Determination of the feeding history of polyphagous insect pests, such as noctuid moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a critical element in developing population and resistance management strategies for such pests. To identify reliable markers for larval host plant determination and to develop simple extraction and detection methods, a metabolomics approach was implemented after acid hydrolysis of adult moth samples. We identified a derivative from cotton metabolites as a marker in adult moths that were fed cotton tissues as a larval diet, and we propose that the marker is tricycloheliocide H₄ based on NMR and mass fragmentation analysis. Using this derivative from cotton metabolites as a marker, a targeted LC-MS/MS method reliably identified cotton as a larval diet in extracts of three noctuid moth species: Helicoverpa zea (cotton bollworm), Chloridea (Heliothis) virescens (tobacco budworm) and Chrysodeixis includens (soybean looper). We are using similar approaches to identify markers for other host plants including soybean.

确定多食性虫害（例如夜蛾）（鳞翅目：夜蛾科）的摄食历史，是发展此类害虫种群和抗性管理策略的关键因素。为了鉴定幼虫寄主植物确定的可靠标记并开发简单的提取和检测方法，在成年蛾样品经过酸水解后实施了代谢组学方法。我们确定了棉花代谢产物的衍生物作为成年蛾的标志物，成年蛾被喂食了棉组织作为幼虫饮食，并且基于NMR和质量碎片分析，我们提出该标志物是三环杀菌剂H ₄。使用这种来自棉花代谢产物的衍生物作为标记物，有针对性的LC-MS / MS方法可靠地将棉花鉴定为三种夜蛾类提取物中的幼虫饲料：Helicoverpa zea（棉铃虫），Chloridea（Heliothis）virescens（烟草芽虫）和Chrysodeixis includens（大豆套er）。我们正在使用类似的方法来识别包括大豆在内的其他寄主植物的标记。