Collaboration work with Assist. Prof. Issei Ohshima in Kyoto Prefecture Univ.

In phytophagous insects a precise combination of performance and preference traits for particular host plants is crucial for host shifting because a new host plant can be incorporated into an insect’s diet if adults accept it for oviposition and if the larvae are able to complete their development on it. However, very little is known about the genetic bases of the performance and preference. A QTL analysis of a tiny moth, Acrocercops transecta revealed that only a restricted region of a single autosome was responsible for the larval performance, suggesting that a small number of genetic changes to larval performance allowed the successful host shifting. Identification of the responsive genes is in progress.