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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Plants vs. Caterpillars- Is Trypsin Inhibitor a Plant Defense Against the Larvae of the Forest Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria)?

Plants vs. Caterpillars- Is Trypsin Inhibitor a Plant Defense Against the Larvae of the Forest Tent Caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria)?

Shi, Zhe
Gélinas, Yves
Despland, Emma

Paperback

Biology

ISBN10: 3639034945
ISBN13: 9783639034943
Publisher: Blues Kids Of Amer
Published: Jun 16 2008
Pages: 88
Weight: 0.28
Height: 0.18 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Forest tent caterpillars (Malacosoma disstria) are ubiquitous defo-liating insects in North America. In Canada, trembling aspen is their favourite host tree, which can produce an inducible protein, trypsin inhibitor (TI), to inhibit trypsin, a major proteolytic enzyme in cater-pillars' midguts. To determine the digestion-inhibiting effect of TI on M. disstria, this study focused on the performance of second instar larvae with different levels of TI on both balanced and low protein diets. Both protein deficiency and higher levels of TI impaired the growth of caterpillars, but the impairing effect of TI only appeared on the caterpillars fed on balanced diet. This study confirmed the digestion-inhibiting function of TI as a defense of aspen against forest tent caterpillars. Also, it suggested that caterpillars were able to regulate their growth under severe protein deficiency, possibly as an adap-tation to this defense.

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