No time for candy passionfruit [Passiflora edulis] plants down - regulate damage - induced extra floral nectar production in response to light signals of competition

Plant fitness is often defined by the combined effects of herbivory and competition, and plants must strike a delicate balance between their ability to capture limiting resources and defend against herbivore attack. Many plants use indirect defenses, such as volatile compounds and extrafloral nectaries [EFN], to attract canopy arthropods that are natural enemies of herbivorous organisms. While recent evidence suggests that upon perception of low red to far-red [R:FR] ratios, which signal the proximity of competitors, plants down-regulate resource allocation to direct chemical defenses, it is unknown if a similar phytochrome-mediated response occurs for indirect defenses. We evaluated the interactive effects of R:FR ratio and simulated herbivory on nectar production by EFNs of passionfruit [Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa]. The activity of petiolar EFNs dramatically increased in response to simulated herbivory and hormonal treatment with methyl jasmonate [MeJA]. Low R:FR ratios, which induced a classic "shade-avoidance" repertoire of increased stem elongation in P. edulis, strongly suppressed the EFN response triggered by simulated herbivory or MeJA application. Strikingly, the EFN response to wounding and light quality was localized to the branches that received the treatments. In vines like P. edulis, a local response would allow the plants to precisely adjust their light harvesting and defense phenotypes to the local conditions encountered by individual branches when foraging for resources in patchy canopies. Consistent with the emerging paradigm that phytochrome regulation of jasmonate signaling is a central modulator of adaptive phenotypic plasticity, our results demonstrate that light quality is a strong regulator of indirect defenses.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Izaguirre, Miriam Mercedes, Mazza, Carlos, Astigueta, María Sofía, Ciarla, Ana María, Ballaré, Carlos Luis
Format:	Texto biblioteca
Language:	eng
Subjects:	EXTRAFLORAL NECTARIES, HERBIVORY, INDIRECT DEFENSES, JASMONATE, PHYTOCHROME, CANOPY, COMPETITION [ECOLOGY], FITNESS, LIGHT QUALITY, NECTAR, PERCEPTION, PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY, PLANT, RESOURCE ALLOCATION, SIGNALING, WOUNDING, ARTHROPODA, PASSIFLORA, PASSIFLORA EDULIS, PASSIFLORA EDULIS F. FLAVICARPA,
Online Access:	http://ceiba.agro.uba.ar/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=46916
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!