De Moraes C M, Mescher M C, Tumlinson J H
USDA-ARS, CMAVE, PO Box 14565, Gainesville, Florida 32604, USA.
Nature. 2001 Mar 29;410(6828):577-80. doi: 10.1038/35069058.
Plants respond to insect herbivory by synthesizing and releasing complex blends of volatile compounds, which provide important host-location cues for insects that are natural enemies of herbivores. The effects of these volatile blends on herbivore behaviour have been investigated to only a limited extent, in part because of the assumption that herbivore-induced volatile emissions occur mainly during the light phase of the photoperiod. Because many moths-whose larvae are some of the most important insect herbivores-are nocturnal, herbivore-induced plant volatiles have not hitherto been considered to be temporally available as host-location cues for ovipositing females. Here we present chemical and behavioural assays showing that tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum) release herbivore-induced volatiles during both night and day. Moreover, several volatile compounds are released exclusively at night and are highly repellent to female moths (Heliothis virescens). The demonstration that tobacco plants release temporally different volatile blends and that lepidopteran herbivores use induced plant signals released during the dark phase to choose sites for oviposition adds a new dimension to our understanding of the role of chemical cues in mediating tritrophic interactions.
植物通过合成并释放复杂的挥发性化合物混合物来应对昆虫的取食，这些混合物为草食性昆虫的天敌提供了重要的寄主定位线索。这些挥发性混合物对草食性昆虫行为的影响仅在有限程度上得到了研究，部分原因是人们认为草食性昆虫诱导的挥发性物质排放主要发生在光周期的光照阶段。由于许多蛾子（其幼虫是一些最重要的食草昆虫）是夜行性的，因此迄今为止，草食性昆虫诱导的植物挥发性物质尚未被认为在时间上可作为产卵雌蛾的寄主定位线索。在此，我们展示了化学和行为分析，表明烟草植株（烟草）在白天和夜晚都会释放草食性昆虫诱导的挥发性物质。此外，几种挥发性化合物仅在夜间释放，并且对雌蛾（烟芽夜蛾）具有高度驱避性。烟草植株释放时间上不同的挥发性混合物，以及鳞翅目食草昆虫利用黑暗阶段释放的诱导植物信号来选择产卵地点，这一证明为我们理解化学线索在介导三营养级相互作用中的作用增添了新的维度。
