Dataset Information

Glycoalkaloid composition explains variation in slug resistance in Solanum dulcamara

ABSTRACT: In natural environments, plants have to deal with a wide range of different herbivores whose communities vary in time and space. It is believed that the chemical diversity within plant species has mainly arisen from selection pressures exerted by herbivores. So far, the effects of chemical diversity on plant resistance have mostly been assessed for arthropod herbivores. However, also gastropods, such as slugs, can cause extensive damage to plants. Here we investigate to what extent individual Solanum dulcamara plants differ in their resistance to slug herbivory and whether this variation can be explained by differences in secondary metabolites. We performed a series of preference assays using the grey field slug (Deroceras reticulatum) and S. dulcamara accessions from eight geographically distinct populations from the Netherlands. Significant and consistent variation in slug preference was found for individual accessions within and among populations. Metabolomic analyses showed that variation in steroidal glycoalkaloids (GAs) correlated with slug preference; accessions with high GA levels were consistently less damaged by slugs. One, strongly preferred, accession with particularly low GA levels contained high levels of structurally related steroidal compounds. These were conjugated with uronic acid instead of the glycoside moieties common for Solanum GAs. Our results illustrate how intraspecific variation in steroidal glycoside profiles affects resistance to slug feeding. This suggests that also slugs should be considered as important drivers in the co-evolution between plants and herbivores.

INSTRUMENT(S): maXis (Bruker)

SUBMITTER: Onno W. Calf

PROVIDER: MTBLS738 | MetaboLights | 2019-06-17

REPOSITORIES: MetaboLights

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Dataset's files

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			Action	DRS
	MTBLS738	Other
	FILES	Other
	a_MTBLS738_20180905_sl5_metabolite_profiling_mass_spectrometry.txt	Txt
	i_Investigation.txt	Txt
	m_MTBLS738_20180905_sl5_metabolite_profiling_mass_spectrometry_v2_maf.tsv	Tabular

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Publications

Glycoalkaloid composition explains variation in slug resistance in Solanum dulcamara.

Calf Onno W OW Huber Heidrun H Peters Janny L JL Weinhold Alexander A van Dam Nicole M NM

Oecologia 20180130 2

In natural environments, plants have to deal with a wide range of different herbivores whose communities vary in time and space. It is believed that the chemical diversity within plant species has mainly arisen from selection pressures exerted by herbivores. So far, the effects of chemical diversity on plant resistance have mostly been assessed for arthropod herbivores. However, also gastropods, such as slugs, can cause extensive damage to plants. Here we investigate to what extent individual So ...[more]

PMID: 29383505

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