Abstract:

Although bi-trophic interactions between host plants and herbivorous insects, and between herbivorous insects and baculoviruses, have been studied for more than half a century, tri-trophic interactions have only attracted interest in the last two decades. Based on reviews of both domestic and foreign literature, we here describe the eco-physiological and immune mechanisms that insects use to respond to baculovirus infection, and elucidate the mechanisms that plants use to resist the pathogenicity of baculoviruses carried by host insects. We mainly focus on three aspects: plant physical characteristics, nutrient metabolites and secondary metabolites. Finally, we take a rough glance at the future of direction of research, and the kinds of tri-trophic interactions between plants, herbivorous insects and baculoviruses, in order to provide a theoretical basis for understanding the co-existence of multi-trophic groups in the food web.

Key words: host plant, secondary metabolite, nutrient metabolite, herbivorous insect, insect baculovirus