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Published on December 28, 2007; 10.1104/pp.107.112219

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Received November 4, 2007
Accepted December 14, 2007

Parasitism by Cuscuta pentagona attenuates host plant defenses against insect herbivores

Justin B. Runyon , Mark C. Mescher , and Consuelo M. De Moraes *

Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802

* Corresponding author; email: czd10{at}psu.edu.

Considerable research has examined plant responses to concurrent attack by herbivores and pathogens, but the effects of attack by parasitic plants—another important class of plant-feeding organisms—on plant defenses against other enemies has not been explored. We investigated how attack by the parasitic plant Cuscuta pentagona impacted tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) defenses against the chewing insect Spodoptera exigua (beet armyworm, BAW). In response to insect feeding, C. pentagona-infested (parasitized) tomato plants produced only one-third of the anti-herbivore phytohormone jasmonic acid (JA) produced by unparasitized plants. Similarly, parasitized tomato, in contrast to unparasitized plants, failed to emit herbivore-induced volatiles after three days of BAW feeding. Although parasitism impaired anti-herbivore defenses, BAW growth was slower on parasitized tomato leaves. Vines of C. pentagona did not translocate JA from BAW-infested plants: amounts of JA in parasite vines grown on caterpillar-fed and control plants were similar. Parasitized plants generally contained more salicylic acid (SA), which can inhibit JA in some systems. Parasitized mutant (NahG) tomato plants deficient in SA produced more JA in response to insect feeding than parasitized wild type plants, further suggesting cross-talk between the SA and JA defense signaling pathways. However, JA induction by BAW was still reduced in parasitized compared to unparasitized NahG, implying that other factors must be involved. We found that parasitized plants were capable of producing induced volatiles when experimentally treated with JA, indicating that resource depletion by the parasite does not fully explain the observed attenuation of volatile response to herbivore feeding. Collectively, these findings show that parasitic plants can have important consequences for host plant defense against herbivores.




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 Plant Cell PhysiolHome page
G.-i. Arimura, K. Matsui, and J. Takabayashi
Chemical and Molecular Ecology of Herbivore-Induced Plant Volatiles: Proximate Factors and Their Ultimate Functions
Plant Cell Physiol., May 1, 2009; 50(5): 911 - 923.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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