Tobacco Trichome Terrorists

[trichcycler]

 Tasty little hairs growing on wild tobacco plants amount to “evil lollipops” that make caterpillars who eat them more likely to be eaten themselves, a researcher says.

Hawkmoth caterpillars (Manduca sexta) readily eat the hairs, reports Ian Baldwin of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany. But consuming them changes the odor of the caterpillars’ bodies and excretions, Baldwin said February 21 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In experiments, he and his colleagues observed that the odor change makes the caterpillars more likely to become lollipops themselves for ants and other predators.

“It’s a lot like eating asparagus,” Baldwin said, although the distinctive scent of after-asparagus human urine doesn’t lure predators. Hairy projections like this wild tobacco’s, called trichomes, show up in a variety of forms, explains plant pathologist Barbara Illman of the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wis. Some trichomes secrete distinctive chemicals, putting the zest into cooking herbs and the sting into nettles. “We are only beginning to understand the diverse functions of trichomes,” she says.

 

Tobacco trichomes mark a newly recognized tactic in the battle between Nicotiana attenuata plants and the caterpillars that can chew them to shreds, Baldwin said. His team has analyzed the intricate chemical signals and ecological devices deployed in this war for more than a decade. Unlike cultivated tobacco species, this wild relative employs a full range of intact defenses undiminished by farmers’ interference. “It takes a lot to be a native plant,” he said.

One way tobacco defends against grazers is by doping its leaves with potentially deadly nicotine, but hawkmoth caterpillars have developed the metabolic machinery to survive far more concentrated doses of nicotine than people can. Wild tobacco species in turn can identify a hawkmoth caterpillar by substances in the insect’s spit and when munched by a hawkmoth will shift resources from nicotine production to various other tactics of chemical warfare.

Despite these battles, hawkmoths and the wild tobacco in Baldwin’s studies share an uneasy alliance. Adult hawkmoths are deft and effective pollinators, and the plants woo them with flowers that open at night and produce a scent rich in benzyl acetone, a hawkmoth favorite. After sipping nectar, female hawkmoths may lay eggs on the plants that lead to ravenous caterpillars. Under heavy attack, tobacco plants switch to blooming during the day and stop luring in hawkmoths

[jointedone]

Kinda makes you wonder if the Native Americans that gave the English tobacco were paying them back for the blankets covered with smallpox that they purposely gave the Natives to wipe them out. Tobacco to Natives is a sacred item. They didn't go around puffin it all the time like we do. It was mostly used for ceremonial purposes.

[trichcycler]

makes me wonder of the cancer incidents in home grown tobacco use.

 

China recently painted all of our mcdonalds  childrens drinking glasses with poisonous lead paint, and filled the baby food with toxic melamine, before they sent it here. They maybe getting even for the Indians......

[jointedone]

China has been poisoning animal feed for years now. Next list I get of the dog and cat foods involved,I will post it for you guys. You won't even believe how many big fancy brands of dry food have melamine in them. The one that I know is ALWAYS on the monthly list is Old Roys,that Walmart sells. there's more than old Roy in that stuff. So look at your ingredients before you buy that very expensive specialty food for your dogs. If it starts with corn,find another kind. I don't believe this is just coincidence,it has been going on for years now.

[trichcycler]

my girls have always eaten a blend of what we grow as our own food, including fruit and veggies. We've got vac packs of past blends frozen in case of a pizza or date night. Youngest dog ever died here was 15, I feel I'm doing it right avoiding store bought food as much as possible. Its a scary nasty place out there.

 

I once was inside a "rendering" plant where I learned how road kill is separated according to quality of fat oils. the top boil off was for woman's facial make up, the bottom for dogs. I was sickened. If its sold for profit, and the fda approved it, caveat emptor

China has been poisoning animal feed for years now. Next list I get of the dog and cat foods involved,I will post it for you guys. You won't even believe how many big fancy brands of dry food have melamine in them. The one that I know is ALWAYS on the monthly list is Old Roys,that Walmart sells. there's more than old Roy in that stuff. So look at your ingredients before you buy that very expensive specialty food for your dogs. If it starts with corn,find another kind. I don't believe this is just coincidence,it has been going on for years now.

[jointedone]

Have a lot of friends that feed raw,and a lot making their own,including us. Not the raw,I wouldn't want to come into contact with salmonella. But they actually feed them raw chicken and turkey bones. Apparently,they don't splinter if they are not cooked. Our dogs also enjoy vegetables, sweet potato are a great source of fiber and vitamin E and they love it. Their diet is mostly protein,since dogs are carnivores. Just no grapes or onions. We also include steel cut oats,wild rice and brown rice. Paulie is our new pup,a black German Shepherd ,this this diet is working well for him as well as the older dogs. His coat is nice and shiny.

      Grass,don't go to the rendering plant or the killer pens. It just makes you feel worse to be a human. I went to the livestock killer pen ONCE...............and I still can see it clear as can be. What the BLM has done by slaughtering Americas Wild Horses to feed Europeans is disgusting. Sorry I went off topic. I am just so mad about the BLM. Let the predatory animals keep their numbers in balance. We screw everything up.

[trichcycler]

no worries of salmonella with fresh killed healthy chickens. that crap comes from mishandled aged raw meat. I don't feed raw to the dogs either, yep, I pick the bones for them. they love the chickens more than the bunnies. they do not like when I slaughter the hare, but could care less of the birds.....strange.

[jointedone]

I want chickens. Chick day at the tractor supply today. We like those fresh eggs. They had some pretty fancy coops too.

[trichcycler]

we keep 12 heritage chickens, some 6 yrs old for yard art and eggs. blue, white, tan, brown, and green eggs daily. I give half away for free at the end of the driveway.

we raise another 100 yearly for meat, and some for hawk food too

[pic book]

i know a weed farm disguised as a fowl grow where chickens, geese, pheasants run freely and the greenhouses were built to appear to be chicken barns.

[trichcycler]

that's pretty wild !  what do they do with their overages I wonder