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Isoprene interferes with the attraction of bodyguards by herbaceous plants.

ABSTRACT: Isoprene is the most abundant volatile compound emitted by vegetation. It influences air chemistry and is part of plant defense against abiotic stresses. However, whether isoprene influences biotic interactions between plants and other organisms has not been investigated to date. Here we show a new effect of isoprene, namely its influence on interactions between plants and insects. Herbivory induces the release of plant volatiles that attract the herbivore's enemies, such as parasitic wasps, as a kind of bodyguard. We used transgenic isoprene-emitting Arabidopsis plants in behavioral, chemical, and electrophysiological studies to investigate the effects of isoprene on ecological interactions in 2 tritrophic systems. We demonstrate that isoprene is perceived by the chemoreceptors of the parasitic wasp Diadegma semiclausum and interferes with the attraction of this parasitic wasp to volatiles from herbivore-infested plants. We verified this repellent effect on D. semiclausum female wasps by adding external isoprene to the volatile blend of wild-type plants. In contrast, the antennae of the parasitic wasp Cotesia rubecula do not perceive isoprene and the behavior of this wasp was not altered by isoprene emission. In addition, the performance of the 2 examined lepidopteran herbivores (Pieris rapae and Plutella xylostella) was not affected by isoprene emission. Therefore, attraction of parasitic wasps to host-infested herbaceous plants in the neighborhood of high isoprene emitters, such as poplar or willow, may be hampered by the isoprene emission that repels plant bodyguards.

SUBMITTER: Loivamaki M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2582323 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Isoprene interferes with the attraction of bodyguards by herbaceous plants.

Loivamäki Maaria M Mumm Roland R Dicke Marcel M Schnitzler Jörg-Peter JP

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20081105 45

Isoprene is the most abundant volatile compound emitted by vegetation. It influences air chemistry and is part of plant defense against abiotic stresses. However, whether isoprene influences biotic interactions between plants and other organisms has not been investigated to date. Here we show a new effect of isoprene, namely its influence on interactions between plants and insects. Herbivory induces the release of plant volatiles that attract the herbivore's enemies, such as parasitic wasps, as ...[more]

PMID: 18987312

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Project description:Exposure to tropospheric ozone pollution impairs photosynthesis and growth in plants and this can have consequences for ecosystems. However, exposure-response research in the United States (U.S.) has historically focused on trees and crops, and less attention has been given to non-crop herbaceous species. We combined U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ozone monitoring data from the entirety of 2016 with published exposure-response relationships from controlled exposure experiments for twenty herbaceous plant species occurring in California. The U.S. Department of Agriculture PLANTS database was used to identify county-level occurrence data of these plant species. A kriged ozone exposure surface for 2016 was generated using data from monitoring stations in California and surrounding states, using Accumulated Ozone exposure over a Threshold of 40 ppb (AOT40) as an exposure metric. County-wide ozone exposure estimations were then combined with published exposure response functions for focal plants, and maps were created to estimate ozone-induced growth losses in the counties where the plants occur. Plant species had estimated annual growth losses from <1 % to >20 % based on exposure levels and sensitivity. Of the 20 species, 17 had predicted biomass loss >5 % in at least one county, emphasizing the vulnerability of herbaceous species at recent ozone concentrations. Butte, Nevada, Plumas, San Luis Obispo, and Shasta Counties, an area of about 31,652 km2, had the highest number of species (6) with >10 % estimated biomass loss, the loss threshold for European critical levels. White clover (Trifolium repens L.) was one of the most affected species with more than an estimated 10 % annual estimated growth loss over 59 % of the state. Overall, these estimated growth losses demonstrate potential for shifts in plant communities and negative effects on ecosystems. This study addresses critical policy needs for risk assessments on herbaceous species in a single year of ozone exposure.

Project description:Background and aimsSome frost-tolerant herbaceous plants droop and wilt during frost events and recover turgor and posture on thawing. It has long been known that when plant tissues freeze, extracellular ice forms. Distributions of ice and water in frost-frozen and recovered petioles of Trifolium repens and Escholschzia californica were visualized.MethodsPetioles of intact plants were cryo-fixed, planed to smooth transverse faces, and examined in a cryo-SEM.Key resultsWith frost-freezing, parenchyma tissues shrank to approx. one-third of their natural volume with marked cytorrhysis of the cells, and massive blocks of extracellular icicles grew under the epidermis (poppy) or epidermis and subepidermis (clover), leaving these layers intact but widely separated from the parenchyma except at specially structured anchorages overlying vascular bundles. On thawing, the extracellular ice was reabsorbed by the expanding parenchyma, and surface tissues again contacted the internal tissues at weak junctions (termed faults). These movements of water into and from the fault zones occurred repeatedly at each frost/thaw event, and are interpreted to explain the turgor changes that led to wilting and recovery. Ice accumulations at tri-cellular junctions with intercellular spaces distended these spaces into large cylinders, especially large in clover. Xylem vessels of frozen petioles were nearly all free of gas; in thawed petioles up to 20 % of vessels were gas-filled.ConclusionsThe occurrence of faults and anchorages may be expected to be widespread in frost-tolerant herbaceous plants, as a strategy accommodating extracellular ice deposits which prevent intracellular freezing and consequent membrane disruption, as well as preventing gross structural damage to the organs. The developmental processes that lead to this differentiation of separation of sheets of cells firmly cemented at determined regions at their edges, and their physiological consequences, will repay detailed investigation.

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Isoprene interferes with the attraction of bodyguards by herbaceous plants.

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Isoprene interferes with the attraction of bodyguards by herbaceous plants.

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