Oviposition induced volatiles in tomato plants

In response to attack by herbivorous insect, plants produce semiochemicals which act to attract their natural enemies. Recent work on plant volatile compounds has shown that they may play multiple roles as communication signals and defense agents. Here we measured the volatile profile of tomato plants with and without oviposition by the herbivore moth, Tuta absoluta. We used solid phase micro extraction (SPME) sample pre-concentration techniques combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. We have found that different volatile profiles emitted from tomato plants with oviposition by T. absoluta compared to control plants. Hexanal, (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol and an unidentified compound were isolated only from tomato plants with T. absoluta eggs. (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol was identified only from tomato plants with T. absoluta eggs that were laid three days earlier. The percentage of sesquiterpenes (e.g. delta-elemene) has been found to increase in the headspace of tomato plants with oviposition. These results in respect to indirect defense of tomato plants to T. absoluta are discussed. (C) 2015 Phytochemical Society of Europe. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.