore, and the predators and ants that attack and protect the aphid, respectively. As part of his work on the evolutionary genomic architecture underlying herbivory, Noah Whiteman (UC-Berkeley) will identify volatiles from Cardamine cordifolia in order to design experiments to expose Scaptomyza nigrita flies to active compounds in behavior trials. Additionally, RMBL will offer training in chemical analysis, including a one-week course for novices and a course for those who have experience with GC-MS but not the particular model machine. We will integrate the equipment in training of a diverse scientific workforce. More than 38% of participants in our Research Experience for Undergraduate program are minorities. We anticipate that some of these students will learn to analyze chromatograms, extending their skill sets beyond biology and thereby enhancing future career opportunities. More information about the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory can be found at rmbl.org.