（ 中文版 ）
The research in Chen-Zhu Wang’s laboratory focuses on physiological and molecular aspects of insect-plant interactions and chemical communications of insects. We take the advantages of a unique research model system of two sibling species of Helicoverpa (H. armigera and H. assulta). Despite their evolutionary proximity, the two species have different host ranges. H. armigera is a generalist and H. assulta a specialist. In the light of coevolution, our goal is to better understand (1) the mechanistic basis of the interactions between plants and insects and (2) the genetic basis of female sex pheromone signals and male olfactory responses.
Our ongoing projects emphasize on chemical-directed behaviors and their underlying neurobiological mechanisms in the two species, and our long-term goal is to develop novel strategies for pest control via disrupting insect recognition to particular chemical cues of their host plants and mates. These projects are currently supported by Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and National Key R&D Program of China from Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).
We systematically examine the coevolutionary interactions between Helicoverpa species and their host plants, including plant chemical defense to insects and vice versa, and expand the interacting insects and plants system to a multitrophic system with emphases on the impact by the third trophic level on other trophic levels and the mechanisms underpinning host shifts on the evolution of insect host range. We have provided the evidence for that host generalization may be an alternative evolutionary strategy apart from host specialization, which is supported by pervasive polyphagous insects like H. armigera. Moreover, for the first time, we broke through the bottleneck of interspecific hybridization between H. armigera and H. assulta, and established a unique system for genetic studies and exploring their reproductive isolation mechanisms. Our specific objectives are to: (1) identify the genetic basis of the ecological differentiation, and (2) describe the evolutionary processes by which the differentiation is formed and maintained. Besides the two closely related species, we also extend our researches to other sympatric related species such as Mythimana separata and Spodoptera frugiperda.
In recent years, we developed another system for studying plant-insect interactions, involving brassicaceous plants and its specialist feeders. Glucosinolates are a group of sulfur- and nitrogen-containing secondary substances, which co-occur with myrosinases that catalyze their degradation to yield mustard oils. It is well-known that these compounds are used as “token stimuli” by some specialist caterpillars such as the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) and the cabbage butterfly (Pieris rapae) in host-plant selection. We have discovered the gustatory receptor tuned to the plant hormone brassinolide in the diamondback moth and characterized the first gustatory receptor tuned to glucosinolates in the cabbage butterfly. We are leveraging genome editing in these caterpillars to study the function of olfactory and gustatory receptors involved in herbivory.
We have established a versatile research laboratory for insect physiological studies using molecular and behavioral approaches. We aim to debunk the olfactory and gustatory perception of moths using various state-of-the-art molecular and neurobiological techniques, including CRISPR/Cas9, transcriptome, gene cloning and expression, in situ hybridization, Xenopus expression system coupled with two-electrode voltage-clamping, Drosophila expression system coupled with single cell recording, tip recording, intracellular recording, calcium imaging, EAG, GC-EAD, and wind tunnel. Modern chemical analytical tools such as GC, HPLC, FPLC, GC-MS are also used in our researches.
In addition, Associate Professor Xue-Ying Zhang focuses on the physiological ecology of rodents, focusing on the following scientific questions: How do wild rodents adapt to extreme temperatures and extreme droughts? How does environmental stress before and after birth program physiological and behavioral phenotypes in adulthood? What is the role of gut microbes in rodent adaptation and what is the mechanism of the gut-brain axis? The objectives of these studies are to analyze the mechanism of rodents' adaptation to the environment from the perspective of individual physiology and intestinal microecology, reveal the regulatory mechanism of rodents' survival and reproduction, and provide new theories and technologies for the ecological prevention and control of grassland rodents.
Group Head: Prof. Dr. Chen-Zhu WANG
Postal Address:
The Stat Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents
Institute of Zoology，the Chinese Academy of Sciences
1 Beichen Xilu, Chaoyang District
Beijing 100101
China
Phone: (+ 86) 10 64807115 (Office); (+ 86) 10 64807080 (Lab)
Fax: (+ 86) 10 64807099
E-mail: czwang@ ioz.ac.cn
