Tobacco hornworm caterpillars eat tobacco plants, which contain
nicotine. Scientists identified a gene that helps the caterpillars move
nicotine in their gut to their breath. The insects’ breath is bad enough
to repel wolf spiders that normally would eat them.
Daniel Schwen / Wikimedia Commons
13 comments:
I think this is a very interesting article. I never knew that any species of caterpillars could use tobacco as a defense. I think it might somewhat work on me because I don't like the smell of smoke from cigarettes. As I read this article, I wondered how these caterpillars can actually emit the tobacco out at the predator as a defense. I researched and found that researchers found a gene in hornworm caterpillars that allows them to puff nicotine out through their spiracles (tiny holes in their sides), from the tobacco they consume, as a warning to their would-be predators. Researchers called this tactic "defensive halitosis." I think this is really interesting. I would rate this article a 10 out of 10 because of all the elaborate writing and information.
Poor caterpillars. i feel so bad for the ones that were eaten by the spiders. I also think that It is really interesting because a simple pant could save a caterpillar. I wish that I I could have hornworm, I would never have to suffer in life. Additionally, I completely agree with Erica when she said that they can emit tabaco out at their predators so that they won't get eaten. I certainly don't like the smell of tabacco, so I'd stay away from them.
I thought that this article was really interesting. It’s amazing that something that we think to be a bad thing can actually save the lives of millions of hornworms. I agree with Erica that smoke does smell really bad. However, isn’t smoking bad for you? Because nicotine is in cigarettes, isn’t it harmful for you, or in this case for the caterpillars? I looked it up, and many websites said that nicotine itself is not too harmful for you, and is only harmful if you smoke it. I also had a few more questions. The article mentioned that nicotine is really addictive. Are these caterpillars addicted to these plants because of the nicotine, or do they have some special feature that helps them be un-addicted? When I looked this up, I didn’t find a lot of information. It looks like hornworms eat many different things, so my hypothesis is mixed. On one hand, I feel like if they eat so many other things, they probably aren’t super addicted to the tobacco. However, on the other hand, how could nicotine resistance work? I’m sure that if we knew they were resistant, we would be trying to develop the technology for un-addictiveness now. Also, I know that if I don’t want to smell something, I can totally block out my sense of smell. Do these wolf spiders have that same function? If they can, it would be very beneficial to them. I looked it up, but couldn’t find much about spider’s smell. My guess is that they can’t. Human body structures are not alike to the structure of the arthropod. Well, if they could block their smell, it would be good (for them, not for the hornworms). Anyway, I thought this article was really cool and hope to find out more about it.
I found this article very interesting. Something like bad breath that we look down on in society, is something that caterpillars use to protect themselves. Similar to the caterpillars, if someone as bad breath, others try to avoid that person.
it's cool that something like bad breath could protect animals from predators. However, even though the Caterpillar are fine, this may decrease the population of wolf spider and overall mess up the food chain. Anyway, back to the article. The thing that confuses me the most is that the food was nicotine and not something else, but that's not important. What is important is that the it is a new way from otherwise helpless animals to fight for themselves. So, I was wondering what happens to them when they become butterflies and can they have too much tobacco? I mean' if tobacco is bad for humans then it could be for caterpillars. And what happens in the cocoon, would the tobacco genetically effect them when their butterflies? will they still have "the power"? Overall I thought this article was straight forward, but could be expanded on.
Rachel, I think that you wouldn't want to be a horn worm. First of all, your brain is limited, second of all, you wouldn't be living and last but not least you would still have struggles in life, just different ones.
Wow. Its so amazing that some of caterpillars predators flee because of the tobacco they eat. This is a really good adaptation for the hornworm hornworm caterpillar because they can live longer and won't be killed my the wolf spiders because of their stinky breath. It is also really cool that these caterpillars have a gene that helps them move the nicotine from the tobacco plants out of their gut so it could be puffed out in their breath. I am so amazed. I never thought they could do this sort of thing. I would give this article a 8 out of 10 because it has really interesting and informative information.
Eating tobacco plants could potentially save your life... There's a phrase you don't regularly hear. Unfortunately, this rule only applies to "hungry caterpillars", and not humans. This article was very interesting, but I felt like it lacked just a bit of information. I would of liked to know a little more about how the nicotine in the plants did not kill the caterpillars. I am also surprised how the spiders were so afraid of the smell. And also, when they eat the caterpillars, how come the nicotine in their bodies did not kill the spiders? I would like to know more about it, but unfortunately, not many people have posted articles about life-saving nicotine breath.
It's intriguing how somehow the tobacco doesn't simply kill the hornworm. You would think at first glance (or at least in my opinion) that a plant --so strong that it contains surgeon general's warnings on the tin for, reminder, HUMANS-- could be consumed and then produced and emitted as breath for a "weak" animal such as the caterpillar is dumbfounding, although it's apparently a fact!
I think it is so interesting that bad "breath" can be used as a big defense. I also didn't know that spiders could smell the nicotine. But back to the caterpillars: I did some research, and it looks like the CYP6B46 gene is responsible for the nicotine secretion. I don't know how hornworms actually make that smell, but I would like to learn more. Also, when my mom was growing tomatoes, she found a few of these little guys lurkng around her garden. But we could never smell nicotine. Is this because the smell is too faint to be sensed by the human nose? Or maybe the stench is only secreted right after they have eaten from a tobacco plant. This would make sense because we don't really live near any tobacco farms. I also wonder if some caterpillars have a larger abundance of the CYP6B46 gene depending on where they live. If a hornworm were to live where I live, it wouldn't have much tobacco to eat in its short lifespan. So do hornworms whose habitats are tobacco plants have more of this gene, therefore have stinkier breath? I would really love to learn more about this topic. I give this article a 9/10 because it didn't have all of the information i had wanted, but it still had quite a bit.
I found this article very interesting. That this bad breath (nicotine) can scare away other animals, such as the wolf spider. Usually you would think of nicotine as bad, since it's in tobacco, which is not good for you, such as in smoking. It is so amazing that this animal can eat a plant and then be practically invulnerable. But I would like to know how the caterpillar is immune to the nicotine. Also, what in the genes is making the hornworms able to have this ability, why can't others do it too? There aren't many other articles on this, but in the future, I hope there are more.
I think that article is really cool, and its a little nasty too. I think that it is really interesting that other insects flee because of bad breath! The article specifically talked about hornworms, but I was wondering if it would work with other worms to. I want to know more about this topic. I would give this article an A.
I think that this article is ve
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