Secondary Metabolites in Plant-Insect Interactions: Dynamic Systems of Induced and Adaptive Responses

1999 ◽  
pp. 91-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.A. Pickett ◽  
D.W.M. Smiley ◽  
C.M. Woodcock
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1442
Author(s):  
Sukhman Singh ◽  
Ishveen Kaur ◽  
Rupesh Kariyat

There is no argument to the fact that insect herbivores cause significant losses to plant productivity in both natural and agricultural ecosystems. To counter this continuous onslaught, plants have evolved a suite of direct and indirect, constitutive and induced, chemical and physical defenses, and secondary metabolites are a key group that facilitates these defenses. Polyphenols—widely distributed in flowering plants—are the major group of such biologically active secondary metabolites. Recent advances in analytical chemistry and metabolomics have provided an opportunity to dig deep into extraction and quantification of plant-based natural products with insecticidal/insect deterrent activity, a potential sustainable pest management strategy. However, we currently lack an updated review of their multifunctional roles in insect-plant interactions, especially focusing on their insect deterrent or antifeedant properties. This review focuses on the role of polyphenols in plant-insect interactions and plant defenses including their structure, induction, regulation, and their anti-feeding and toxicity effects. Details on mechanisms underlying these interactions and localization of these compounds are discussed in the context of insect-plant interactions, current findings, and potential avenues for future research in this area.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guijian Zhang ◽  
Penghui Xu ◽  
Yaohui Wang ◽  
Shuai Cao ◽  
Xuewei Qi ◽  
...  

Abstract The adaptation of phytophagous insects to host defence is an important aspect of plant-insect interactions. The reciprocal adaptability between specialist insects and their hosts have been adequately explored; however, the mechanisms underlying the adaptation of tephritid fruit fly specialists, a group of notorious pests worldwide, to unripen host fruits remain elusive. Here, plant metabolomes and insect transcriptomes were analysed for the first time to explore the interaction between unripe citrus fruits and the Chinese citrus fly Bactrocera minax. Seventeen citrus secondary metabolites, mainly flavones, alkaloids and phenylpropanoids, were identified in the unripe citrus fruit metabolome and they accumulated during larval feeding. Three detoxification genes (1 P450 gene, 2 ABCs genes) were highly expressed in B. minax larvae collected from unripe citrus fruits compared with the ones fed on artificial diets and ripe citrus fruits. Based on omics data, a novel ABC gene was screened through plant allelopathy tests and the gene was significantly upregulated in B. minax larvae treated with defensive secondary metabolites; additionally, the mortality rate of the larvae reached 51% after silencing the ABC gene by RNAi technique. Overall, these results shed light on the mechanisms underlying the biological interactions between tephritid fruit fly specialists and host fruits.


2013 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 52 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Andrew Hayes ◽  
Helen F. Nahrung ◽  
David J. Lee

The present study examines patterns of heritability of plant secondary metabolites following hybridisation among three genetically homogeneous taxa of spotted gum (Corymbia henryi (S.T.Blake) K.D.Hill & L.A.S.Johnson, C. citriodora subsp. variegata (F.Muell.) K.D.Hill & L.A.S.Johnson and C. citriodora (Hook.) K.D.Hill & L.A.S.Johnson subsp. citriodora (section Maculatae), and their congener C. torelliana (F.Muell.) K.D. Hill & L.A.S.Johnson (section Torellianae)). Hexane extracts of leaves of all four parent taxa were statistically distinguishable (ANOSIM: global R = 0.976, P = 0.008). Hybridisation patterns varied among the taxa studied, with the hybrid formed with C. citriodora subsp. variegata showing an intermediate extractive profile between its parents, whereas the profiles of the other two hybrids were dominated by that of C. torelliana. These different patterns in plant secondary-metabolite inheritance may have implications for a range of plant–insect interactions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 723-729
Author(s):  
Roslyn Gleadow ◽  
Jim Hanan ◽  
Alan Dorin

Food security and the sustainability of native ecosystems depends on plant-insect interactions in countless ways. Recently reported rapid and immense declines in insect numbers due to climate change, the use of pesticides and herbicides, the introduction of agricultural monocultures, and the destruction of insect native habitat, are all potential contributors to this grave situation. Some researchers are working towards a future where natural insect pollinators might be replaced with free-flying robotic bees, an ecologically problematic proposal. We argue instead that creating environments that are friendly to bees and exploring the use of other species for pollination and bio-control, particularly in non-European countries, are more ecologically sound approaches. The computer simulation of insect-plant interactions is a far more measured application of technology that may assist in managing, or averting, ‘Insect Armageddon' from both practical and ethical viewpoints.


Metabolites ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 134
Author(s):  
Marília Elias Gallon ◽  
Leonardo Gobbo-Neto

Balanced nutritional intake is essential to ensure that insects undergo adequate larval development and metamorphosis. Integrative multidisciplinary approaches have contributed valuable insights regarding the ecological and evolutionary outcomes of plant–insect interactions. To address the plant metabolites involved in the larval development of a specialist insect, we investigated the development of Chlosyne lacinia caterpillars fed on Heliantheae species (Tithonia diversifolia, Tridax procumbens and Aldama robusta) leaves and determined the chemical profile of plants and insects using a metabolomic approach. By means of LC-MS and GC-MS combined analyses, 51 metabolites were putatively identified in Heliantheae species and C. lacinia caterpillars and frass; these metabolites included flavonoids, sesquiterpene lactones, monoterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids, diterpenes, triterpenes, oxygenated terpene derivatives, steroids and lipid derivatives. The leading discriminant metabolites were diterpenes, which were detected only in A. robusta leaves and insects that were fed on this plant-based diet. Additionally, caterpillars fed on A. robusta leaves took longer to complete their development to the adult phase and exhibited a greater diapause rate. Hence, we hypothesized that diterpenes may be involved in the differential larval development. Our findings shed light on the plant metabolites that play roles in insect development and metabolism, opening new research avenues for integrative studies of insect nutritional ecology.


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