| Title: | Testing phenotypic trade-offs in the chemical defence strategy of Scots pine under growth-limiting field conditions |
| Author(s): | Villari C; Faccoli M; Battisti A; Bonello P; Marini L; |
| Address: | "Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University, 201 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Rd, Columbus, OH 43210, USA Dipartimento di Agronomia Animali Alimenti Risorse Naturali e Ambiente, Universita di Padova, Agripolis, Legnaro, Padova 35020, Italy villari.2@osu.edu. Dipartimento di Agronomia Animali Alimenti Risorse Naturali e Ambiente, Universita di Padova, Agripolis, Legnaro, Padova 35020, Italy. Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University, 201 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Rd, Columbus, OH 43210, USA" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1758-4469 (Electronic) 0829-318X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Plants protect themselves from pathogens and herbivores through fine-tuned resource allocation, including trade-offs among resource investments to support constitutive and inducible defences. However, empirical research, especially concerning conifers growing under natural conditions, is still scarce. We investigated the complexity of constitutive and induced defences in a natural Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stand under growth-limiting conditions typical of alpine environments. Phenotypic trade-offs at three hierarchical levels were tested by investigating the behaviour of phenolic compounds and terpenoids of outer bark and phloem. We tested resource-derived phenotypic correlations between (i) constitutive and inducible defences vs tree ring growth, (ii) different constitutive defence metabolites and (iii) constitutive concentration and inducible variation of individual metabolites. Tree ring growth was positively correlated only with constitutive concentration of total terpenoids, and no overall phenotypic trade-offs between different constitutive defensive metabolites were found. At the lowest hierarchical level tested, i.e., at the level of relationship between constitutive and inducible variation of individual metabolites, we found that different compounds displayed different behaviours; we identified five different defensive metabolite response types, based on direction and strength of the response, regardless of tree age and growth rate. Therefore, under growth-limiting field conditions, Scots pine appears to utilize varied and complex outer bark and phloem defence chemistry, in which only part of the constitutive specialized metabolism is influenced by tree growth, and individual components do not appear to be expressed in a mutually exclusive manner in either constitutive or inducible metabolism" |
| Keywords: | Disease Resistance Herbivory Phenols/*metabolism Phloem/*chemistry Pinus sylvestris/growth & development/immunology/*physiology Plant Bark/*chemistry Plant Diseases/etiology/immunology *Plant Immunity Terpenes/*metabolism constitutive defence induced defe; |
| Notes: | "MedlineVillari, Caterina Faccoli, Massimo Battisti, Andrea Bonello, Pierluigi Marini, Lorenzo eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Canada 2014/09/07 Tree Physiol. 2014 Sep; 34(9):919-30. doi: 10.1093/treephys/tpu063. Epub 2014 Sep 6" |
