Interactions Between a Belowground Herbivore and Primary and Secondary Root Metabolites in Wild Cabbage.

ABSTRACT: Plants are attacked by both above- and belowground herbivores. Toxic secondary compounds are part of the chemical defense arsenal of plants against a range of antagonists, and are subject to genetic variation. Plants also produce primary metabolites (amino acids, nutrients, sugars) that function as essential compounds for growth and survival. Wild cabbage populations growing on the Dorset coast of the UK exhibit genetically different chemical defense profiles, even though they are located within a few kilometers of each other. As in other Brassicaceae, the defensive chemicals in wild cabbages constitute, among others, secondary metabolites called glucosinolates. Here, we used five Dorset populations of wild cabbage to study the effect of belowground herbivory by the cabbage root fly on pri

SUBMITTER: Van Geem M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4568014 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature