Friday, December 5, 2014
Gene Repelling against Spruce Budworm
Scientists from Université Laval, the University of British Columbia and the University of Oxford were researching spruce budworms and found a natural resistance gene in white spruce. "We could say the gene we discovered produces natural insecticides in the tree foliage," said Dr. Mackay. The gene they discovered was betaglucosidase-1. They had measured expression levels up to about 24,000 genes between two tree groups. The resistant spruce trees were 1,000 times higher than non-resistant.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141121102920.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choristoneura_fumiferana
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I thought this was interesting read because it is a great find that they found a natural resistance gene in white spruce. I don't like budworms but this is interesting.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know there were some trees who had they're own insecticide. It makes me wonder about the evolution of this species that other trees don't possess. I also wonder how much of a pest budworms are in the wild.
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