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

2 comments:

  1. 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.

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  2. I 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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