| Title: | Flavonoid production in tomato mediates both direct and indirect plant defences against whiteflies in tritrophic interactions |
| Author(s): | Yang F; Shen H; Huang T; Yao Q; Hu J; Tang J; Zhang R; Tong H; Wu Q; Zhang Y; Su Q; |
| Address: | "Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Key Laboratory of Sustainable Crop Production in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River (Co-construction by Ministry and Province), Hubei Engineering Technology Center for Forewarning and Management of Agricultural and Forestry Pests, College of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China. State Key Laboratory of Vegetable Biobreeding, Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1526-4998 (Electronic) 1526-498X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "BACKGROUND: The role of plant flavonoids in direct defences against chewing and sap-sucking herbivorous insects has been extensively characterized. However, little is known about flavonoid-mediated tritrophic interactions between plants, herbivorous insects and natural enemies. In this study, we investigated how flavonoids modulate plant-insect interactions in a tritrophic system involving near-isogenic lines (NILs) of cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) with high (line NIL-purple hypocotyl [PH]) and low (line NIL-green hypocotyl [GH]) flavonoid levels, with a generalist herbivore whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) and its predatory bug (Orius sauteri). RESULTS: By contrasting levels of tomato flavonoids (direct defence) while manipulating the presence of predators (indirect defence), we found that high production of flavonoids in tomato was associated with a higher inducibility of direct defences and a stronger plant resistance to whitefly infestation and stimulated the emissions of induced volatile organic compounds, thereby increasing the attractiveness of B. tabaci-infested plants to the predator O. sauteri. Furthermore, suppression of B. tabaci population growth and enhancement of plant growth were mediated directly by the high production of flavonoids and indirectly by the attraction of O. sauteri, and the combined effects were larger than each effect individually. CONCLUSION: Our results show that high flavonoid production in tomato enhances herbivore-induced direct and indirect defences to better defend against herbivores in tritrophic interactions. Thus, the development of transgenic plants may present an opportunity to utilize the beneficial role of flavonoids in integrated pest management, while simultaneously maintaining or improving resistance against other pests and pathogens. (c) 2023 Society of Chemical Industry" |
| Keywords: | Bemisia tabaci Solanum lycopersicum biological control flavonoids integrated pest management tritrophic interactions; |
| Notes: | "PublisherYang, Fengbo Shen, Haowei Huang, Tianyu Yao, Qixi Hu, Jinyu Tang, Juan Zhang, Rong Tong, Hong Wu, Qingjun Zhang, Youjun Su, Qi eng 2022YFD1401200/National Key Research and Development Program of China/ 32172388/National Natural Science Foundation of China/ CARS-24-C-02/China Agriculture Research System/ T2022009/Outstanding Youth Science and Technology Innovation Team Project of Colleges and Universities in Hubei Province/ CAAS-ASTIP-IVFCAAS/Science and Technology Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/ England 2023/07/14 Pest Manag Sci. 2023 Jul 13. doi: 10.1002/ps.7667" |
