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PLANTS INTERACTING WITH OTHER ORGANISMS

Different Lepidopteran Elicitors Account for Cross-Talk in Herbivory-Induced Phytohormone Signaling^1,[W],[OA]

Department of Molecular Ecology, Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Ecology, D–07745 Jena, Germany

Salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), ethylene (ET), and their interactions mediate plant responses to pathogen and herbivore attack. JA-SA and JA-ET cross-signaling are well studied, but little is known about SA-ET cross-signaling in plant-herbivore interactions. When the specialist herbivore tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) attacks Nicotiana attenuata, rapid and transient JA and ET bursts are elicited without significantly altering wound-induced SA levels. In contrast, attack from the generalist beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua) results in comparatively lower JA and ET bursts, but amplified SA bursts. These phytohormone responses are mimicked when the species' larval oral secretions (OS_Se and OS_Ms) are added to puncture wounds. Fatty acid-amino acid conjugates elicit the JA and ET bursts, but not the SA burst. OS_Se had enhanced glucose oxidase activity (but not β-glucosidase activity), which was sufficient to elicit the SA burst and attenuate the JA and ET levels. It is known that SA antagonizes JA; glucose oxidase activity and associated hydrogen peroxide also antagonizes the ET burst. We examined the OS_Ms-elicited SA burst in plants impaired in their ability to elicit JA (antisense [as]-lox3) and ET (inverted repeat [ir]-aco) bursts and perceive ET (35s-etr1b) after fatty acid-amino acid conjugate elicitation, which revealed that both ET and JA bursts antagonize the SA burst. Treating wild-type plants with ethephone and 1-methylcyclopropane confirmed these results and demonstrated the central role of the ET burst in suppressing the OS_Ms-elicited SA burst. By suppressing the SA burst, the ET burst likely facilitates unfettered JA-mediated defense activation in response to herbivores that otherwise would elicit SA.

² Present address: Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Tower Road, Ithaca, NY 14853.

The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Ian T. Baldwin (baldwin{at}ice.mpg.de).

^[W] The online version of this article contains Web-only data.

^[OA] Open Access articles can be viewed online without a subscription.

www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.109.139550

^* Corresponding author; e-mail baldwin{at}ice.mpg.de.

Received April 11, 2009; accepted May 14, 2009; published May 20, 2009.