Glutathione S-transferase of brown planthoppers (Nilaparvata lugens) is essential for their adaptation to gramine-containing host plants.

ABSTRACT: Plants have evolved complex processes to ward off attacks by insects. In parallel, insects have evolved mechanisms to thwart these plant defenses. To gain insight into mechanisms that mediate this arms race between plants and herbivorous insects, we investigated the interactions between gramine, a toxin synthesized by plants of the family Gramineae, and glutathione S transferase (GST), an enzyme found in insects that is known to detoxify xenobiotics. Here, we demonstrate that rice (Oryza sativa), a hydrophytic plant, also produces gramine and that rice resistance to brown planthoppers (Nilaparvata lugens, BPHs) is highly associated with in planta gramine content. We also show that gramine is a toxicant that causes BPH mortality in vivo and that knockdown of BPH GST gene nlgst1-1 results in

SUBMITTER: Sun XQ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3659104 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature