Scientists at Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Germany revealed
how fall armyworms survive plants' defense against pests.

In North and South America, fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) cause
massive damage in maize fields. Crops like maize attach sugars to chemical
defenses known as benzoxazinoids to protect themselves from being poisoned
by their own protective agents. When an insect pest attacks the plant, the
plant enzyme detaches the sugar to deploy the active toxin. Scientists
Daniel Giddings Vass?o and colleagues discovered why this strategy does not
work against fall armyworms. They found that after the plant detaches the
sugar, the insect reattaches the sugar but in opposite stereochemical
configuration. Thus, the new configuration prevents the cleaving of the
plant enzyme and the sugar, failing to generate the toxin for defense.

The next step of the researchers is to identify the enzymes and genes
involved in the detoxification process in the fall armyworm. They will also
search for equivalent enzymes in related species.

[www.mpg.de]
[www.mpg.de]