| Title: | Extrafloral nectar secretion from wounds of Solanum dulcamara |
| Author(s): | Lortzing T; Calf OW; Bohlke M; Schwachtje J; Kopka J; Geuss D; Kosanke S; van Dam NM; Steppuhn A; |
| Address: | "Molecular Ecology, Dahlem Centre of Plant Sciences, Institute of Biology/Freie Universitat Berlin, Haderslebener Strasse 9, 12163 Berlin, Germany. Molecular Interaction Ecology, Institute of Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Applied Metabolome Analysis, Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Muhlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam, Germany. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. Institute of Ecology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger-Strasse. 159, 07743 Jena, Germany" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2055-0278 (Electronic) 2055-0278 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Plants usually close wounds rapidly to prevent infections and the loss of valuable resources such as assimilates(1). However, herbivore-inflicted wounds on the bittersweet nightshade Solanum dulcamara appear not to close completely and produce sugary wound secretions visible as droplets. Many plants across the plant kingdom secrete sugary nectar from extrafloral nectaries(2) to attract natural enemies of herbivores for indirect defence(3,4). As ants forage on wound edges of S. dulcamara in the field, we hypothesized that wound secretions are a form of extrafloral nectar (EFN). We show that, unlike EFN from known nectaries, wound secretions are neither associated with any specific structure nor restricted to certain locations. However, similar to EFN, they are jasmonate-inducible and the plant controls their chemical composition. Wound secretions are attractive for ants, and application of wound secretion mimics increases ant attraction and reduces herbivory on S. dulcamara plants in a natural population. In greenhouse experiments, we reveal that ants can defend S. dulcamara from two of its native herbivores, slugs and flea beetle larvae. Since nectar is defined by its ecological function as a sugary secretion involved in interactions with animals(5), such 'plant bleeding' could be a primitive mode of nectar secretion exemplifying an evolutionary origin of structured extrafloral nectaries" |
| Keywords: | Animals Ants/*physiology Chemotaxis Coleoptera/growth & development *Herbivory Larva/growth & development Plant Nectar/chemistry/*metabolism *Predatory Behavior Solanum/*physiology Symbiosis; |
| Notes: | "MedlineLortzing, Tobias Calf, Onno W Bohlke, Marlene Schwachtje, Jens Kopka, Joachim Geuss, Daniel Kosanke, Susanne van Dam, Nicole M Steppuhn, Anke eng Letter Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2016/06/01 Nat Plants. 2016 Apr 25; 2(5):16056. doi: 10.1038/nplants.2016.56" |
