背景回顾：Plants protect themselves with a vast array of toxic secondary metabolites, yet most plants serve as food for insects. 

提出问题：The evolutionary processes that allow herbivorous insects to resist plant defenses remain largely unknown.

研究对象：The whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a cosmopolitan, highly polyphagous agricultural pest that vectors several serious plant pathogenic viruses and is an excellent model to probe the molecular mechanisms involved in overcoming plant defenses. 

主要发现：Here, we show that, through an exceptional horizontal gene transfer event, the whitefly has acquired the plant-derived phenolic glucoside malonyltransferase gene BtPMaT1. 

结果1-基因功能：This gene enables whiteflies to neutralize phenolic glucosides.

结果2-试验验证：This was confirmed by genetically transforming tomato plants to produce small interfering RNAs that silence BtPMaT1, thus impairing the whiteflies’ detoxification ability. 

结论：These findings reveal an evolutionary scenario whereby herbivores harness the genetic toolkit of their host plants to develop resistance to plant defenses and how this can be exploited for crop protection.

 摘 要 

植物通过大量有毒的次生代谢物来保护自身，然而大多数植物仍旧是昆虫的食物。草食性昆虫抵抗植物防御的演化进程在很大程度上仍然是未知的。烟粉虱（Bemisia tabaci）是一种全球性的多食性农业害虫，携带多种植物病原病毒，是研究昆虫克服植物防御分子机制的理想模式。本文中，作者发现，烟粉虱通过一个特殊的水平基因转移事件，获得了源自于植物的酚糖丙二酰基转移酶基因BtPMaT1。该基因使得烟粉虱能够中和植物中的酚苷。作者通过向番茄植株遗传转化能够沉默BtPMaT1基因的小干扰RNA，发现其能削弱了烟粉虱的解毒能力。本文的发现揭示了一种演化场景，即草食性动物利用其宿主植物的遗传工具来发展对植物防御的抗性，以及如何利用这种特性来保护作物。

 通讯作者 

** 张友军 **