Birkett Michael A, Pickett John A
Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JQ, UK.
Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JQ, UK.
Curr Opin Plant Biol. 2014 Jun;19:59-67. doi: 10.1016/j.pbi.2014.03.009. Epub 2014 Apr 18.
Secondary plant metabolites are potentially of great value for providing robust resistance in plants against insect pests. Such metabolites often comprise small lipophilic molecules (SLMs), and can be similar also in terms of activity to currently used insecticides, for example, the pyrethroids, neonicotinoids and butenolides, which provide more effective pest management than the resistance traits exploited by breeding. Crop plants mostly lack the SLMs that provide their wild ancestors with resistance to pests. However, resistance traits based on the biosynthesis of SLMs present promising new opportunities for crop resistance to pests. Advances in genetic engineering of secondary metabolite pathways that produce insecticidal compounds and, more recently, SLMs involved in plant colonisation and development, for example, insect pheromones, offer specific new approaches but which are more demanding than the genetic engineering approaches adopted so far. In addition, nature also offers various opportunities for exploiting induction or priming for resistance metabolite generation. Thus, use of non-constitutively expressed resistance traits delivered via the seed is a more sustainable approach than previously achieved, and could underpin development of perennial arable crops protected by sentinel plant technologies.
次生植物代谢产物对于赋予植物强大的抗虫害能力具有潜在的巨大价值。这类代谢产物通常包含小的亲脂性分子（SLMs），并且在活性方面也可能与目前使用的杀虫剂相似，例如拟除虫菊酯、新烟碱类和丁烯内酯，它们比通过育种利用的抗性性状能提供更有效的害虫防治。作物大多缺乏能为其野生祖先提供抗虫性的SLMs。然而，基于SLMs生物合成的抗性性状为作物抗虫提供了有前景的新机会。在产生杀虫化合物的次生代谢途径以及最近参与植物定殖和发育的SLMs（例如昆虫信息素）的基因工程方面取得的进展提供了特定的新方法，但这些方法比迄今为止采用的基因工程方法要求更高。此外，自然界也为利用抗性代谢产物的诱导或引发提供了各种机会。因此，利用通过种子传递的非组成型表达的抗性性状是一种比以前更具可持续性的方法，并且可以为受哨兵植物技术保护的多年生作物的开发提供支持。
