Journal
PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
Volume 10, Issue 4, Pages 435-442Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7652.2011.00680.x
Keywords
glucosinolates; diamondback moth; trap crop; pest control; genetic engineering; tobacco
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Glucosinolates are biologically active natural products characteristic of crucifers, including oilseed rape, cabbage vegetables and the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Crucifer-specialist insect herbivores, like the economically important pest Plutella xylostella (diamondback moth), frequently use glucosinolates as oviposition stimuli. This suggests that the transfer of a glucosinolate biosynthetic pathway to a non-crucifer would stimulate oviposition on an otherwise non-attractive plant. Here, we demonstrate that stable genetic transfer of the six-step benzylglucosinolate pathway from A.similar to thaliana to Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) results in the production of benzylglucosinolate without causing morphological alterations. Benzylglucosinolate-producing tobacco plants were more attractive for oviposition by female P.similar to xylostella moths than wild-type tobacco plants. As newly hatched P.similar to xylostella larvae were unable to survive on tobacco, these results represent a proof-of-concept strategy for rendering non-host plants attractive for oviposition by specialist herbivores with the long-term goal of generating efficient dead-end trap crops for agriculturally important pests.
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