Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 115, Issue 20, Pages 5205-5210Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1717904115
Keywords
multitrophic interactions; plant-mediated interaction network; herbivore saliva; herbivore-induced plant volatiles; parasitic wasp
Categories
Funding
- European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon research and innovation programme [677139]
- Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship within the Horizon Framework Programme [655178]
- Max Planck Gesellschaft
- Earth and Life Sciences Council of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research [844.10.005]
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Symbiotic relationships may provide organisms with key innovations that aid in the establishment of new niches. For example, during oviposition, some species of parasitoid wasps, whose larvae develop inside the bodies of other insects, inject polydnaviruses into their hosts. These symbiotic viruses disrupt host immune responses, allowing the parasitoid's progeny to survive. Here we show that symbiotic polydnaviruses also have a downside to the parasitoid's progeny by initiating a multitrophic chain of interactions that reveals the parasitoid larvae to their enemies. These enemies are hyperparasitoids that use the parasitoid progeny as host for their own offspring. We found that the virus and venom injected by the parasitoid during oviposition, but not the parasitoid progeny itself, affected hyperparasitoid attraction toward plant volatiles induced by feeding of parasitized caterpillars. We identified activity of virus-related genes in the caterpillar salivary gland. Moreover, the virus affected the activity of elicitors of salivary origin that induce plant responses to caterpillar feeding. The changes in caterpillar saliva were critical in inducing plant volatiles that are used by hyperparasitoids to locate parasitized caterpillars. Our results show that symbiotic organisms may be key drivers of multitrophic ecological interactions. We anticipate that this phenomenon is widespread in nature, because of the abundance of symbiotic microorganisms across trophic levels in ecological communities. Their role should be more prominently integrated in community ecology to understand organization of natural and managed ecosystems, as well as adaptations of individual organisms that are part of these communities.
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