Empoasca leafhoppers attack wild tobacco plants in a jasmonate-dependent manner and identify jasmonate mutants in natural populations.

ABSTRACT: Choice of host plants by phytophagous insects is essential for their survival and reproduction. This choice involves complex behavioral responses to a variety of physical and chemical characteristics of potential plants for feeding. For insects of the order Hemiptera, these behavioral responses involve a series of steps including labial dabbing and probing using their piercing mouthparts. These initial probing and feeding attempts also elicit a rapid accumulation of phytohormones, such as jasmonic acid (JA), and the induced defense metabolites they mediate. When Nicotiana attenuata plants are rendered JA deficient by silencing the initial committed step of the JA biosynthesis pathway, they are severely attacked in nature by hemipteran leafhoppers of the genus Empoasca. By producing N. atte

SUBMITTER: Kallenbach M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3386116 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature