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Chemical Defenses of Insects: A Rich Resource for Chemical Biology in the Tropics

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Chemical Biology of the Tropics

Part of the book series: Signaling and Communication in Plants ((SIGCOMM,volume 8))

Abstract

Insects make up the largest and most diverse group of organisms on earth, contributing to as much as 80–90% of the world’s biodiversity. Approximately 950,000 species of insects have been described; some estimate there are 4,000,000+ species in total. Over 70% of drugs on the market are derived from natural compounds. However, insects are one of the least explored groups in drug discovery. The world adds about 70 million people each year. In this chapter you will find: (1) an introduction to the topic of arthropod chemical biodiversity and chemical defense; (2) a brief discussion on various uses of insect chemistry by various cultures; (3) an overview of insect venoms and other chemical defense studies, with a case study on methods utilized to analyze ant venoms; (4) a short discussion on the importance of preserving tropical habitats for bioprospecting; (5) a review of research on stick insect (Order Phasmatodea) chemical defenses, stick insects as a model for biosynthesis studies and my personal experiences with the editors of this book and 2008 PASI workshop in Peru which resulted in this chapter; (6) an overview of examples from the literature of insect-derived substances with medicinally relevant biological properties such as toxins and antibiotics; (7) a brief description of the importance of studying biosynthetic pathways in insects and other organisms from whence valuable natural products are identified and (8) a list of recommended literature which I expect would be of particular interest to the readers of this chapter.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank: the editors of this book for the opportunity to attend the PASI Workshop on Tropical Chemical Biology and to contribute to this book; Dr. Michael C. Thomas (curator at the Florida State Collection of Arthropods, Department of Plant Industry, Gainesville, FL, USA) for helpful advice on locating insects discussed and pictured in his chapter; James R. Rocca [Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy (AMRIS), McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida] for many helpful conversations about chemistry and proofreading sections of this chapter; Marco Gottardo (Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Ferrara, Via De Pisis 24, 44100 Ferrara, Italy) for helpful comments on phasmid biology and taxonomy; Oskar V. Conle (Goldbachweg 24, 87538 Bolsterlang, Germany) for many helpful conversations on phasmid biology and for a very fruitful collaboration on their chemistry, and for the identification of Pseudophasma annulipes from my December 2007 Peruvian expedition; Prof. Arthur S. Edison (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA) for helpful conversations on scientific topics related to this chapter and introducing me to the editors of this book; Prof. Wilhelm Boland (Max Planck Institute in Jena, Germany) for helpful discussions on chrysomelid beetle defensive chemistry and for sending photographs of chrysomelid beetle larvae. Some of the photographs in this chapter were provided by: Rod C. Clarke and Adam Scott, BBC Natural History Unit, Nhu Nguyen (Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from Louisiana State University, currently a PhD graduate student, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA), and Dr. Michael Hoscovec (formerly at the Max Plank Institute in Jena, Germany). All photographs taken by the author (Dr. Aaron T. Dossey) were taken with a Canon PowerShot S5 IS digital camera (8 megapixel maximum resolution).

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  1. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Research Entomologist (Postdoctoral), United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 3751 SW 20th AVE, APT#1, Gainesville, FL, 32607-4301, USA

    Aaron T. Dossey

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  1. Aaron T. Dossey
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Correspondence to Aaron T. Dossey .

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  1. Center for Rhizosphere Biology, Colorado State University, Shepardson 217, Fort Collins, 80523-1173, Colorado, USA

    Jorge M. Vivanco

  2. Center for Rhizosphere Biology, Colorado State University, Shepardson 217, Fort Collins, 80523-1173, Colorado, USA

    Tiffany Weir

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Dossey, A.T. (2011). Chemical Defenses of Insects: A Rich Resource for Chemical Biology in the Tropics. In: Vivanco, J., Weir, T. (eds) Chemical Biology of the Tropics. Signaling and Communication in Plants, vol 8. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19080-3_3

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