植物对虫害的系统获得性抗性及抗虫与抗病信号途径间的相互作用

受病原体感染后,植物会获得一种持久广泛的抗性,称为系统获得性抗性,受到昆虫侵害时也会获得类似的系统获得性抗性。植物系统抗虫与抗病信号分子不同,前者是茉莉酸(JA)、甲基茉莉酸(Me-JA)或系统素,而后者是水杨酸(SA)。SA 介导的系统抗病信号途径与 JA 等介导的系统抗虫信号途径并非完全独立,而是存在所谓的“交叉对话”,但“交叉对话”结果是相互促进还是抑制仍不清楚。植物系统抗性信号及其互作研究无疑会完善植物保护策略。

Molecular strategies of plant defense and insect counter-defense

The prediction of human population growth worldwide indicates there will be a need to substantially increase food production in order to meet the demand on food supply.This can be achieved in part by the effective management of insect pests. Since plants have co-evolved with herbivorous insects for millions of years, they have developed an array of defense genes to protect themselves against a wide variety of chewing and sucking insects.Using these naturally-occurring genes via genetic engineering represents an environmentally friendly insect pest-control measure. Insects, however, have been actively evolving adaptive mechanisms to evade natural plant defenses. Such evolved adaptability undoubtedly has helped insects during the last century to rapidly overcome a great many humanimposed management practices and agents, including chemical insecticides and genetically engineered plants. Thus, better understanding of the molecular and genetic basis of plant defense and insect counter-defense mechanisms is imperative, not only from a basic science perspective, but also for biotechnology-based pest control practice. In this review, we emphasize the recent advance and understanding of molecular strategies of attack-counterattack and defense-counter-defense between plants and their herbivores.

Physiological effects of climate warming on flowering plants and insect pollinators and potential consequences for their interactions

Growing concern about the influence of climate change on flowering plants, pollinators, and the mutualistic interac- tions between them has led to a recent surge in research. Much of this research has addressed the consequences of warming for phenological and distributional shifts. In contrast, relatively little is known about the physiological responses of plants and insect pollinators to climate warming and, in particular, how these responses might affect plant-pollinator interactions. Here, we summa- rize the direct physiological effects of temperature on flowering plants and pollinating insects to highlight ways in which plant and pollinator responses could affect floral resources for pollinators, and pollination success for plants, respectively. We also con- sider the overall effects of these responses on plant-pollinator interaction networks. Plant responses to wanning, which include altered flower, nectar, and pollen production, could modify floral resource availability and reproductive output of pollinating in- sects. Similarly, pollinator responses, such as altered foraging activity, body size, and life span, could affect patterns of pollen flow and pollination success of flowering plants. As a result, network structure could be altered as interactions are gained and lost, weakened and strengthened, even without the gain or loss of species or temporal overlap. Future research that addresses not only how plant and pollinator physiology are affected by warming but also how responses scale up to affect interactions and networks should allow us to better understand and predict the effects of climate change on this important ecosystem service .