| Title: | Intraspecific variation in a generalist herbivore accounts for differential induction and impact of host plant defences |
| Author(s): | Kant MR; Sabelis MW; Haring MA; Schuurink RC; |
| Address: | "Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 320, 1098 SM Amsterdam, The Netherlands. kant@science.uva.nl" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 0962-8452 (Print) 1471-2954 (Electronic) 0962-8452 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Plants and herbivores are thought to be engaged in a coevolutionary arms race: rising frequencies of plants with anti-herbivore defences exert pressure on herbivores to resist or circumvent these defences and vice versa. Owing to its frequency-dependent character, the arms race hypothesis predicts that herbivores exhibit genetic variation for traits that determine how they deal with the defences of a given host plant phenotype. Here, we show the existence of distinct variation within a single herbivore species, the spider mite Tetranychus urticae, in traits that lead to resistance or susceptibility to jasmonate (JA)-dependent defences of a host plant but also in traits responsible for induction or repression of JA defences. We characterized three distinct lines of T. urticae that differentially induced JA-related defence genes and metabolites while feeding on tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum). These lines were also differently affected by induced JA defences. The first line, which induced JA-dependent tomato defences, was susceptible to those defences; the second line also induced JA defences but was resistant to them; and the third, although susceptible to JA defences, repressed induction. We hypothesize that such intraspecific variation is common among herbivores living in environments with a diversity of plants that impose diverse selection pressure" |
| Keywords: | Animals Cyclopentanes/toxicity Drug Resistance/physiology Fertility/physiology Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry *Genetic Variation Solanum lycopersicum/*chemistry Oxylipins/toxicity Plant Growth Regulators/toxicity Species Specificity Tetranychidae/cl; |
| Notes: | "MedlineKant, Merijn R Sabelis, Maurice W Haring, Michel A Schuurink, Robert C eng Comparative Study Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2007/12/07 Proc Biol Sci. 2008 Feb 22; 275(1633):443-52. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2007.1277" |
