| Title: | Natural or light-induced pigment accumulation in grain amaranths coincides with enhanced resistance against insect herbivory |
| Author(s): | Portillo-Nava C; Guerrero-Esperanza M; Guerrero-Rangel A; Guevara-Dominguez P; Martinez-Gallardo N; Nava-Sandoval C; Ordaz-Ortiz J; Sanchez-Segura L; Delano-Frier J; |
| Address: | "Department of Biotechnology and Biochemistry, Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Unidad Irapuato, Kilometro 9.6 Libramiento Norte Carretera Irapuato-Leon, CP, 36821, Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico. Metabolomics Laboratory, Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Unidad de Genomica Avanzada, Kilometro 9.6 Libramiento Norte Carretera Irapuato-Leon, CP, 36821, Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico. Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biologicas del Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Unidad Profesional Lazaro Cardenas, Prolongacion de Carpio y Plan de Ayala S/N,Col. Santo Tomas, CDMX, CP, 11340, Alcaldia Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico. Department of Biotechnology and Biochemistry, Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, Unidad Irapuato, Kilometro 9.6 Libramiento Norte Carretera Irapuato-Leon, CP, 36821, Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico. john.delano@cinvestav.mx" |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00425-021-03757-3 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1432-2048 (Electronic) 0032-0935 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Increased resistance to insect herbivory in grain amaranth plants is associated with increased betalain pigmentation, either naturally acquired or accumulated in response to blue-red light irradiation. Betalains are water-soluble pigments characteristic of plants of the Caryophyllales order. Their abiotic stress-induced accumulation is believed to protect against oxidative damage, while their defensive function against biotic aggressors is scarce. A previous observation of induced betalain-biosynthetic gene expression in stressed grain amaranth plants led to the proposal that these pigments play a defensive role against insect herbivory. This study provided further support for this premise. First, a comparison of 'green' and 'red' Amaranthus cruentus phenotypes showed that the latter suffered less insect herbivory damage. Coincidentally, growth and vitality of Manduca sexta larvae were more severely affected when fed on red-leafed A. cruentus plants or on an artificial diet supplemented with red-leaf pigment extracts. Second, the exposure of A. cruentus and A. caudatus plants, having contrasting pigmentation phenotypes, to light enriched in the blue and red wavelength spectra led to pigment accumulation throughout the plant and to increased resistance to insect herbivory. These events were accompanied by the induced expression of known betalain-biosynthetic genes, including uncharacterized DODA genes believed to participate in this biosynthetic pathway in a still undefined way. Finally, transient co-expression of different combinations of betalain-biosynthetic genes in Nicotiana benthamiana led to detectable accumulation of betalamic acid and betanidin. This outcome supported the participation of certain AhDODA and other genes in the grain amaranth betalain-biosynthetic pathway" |
| Keywords: | Animals *Caryophyllales *Herbivory Insecta Pigmentation Tobacco Betalain biosynthetic genes Betalains Biotic stress Grain amaranth Insect herbivory; |
| Notes: | "MedlinePortillo-Nava, Claudia Guerrero-Esperanza, Moises Guerrero-Rangel, Armando Guevara-Dominguez, Paulina Martinez-Gallardo, Norma Nava-Sandoval, Cecilia Ordaz-Ortiz, Jose Sanchez-Segura, Lino Delano-Frier, John eng 268236/consejo nacional de ciencia y tecnologia/ Germany 2021/10/21 Planta. 2021 Oct 20; 254(5):101. doi: 10.1007/s00425-021-03757-3" |
