Departamento de Ingeniería Genética, CINVESTAV-Irapuato, Guanajuato, México.
Biol Lett. 2010 Dec 23;6(6):843-5. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0440. Epub 2010 Jun 16.
Plants respond to attack by herbivores or pathogens with the release of volatile organic compounds. Neighbouring plants can receive these volatiles and consecutively induce their own defence arsenal. This 'plant communication', however, appears counterintuitive when it benefits independent and genetically unrelated receivers, which may compete with the emitter. As a solution to this problem, a role for volatile compounds in within-plant signalling has been predicted. We used wild-type lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus) to quantify under field conditions the distances over which volatile signals move, and thereby determine whether these cues will mainly trigger resistance in other parts of the same plant or in independent plants. Independent receiver plants exhibited airborne resistance to herbivores or pathogens at maximum distances of 50 cm from a resistance-expressing emitter. In undisturbed clusters of lima bean, over 80 per cent of all leaves that were located around a single leaf at this distance were other leaves of the same plant, whereas this percentage dropped below 50 per cent at larger distances. Under natural conditions, resistance-inducing volatiles of lima bean move over distances at which most leaves that can receive the signal still belong to the same plant.
植物受到食草动物或病原体攻击时会释放挥发性有机化合物。邻近的植物可以接收这些挥发物，并相继诱导自身的防御武器库。然而，当这种“植物通讯”有益于独立且遗传上无关的接收者时，这似乎有违直觉，因为接收者可能与释放者竞争。为了解决这个问题，有人预测挥发性化合物在植物内部信号传递中发挥作用。我们使用野生型利马豆（Phaseolus lunatus）在田间条件下定量测量挥发性信号移动的距离，从而确定这些信号是主要在同一植物的其他部位还是在独立的植物中引发抗性。独立的接收植物在距离表达抗性的发射器 50 厘米的最大距离处表现出对食草动物或病原体的空气传播抗性。在未受干扰的利马豆簇中，距离单个叶片 50 厘米处的所有叶片中，超过 80%是同一植物的其他叶片，而在更大的距离处，这一比例下降到 50%以下。在自然条件下，利马豆诱导抗性的挥发性化合物可以在大多数可以接收信号的叶片仍属于同一植物的距离上移动。
