Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 110, Issue 1, Pages 199-204Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1218606110
Keywords
plant defense; plant olfaction
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Recent work indicates that plants respond to environmental odors. For example, some parasitic plants grow toward volatile cues from their host plants, and other plants have been shown to exhibit enhanced defense capability after exposure to volatile emissions from herbivore-damaged neighbors. Despite such intriguing discoveries, we currently know relatively little about the occurrence and significance of plant responses to olfactory cues in natural systems. Here we explore the possibility that some plants may respond to the odors of insect antagonists. We report that tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima) plants exposed to the putative sex attractant of a closely associated herbivore, the gall-inducing fly Eurosta solidaginis, exhibit enhanced defense responses and reduced susceptibility to insect feeding damage. In a field study, egg-laying E. solidaginis females discriminated against plants previously exposed to the sex-specific volatile emissions of males; furthermore, overall rates of herbivory were reduced on exposed plants. Consistent with these findings, laboratory assays documented reduced performance of the specialist herbivore Trirhabda virgata on plants exposed to male fly emissions (or crude extracts), as well as enhanced induction of the key defense hormone jasmonic acid in exposed plants after herbivory. These unexpected findings from a classic ecological study system provide evidence for a previously unexplored class of plant-insect interactions involving plant responses to insect-derived olfactory cues.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available