A causative agent that produces a large group of grasshoppers that eat food crops is identified
4-Vinylanisole is an aggregation pheromone in locusts | Nature
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2610-4
Ordinary grasshoppers are “lonely” insects that live without forming a herd. However, grasshoppers, which are born as the “fauna fauna” during repeated generational changes, will behave in a colony manner, and will also eat plants that they have not eaten before. Furthermore, since grasshoppers in loneliness join the group of grasshoppers in group fauna, the size of the herd has grown to the level of hundreds of millions or billions. An enormous number of grasshoppers move and cause the damage of all the crops on the farmland that they pass through.
Not only do lonely and grassy grasshoppers have different habits, but they also have different body structures. A hormone called corazonin is said to be the causative agent of the phase mutation, but it was unknown why the phase mutation occurred and why it formed a huge flock.
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A research team at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , observed chemicals that could repel grasshoppers by placing them in chambers with and without chemicals. In an experiment, phenylacetonitrile , which is also used as an insecticide, was shown to be effective in repelling grasshoppers, but at the same time it was found that a substance called 4-vinylanisole (4VA) has the effect of flocking grasshoppers in the lonely phase. did.
According to the research team, as the population density of grasshoppers increases, the production of 4VA by grasshoppers increases. We also found that trapping multiple lonely grasshoppers in a single chamber and forcing them to form a swarm would also trigger a 4VA release.
The research team prepared two types of sticky boards, one of which was soaked with 4VA and the other was placed outdoors with nothing. After that, when I released grasshoppers outdoors, on average, 3 grasshoppers were attached to the board that was not soaked, whereas on average, 26 grasshoppers were attached to those who soaked 4VA. That's right. Also, even when conducting a similar experiment in an environment where other chemical substances drifted, it was said that a lot of grasshoppers were attached to the plate similarly impregnated with 4VA. In other words, 4VA was an inducer that causes grasshoppers to swarm.
In addition, the team screened receptors for the 4VA-responsive part of the grasshopper sensory organs. Then, a genome editing technology CRISPR was removing the expressed genes of 4VA receptor from grasshoppers by using a gene edited grasshopper was found also that it is no longer possible to form a herd.
By inhibiting the expression of the 4VA receptor, it was also possible to inhibit the formation of grasshopper swarms, so the research team speculated that gene editing grasshoppers may be able to cope with the swarm of grasshoppers that cause brood damage. It also suggests that by studying the structure of the receptor, it is possible to design chemicals that interfere with the acceptance of 4VA.
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