Testing nicotine tolerance in aphids using an artificial diet experiment.
Plants may upregulate the production of many different seconday metabolites in response to insect feeding. One of these metabolites, nicotine, is well know to have insecticidal properties. One response of tobacco plants to herbivory, or being gnawed upon by insects, is to increase the production of this neurotoxic alkaloid. Here, we will demonstrate how to set up an experiment to address this question of whether a tobacco-adapted strain of the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae, can tolerate higher levels of nicotine than the a strain of this insect that does not infest tobacco in the field.
Ramsey
John Sawyer
JS
Boyce Thomspon Institute for Plant Research, Cornell University, USA.
Jander
Georg
G
D000818:Animals; D001042:Aphids / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005526:Food, Formulated; D009538:Nicotine / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D009538:Nicotine