Cascading Effects of Root Microbial Symbiosis on the Development and Metabolome of the Insect Herbivore Manduca sexta L.

ABSTRACT: Root mutualistic microbes can modulate the production of plant secondary metabolites affecting plant-herbivore interactions. Still, the main mechanisms underlying the impact of root mutualists on herbivore performance remain ambiguous. In particular, little is known about how changes in the plant metabolome induced by root mutualists affect the insect metabolome and post-larval development. By using bioassays with tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum), we analyzed the impact of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis and the growth-promoting fungus Trichoderma harzianum on the plant interaction with the specialist insect herbivore Manduca sexta. We found that root colonization by the mutualistic microbes impaired insect development, including me

SUBMITTER: Papantoniou D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8622251 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature