State Key Laboratory of Ecological Pest Control for Fujian and Taiwan Crops and Fujian Province Key Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Feb 13;19(2):567. doi: 10.3390/ijms19020567.
Pollen grains are regularly used as markers to determine an insect's movement patterns or host (plant) feeding behavior, yet conventional morphology-based pollen grain analysis (or palynology) encounters a number of important limitations. In the present study, we combine conventional analytical approaches with DNA meta-barcoding to identify pollen grains attached to migrating adults of the turnip moth, (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Northeast China. More specifically, pollen grains were dislodged from 2566 long-distance migrants captured on Beihuang Island (Bohai Sea) and identified to many (plant) species level. Pollen belonged to 26 families of plants, including Fagaceae, Oleaceae, Leguminosae, Asteraceae, Pinaceae and Rosaceae, including common species such as , , , , , and . As the above plants are indigenous to southern climes, we deduce that forage on plants in those locales prior to engaging in northward spring migration. Our work validates the use of DNA-assisted approaches in lepidopteran pollination ecology research and provides unique and valuable information on the adult feeding range and geographical origin of . Our findings also enable targeted (area-wide) pest management interventions or guide the future isolation of volatile attractants.
花粉粒常被用作标记物来确定昆虫的运动模式或其取食（植物）的行为，但传统的基于形态的花粉粒分析（或孢粉学）存在一些重要的局限性。在本研究中，我们将常规分析方法与 DNA 元条形码技术相结合，鉴定了在中国东北地区迁徙成虫上附着的小菜蛾（鳞翅目：夜蛾科）的花粉粒。具体来说，我们从北隍城岛（渤海）捕获的 2566 只长距离迁徙者身上抖落花粉粒，并将其鉴定为许多（植物）种水平。花粉粒属于 26 科植物，包括壳斗科、木犀科、豆科、菊科、松科和蔷薇科，包括常见的物种，如，，，，，，。由于上述植物起源于南方气候带，我们推断小菜蛾在进行春季北移之前，会在这些地方的植物上取食。我们的工作验证了 DNA 辅助方法在鳞翅目授粉生态学研究中的应用，并为小菜蛾成虫取食范围和地理来源提供了独特而有价值的信息。我们的研究结果还可以实现针对（区域范围）的害虫管理干预，或指导未来挥发引诱剂的分离。
