メディエイゴ

Brightly colored(1) beetles(2) or butterfly larvae(3) nibbling on(4) a plant may signal(5) the presence of chemical compounds(6) active against(7) cancer(8) cell lines(9) and tropical(10) parasitic diseases(11), according to(12) researchers(13) at Smithsonian’s Tropical Research Institute(14) in Panama. Such clues(15) could speed drug discovery(16) and provide insight(17) into the ecological(18) relationships between tropical-forest(19) plants and the insects that feed on(20) them. The report is published in the Ecological(21) Society of America’s journal Frontiers(22) in Ecology(23) and the Environment.

“These findings are incredibly(24) exciting and important,” said Todd Capson, STRI research chemist(25), who directed the project. “The results of this study could have direct and positive impacts on the future of medical treatment(26) for many diseases around the world.”

For this research scientists used plants already known to have anti-cancer(27) compounds; those proven to be active against certain disease-carrying(28) parasites(29); and plants without such activity(30). The study showed that beetles and butterfly larvae with bright warning(31) coloration(32) were significantly(33) more common on plants that contained compounds active against certain diseases, such as breast cancer(34) and malaria(35). There was no significant(36) difference in the number of plain-colored(37) insects between plants with and without activity, according to the study by the Smithsonian’s Panama International Cooperative(38) Biodiversity(39) Group Program.

“We put two and two together,” said researcher(40) Julie Helson. “We knew that brightly colored insects advertise(41) to their predators(42) that they taste bad and that some get their toxins(43) from their host plants(44). But because other insects cheat(45) by mimicking(46) the toxic(47) ones, we weren’t sure if insect color was really going to work to identify plants containing toxins―it did!”