Dataset Information

Brevicoryne brassicae aphids interfere with transcriptome responses of Arabidopsis thaliana to feeding by Plutella xylostella caterpillars in a density-dependent manner.

ABSTRACT: Plants are commonly attacked by multiple herbivorous species. Yet, little is known about transcriptional patterns underlying plant responses to multiple insect attackers feeding simultaneously. Here, we assessed transcriptomic responses of Arabidopsis thaliana plants to simultaneous feeding by Plutella xylostella caterpillars and Brevicoryne brassicae aphids in comparison to plants infested by P. xylostella caterpillars alone, using microarray analysis. We particularly investigated how aphid feeding interferes with the transcriptomic response to P. xylostella caterpillars and whether this interference is dependent on aphid density and time since aphid attack. Various JA-responsive genes were up-regulated in response to feeding by P. xylostella caterpillars. The additional presence of aphids, both at low and high densities, clearly affected the transcriptional plant response to caterpillars. Interestingly, some important modulators of plant defense signalling, including WRKY transcription factor genes and ABA-dependent genes, were differentially induced in response to simultaneous aphid feeding at low or high density compared with responses to P. xylostella caterpillars feeding alone. Furthermore, aphids affected the P. xylostella-induced transcriptomic response in a density-dependent manner, which caused an acceleration in plant response against dual insect attack at high aphid density compared to dual insect attack at low aphid density. In conclusion, our study provides evidence that aphids influence the caterpillar-induced transcriptional response of A. thaliana in a density-dependent manner. It highlights the importance of addressing insect density to understand how plant responses to single attackers interfere with responses to other attackers and thus underlines the importance of the dynamics of transcriptional plant responses to multiple herbivory.

SUBMITTER: Kroes A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5239811 | biostudies-other | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Brevicoryne brassicae aphids interfere with transcriptome responses of Arabidopsis thaliana to feeding by Plutella xylostella caterpillars in a density-dependent manner.

Kroes Anneke A Broekgaarden Colette C Castellanos Uribe Marcos M May Sean S van Loon Joop J A JJA Dicke Marcel M

Oecologia 20161022 1

Plants are commonly attacked by multiple herbivorous species. Yet, little is known about transcriptional patterns underlying plant responses to multiple insect attackers feeding simultaneously. Here, we assessed transcriptomic responses of Arabidopsis thaliana plants to simultaneous feeding by Plutella xylostella caterpillars and Brevicoryne brassicae aphids in comparison to plants infested by P. xylostella caterpillars alone, using microarray analysis. We particularly investigated how aphid fee ...[more]

PMID: 27771762

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Project description:Population density and costs of parasite infection may condition the capacity of organisms to grow, survive and reproduce, i.e. their competitive ability. In host-parasite systems there are different competitive interactions: among uninfected hosts, among infected hosts, and between uninfected and infected hosts. Consequently, parasite infection results in a direct cost, due to parasitism itself, and in an indirect cost, due to modification of the competitive ability of the infected host. Theory predicts that host fitness reduction will be higher under the combined effects of costs of parasitism and competition than under each factor separately. However, experimental support for this prediction is scarce, and derives mostly from animal-parasite systems. We have analysed the interaction between parasite infection and plant density using the plant-parasite system of Arabidopsis thaliana and the generalist virus Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). Plants of three wild genotypes grown at different densities were infected by CMV at various prevalences, and the effects of infection on plant growth and reproduction were quantified. Results demonstrate that the combined effects of host density and parasite infection may result either in a reduction or in an increase of the competitive ability of the host. The two genotypes investing a higher proportion of resources to reproduction showed tolerance to the direct cost of infection, while the genotype investing a higher proportion of resources to growth showed tolerance to the indirect cost of infection. Our findings show that the outcome of the interaction between host density and parasitism depends on the host genotype, which determines the plasticity of life-history traits and consequently, the host capacity to develop different tolerance mechanisms to the direct or indirect costs of parasitism. These results indicate the high relevance of host density and parasitism in determining the competitive ability of a plant, and stress the need to simultaneously consider both factors to understand the selective pressures that drive host-parasite co-evolution.

Dataset Information

Brevicoryne brassicae aphids interfere with transcriptome responses of Arabidopsis thaliana to feeding by Plutella xylostella caterpillars in a density-dependent manner.

Publications

Brevicoryne brassicae aphids interfere with transcriptome responses of Arabidopsis thaliana to feeding by Plutella xylostella caterpillars in a density-dependent manner.

Similar Datasets

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