Department of Biochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745, Jena, Germany.
Department of Zoology and Entomology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Private bag X20, Hatfield, 0028, South Africa.
Ecol Lett. 2020 Jul;23(7):1073-1084. doi: 10.1111/ele.13506. Epub 2020 Apr 19.
Plants are regularly colonised by fungi and bacteria, but plant-inhabiting microbes are rarely considered in studies on plant-herbivore interactions. Here we show that young gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) caterpillars prefer to feed on black poplar (Populus nigra) foliage infected by the rust fungus Melampsora larici-populina instead of uninfected control foliage, and selectively consume fungal spores. This consumption, also observed in a related lepidopteran species, is stimulated by the sugar alcohol mannitol, found in much higher concentration in fungal tissue and infected leaves than uninfected plant foliage. Gypsy moth larvae developed more rapidly on rust-infected leaves, which cannot be attributed to mannitol but rather to greater levels of total nitrogen, essential amino acids and B vitamins in fungal tissue and fungus-infected leaves. Herbivore consumption of fungi and other microbes may be much more widespread than commonly believed with important consequences for the ecology and evolution of plant-herbivore interactions.
植物经常被真菌和细菌定殖，但在研究植物-草食动物相互作用时，很少考虑植物栖息的微生物。在这里，我们表明，年轻的舞毒蛾（Lymantria dispar）毛虫更喜欢以被锈菌 Melampsora larici-populina 感染的黑杨树（Populus nigra）叶子为食，而不是未感染的对照叶子，并且选择性地消耗真菌孢子。这种消耗也在相关的鳞翅目物种中观察到，它受到糖醇甘露醇的刺激，在真菌组织和感染的叶子中的浓度比未感染的植物叶子高得多。舞毒蛾幼虫在感染锈病的叶子上生长得更快，这不能归因于甘露醇，而只能归因于真菌组织和真菌感染的叶子中总氮、必需氨基酸和 B 族维生素的水平更高。食草动物对真菌和其他微生物的消耗可能比普遍认为的要广泛得多，这对植物-草食动物相互作用的生态学和进化有重要影响。
