Ecochemical interactions between Asteraceae plants and insects using ecometabolomic approach

Abstract

Interactions between plants and insects are the most common type of plant-herbivore interactions and they shape community dynamics and ecosystem evolution. Recently, metabolomics analysis associated with chemical ecology are gaining importance, highlighting the potential of ecometabolomics in the study of plant-insect interactions. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the ecochemical interactions between plants belonging to Asteraceae family and a Heliantheae specialist insect (Chlosyne lacinia). The plant species and insect metabolic fingerprintings will be obtained by Liquid Chromatograph coupled to Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) and Gas Chromatography coupled to Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), followed by multivariate statistical analysis. Data mining will be performed using supervised and unsupervised statistical analysis and the discriminant metabolites involved in the insect larval development will be identified by dereplication. Additionally, the volatile metabolites important for metamorphosis and diapause will be evaluated. Thus, we intend to study the ecochemical interactions between plants and insects using different analytical techniques, aiming to contribute with a better understanding of these interactions. (AU)