Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Department of Molecular Ecology, Jena, Germany.
Plant Signal Behav. 2011 Dec;6(12):1893-6. doi: 10.4161/psb.6.12.18028.
When attacked by herbivores, plants produce toxic secondary metabolites that function as direct defenses, as well as indirect defenses that attract and reward predators of the offending herbivores. These indirect defenses include both nutritive rewards such as extra floral nectar, as well as informational rewards, such as the production and release of volatile compounds that betray the location of feeding herbivores to predators. Herbivory of Nicotiana attenuata by the tobacco hornworm (Manduca larvae) alters the volatile profiles of both the plant and larval headspace. Herbivory-elicited specific changes in the volatile profiles are detected by arthropod predators of Manduca larvae. The known predators that perceive volatile cues induced by Manduca herbivory of N. attenuata are insects that target Manduca at early developmental stages, when the larvae are still small; large, late-instar larvae may have outgrown these predation risks. However, here we offer evidence that branched chain aliphatic acids derived from the digestion of plant O-acyl sugars from trichomes may betray Manduca larvae to lizard predators during late developmental stages as well.
当受到食草动物的攻击时，植物会产生有毒的次生代谢物，作为直接防御，以及吸引和奖励食草动物的捕食者的间接防御。这些间接防御包括营养奖励，如额外的花蜜，以及信息奖励，如产生和释放挥发性化合物，这些化合物会向捕食者暴露食草动物的位置。烟草夜蛾（Manduca larvae）对烟草衰减烟（Nicotiana attenuata）的取食改变了植物和幼虫头部空间的挥发性特征。通过Manduca 幼虫的食草诱导的挥发性特征的特定变化被Manduca 幼虫的节肢动物捕食者检测到。已知的感知Manduca 取食诱导的挥发性线索的捕食者是针对 Manduca 幼虫在早期发育阶段的昆虫，此时幼虫仍然很小；大的晚期幼虫可能已经超过了这些捕食风险。然而，在这里，我们提供的证据表明，来自毛状体的植物 O-酰基糖消化产生的支链脂肪酸，可能在Manduca 幼虫发育后期也会向蜥蜴捕食者暴露Manduca 幼虫。
