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Plant DNA detection from grasshopper guts: A step-by-step protocol, from tissue preparation to obtaining plant DNA sequences(1)
• Premise of the study: A PCR-based method of identifying ingested plant DNA in gut contents of Melanoplus grasshoppers was developed. Although previous investigations have focused on a variety of insects, there are no protocols available for plant DNA detection developed for grasshoppers, agricultu...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Botanical Society of America
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4103608/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25202604 http://dx.doi.org/10.3732/apps.1300082 |
Sumario: | • Premise of the study: A PCR-based method of identifying ingested plant DNA in gut contents of Melanoplus grasshoppers was developed. Although previous investigations have focused on a variety of insects, there are no protocols available for plant DNA detection developed for grasshoppers, agricultural pests that significantly influence plant community composition. • Methods and Results: The developed protocol successfully used the noncoding region of the chloroplast trnL (UAA) gene and was tested in several feeding experiments. Plant DNA was obtained at seven time points post-ingestion from whole guts and separate gut sections, and was detectable up to 12 h post-ingestion in nymphs and 22 h post-ingestion in adult grasshoppers. • Conclusions: The proposed protocol is an effective, relatively quick, and low-cost method of detecting plant DNA from the grasshopper gut and its different sections. This has important applications, from exploring plant “movement” during food consumption, to detecting plant–insect interactions. |
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