Genome-Wide Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Analyses Unveiling the Defence Mechanisms of against Sucking and Chewing Insect Herbivores.

Plants and insects coevolved as an evolutionarily successful and enduring association. The molecular arms race led to evolutionary novelties regarding unique mechanisms of defence and detoxification in plants and insects. While insects adopt mechanisms to conquer host defence, trees develop well-orchestrated and species-specific defence strategies against insect herbivory. However, current knowledge on the molecular underpinnings of fine-tuned tree defence responses against different herbivore insects is still restricted. In the current study, using a multi-omics approach, we unveiled the defence response of against aphids () and spongy moths () herbivory. Comparative differential gene expression (DGE) analyses revealed that around 272 and 1203 transcripts were differentially regulated in after moth and aphid herbivory compared to uninfested controls. Interestingly, 5716 transcripts were differentially regulated in between aphids and moth infestation. Further investigation showed that defence-related stress hormones and their lipid precursors, transcription factors, and signalling molecules were over-expressed, whereas the growth-related counterparts were suppressed in after aphid and moth herbivory. Metabolomics analysis documented that around 37% of all significantly abundant metabolites were associated with biochemical pathways related to tree growth and defence. However, the metabolic profiles of aphid and moth-fed trees were quite distinct, indicating species-specific response optimization. After identifying the suitable reference genes in , the omics data were further validated using RT-qPCR. Nevertheless, our findings documented species-specific fine-tuning of the defence response of showing conservation on resource allocation for defence overgrowth under aphid and moth herbivory. Such findings can be exploited to enhance our current understanding of molecular orchestration of tree responses against herbivory and aid in developing insect pest resistance varieties.