A team of researchers at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) reveals
that genetic lines of corn have inherent compounds called flavonoids that
serve as insecticides, protecting them from the corn earworms that feed on
them.



Corn earworm causes losses of more than 76 million bushels of corn in the
United States annually. Increasing extreme weather events and temperatures
will exacerbate the damage done to agricultural output by insect pests,
according to previously conducted studies. In findings published in the
March issue of Plant Stress, the researchers reported that corn earworm
larvae feeding on the silks, husks, and kernels of corn lines with high
levels of flavonoids - chemicals that play essential roles in many
biological processes and responses to environmental factors in plants - grow
much more slowly and many die, compared to larva feeding on corn lines
without flavonoids.



The researchers found that larvae feeding on high-flavonoid corn lines
experienced increased mortality and reduced body weight and developed
symptoms similar to a leaky gut syndrome. This suggests that changes in the
microbiome of the larval gut may be involved. To conduct their study, the
researchers compared corn earworm larvae fed genetically identical corn
strains, differing only in specific, known attributes. Some strains
expressed high flavonoid content in their silks, husks, and kernels, while
others did not. The corn used in the experiment included a line engineered
to have a gene that triggers flavonoid production and a line that was
conventionally bred to produce flavonoids.



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