Increased terpenoid accumulation in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) foliage is a general wound response.

ABSTRACT: The subepidermal pigment glands of cotton accumulate a variety of terpenoid products, including monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and terpenoid aldehydes that can act as feeding deterrents against a number of insect herbivore species. We compared the effect of herbivory by Spodoptera littoralis caterpillars, mechanical damage by a fabric pattern wheel, and the application of jasmonic acid on levels of the major representatives of the three structural classes of terpenoids in the leaf foliage of 4-week-old Gossypium hirsutum plants. Terpenoid levels increased successively from control to mechanical damage, herbivory, and jasmonic acid treatments, with E-beta-ocimene and heliocide H1 and H4 showing the highest increases, up to 15-fold. Herbivory or mechanical damage to older leaves led to terpen

SUBMITTER: Opitz S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2292484 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature