Co-evolution of cyanogenic glucosides in Lotus plants and Zygaena larvae

Plants and insect have coevolved for the last ~400 million years. Plants produce toxic secondary metabolites like cyanogenic glucosides to defend themselves. More than 2650 plant speices accumulate cyanogenic glucosides. However, a few Arthopod families also accumulate cyanogenic glucosides, e.g. Zygaena larvae that has evolved the ability to either sequester cyanogenic glucosides from Lotus plants or, if reared on a-cyanogenic Lotus, to de novo biosynthesize cyanogenic glucosides. For further detail please read our current reviews (Bak et al 2006; Zagrobelny et al 2008).

 

Cyanogenic glucosides in the evolution of plants and insects 

 

We are presently investigating how cyanogenic glucosides are biosynthesized (Zagrobelny et al 2009), bio-activated, sequestered, and how cyanogenic glucosides are involved in fitness and nitrogen metabolism in Zygaena filipendulae (Zagrobelny et al 2007). The elucidation at the molecular level of how an insect have evolved to de novo biosynthesize the exact same natural products as is present in its food plant and how it regulates de novo biosynthesis versus sequestering will be the first example of its kind.

 

Selected references:

Bak S, Paquette SM, Morant M, Rasmussen AV, Saito S, Bjarnholt N, Zagrobelny M, Jørgensen K, Hamann T, Osmani S, Simonsen HT, Pérez RS, van Hesswijck TB, Jørgensen B, Møller BL (2006) Cyanogenic glycosides; a case study for evolution and application of cytochromes P450. Phytochemistry reviews 5: 309-329

 

Jensen NB, Zagrobelny M, Hjernø K, Olsen CE, Houghton-Larsen J, Borch J, Møller BL, Bak S (2011) Convergent evolution in biosynthesis of cyanogenic defence compounds in plants and insects. Nat. Commun. 2 (273), DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1271

 

Zagrobelny M, Bak S, Møller BL (2008) Cyanogenesis in plants and arthropods. Phytochemistry 69, 1457-1468

 

Zagrobelny M, Møller BL (2011) Cyanogenic glucosides in the biological warfare between plants and insects: the Burnet moth-Birdsfoot trefoil model system. Phytochemistry 72, 1585-1592

 

Zagrobelny M, Olsen CE, Bak S, Møller BL (2007) Intimate roles for cyanogenic glucosides in the life cycle of Zygaena filipendulae (Lepidoptera, Zygaenidae). Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 37:1189-1197

 

Zagrobelny M, Scheibye-Alsing K, Jensen NB, Møller BL, Gorodkin J, Bak S (2009) 454 pyrosequencing based transcriptome analysis of Zygaena filipendulae with focus on genes involved in biosynthesis of cyanogenic glucosides. BMC Genomics 10, doi:10.1186/1471-2164-10-574.