Dataset Information

Spider mites suppress tomato defenses downstream of jasmonate and salicylate independently of hormonal crosstalk.

ABSTRACT: Plants respond to herbivory by mounting a defense. Some plant-eating spider mites (Tetranychus spp.) have adapted to plant defenses to maintain a high reproductive performance. From natural populations we selected three spider mite strains from two species, Tetranychus urticae and Tetranychus evansi, that can suppress plant defenses, using a fourth defense-inducing strain as a benchmark, to assess to which extent these strains suppress defenses differently. We characterized timing and magnitude of phytohormone accumulation and defense-gene expression, and determined if mites that cannot suppress defenses benefit from sharing a leaf with suppressors. The nonsuppressor strain induced a mixture of jasmonate- (JA) and salicylate (SA)-dependent defenses. Induced defense genes separated into three groups: 'early' (expression peak at 1 d postinfestation (dpi)); 'intermediate' (4 dpi); and 'late', whose expression increased until the leaf died. The T. evansi strains suppressed genes from all three groups, but the T. urticae strain only suppressed the late ones. Suppression occurred downstream of JA and SA accumulation, independently of the JA-SA antagonism, and was powerful enough to boost the reproductive performance of nonsuppressors up to 45%. Our results show that suppressing defenses not only brings benefits but, within herbivore communities, can also generate a considerable ecological cost when promoting the population growth of a competitor.

SUBMITTER: Alba JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4301184 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Spider mites suppress tomato defenses downstream of jasmonate and salicylate independently of hormonal crosstalk.

Alba Juan M JM Schimmel Bernardus C J BC Glas Joris J JJ Ataide Livia M S LM Pappas Maria L ML Villarroel Carlos A CA Schuurink Robert C RC Sabelis Maurice W MW Kant Merijn R MR

The New phytologist 20141008 2

Plants respond to herbivory by mounting a defense. Some plant-eating spider mites (Tetranychus spp.) have adapted to plant defenses to maintain a high reproductive performance. From natural populations we selected three spider mite strains from two species, Tetranychus urticae and Tetranychus evansi, that can suppress plant defenses, using a fourth defense-inducing strain as a benchmark, to assess to which extent these strains suppress defenses differently. We characterized timing and magnitude ...[more]

PMID: 25297722

Similar Datasets

Project description:When plants detect herbivores they strengthen their defenses. As a consequence, some herbivores evolved the means to suppress these defenses. Research on induction and suppression of plant defenses usually makes use of particular life stages of herbivores. Yet many herbivorous arthropods go through development cycles in which their successive stages have different characteristics and lifestyles. Here we investigated the interaction between tomato defenses and different herbivore developmental stages using two herbivorous spider mites, i.e., Tetranychus urticae of which the adult females induce defenses and T. evansi of which the adult females suppress defenses in Solanum lycopersicum (tomato). First, we monitored egg-to-adult developmental time on tomato wild type (WT) and the mutant defenseless-1 (def-1, unable to produce jasmonate-(JA)-defenses). Then we assessed expression of salivary effector genes (effector 28, 84, SHOT2b, and SHOT3b) in the consecutive spider mite life stages as well as adult males and females. Finally, we assessed the extent to which tomato plants upregulate JA- and salicylate-(SA)-defenses in response to the consecutive mite developmental stages and to the two sexes. The consecutive juvenile mite stages did not induce JA defenses and, accordingly, egg-to-adult development on WT and def-1 did not differ for either mite species. Their eggs however appeared to suppress the SA-response. In contrast, all the consecutive feeding stages upregulated SA-defenses with the strongest induction by T. urticae larvae. Expression of effector genes was higher in the later developmental stages. Comparing expression in adult males and females revealed a striking pattern: while expression of effector 84 and SHOT3b was higher in T. urticae females than in males, this was the opposite for T. evansi. We also observed T. urticae females to upregulate tomato defenses, while T. evansi females did not. In addition, of both species also the males did not upregulate defenses. Hence, we argue that mite ontogenetic niche shifts and stage-specific composition of salivary secreted proteins probably together determine the course and efficiency of induced tomato defenses.

Dataset Information

Spider mites suppress tomato defenses downstream of jasmonate and salicylate independently of hormonal crosstalk.

Publications

Spider mites suppress tomato defenses downstream of jasmonate and salicylate independently of hormonal crosstalk.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets