Ecological and evolutionary bioprospecting: using aposemantic insects as guides to rainforest plants active against disease
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We examined Coleoptera and Lepidoptera assemblages feeding on two different groups of plants: one in which plants were active against cancer cell lines and/or protozoan parasites responsible for tropical parasitic diseases, and a second group that was inactive in the same bioassays. Aposematic species were found on nine of the ten active plant species, but on only four of the ten inactive plant species. Non-aposematic insects did not show a significant difference in their association with active versus inactive plants. Our results suggest that the presence of aposematic, herbivorous insects can be used to facilitate the identification of plants with compounds active against important human diseases.
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Helson, Julie E., Capson, Todd L., Johns, Timothy, Aiello, Annette, and Windsor, Donald M. 2009. "<a href="https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/11936">Ecological and evolutionary bioprospecting: using aposemantic insects as guides to rainforest plants active against disease</a>." <em>Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment</em>, 7, (3) 130–134. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/070189">https://doi.org/10.1890/070189</a>.