The next time you are in the garden, it's a good chance you are in a war zone and the plants are making preparations to do battle with their age old nemesis, the insects. Scientists are well aware that plants follow the sun during the day and that some actually 'reset' their leaves at night in preparation for sunrise the next day. As the tools of science improve, investigations into the genes that control these circadian rhythms have been found to apply to more than just the movement of leaves. Those same genes also respond when a plant is attacked by insects and scientists wondered if the plants anticipated those attacks and prepared for the event. Faculty and students at Rice University's Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, supported by the National Science Foundation, conducted a study to ascertain if some of those genes in a similar fashion prepared for insect attacks. Two test groups of plants, Arabidopsis thaliana, were put into circadian rhythms using grow lights, with one group 12 hours out of phase with the other group. Insects, Trichoplusia ni, cabbage loopers, a type of caterpillar that eats Arabidopsis were put in phase with the first group. Plants are known to produce the hormone jasmonate, which they use to regulate the production of metabolites that interfere with insect digestion. Findings indicted that plants in sync with the insects eating habits faired well while plants who's rhythms were out of sync were decimated by the insects. The research may aid in understanding why some plants do well while others fall victim to the garden munchers. It may also help in developing strategies against insects. Cool video of munchers and scientists in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9IdZb3z7Jw Jerry
Very interesting reading Jerry, thanks for this post. I hope my plants are ready for the insect battles!
Today we found out who the sneaky nosher is that is decimating a newly planted Afghan Pine(about 6month planted)Hubby was weeding along the fence line when he noticed a long line of Ants carring little green sticks, He followed them and here they were chomping off the pine needles from this little tree and taking them back to the nest. I sprinkled Comet around the tree and hope to get rid of them. I dont care if they eat other wild plants, just not my Tree.What else can I do ?
