BMC Plant Biology (2019) 19 (556) - Variation in both host defense

Xiaobin Shi, Evan L. Preisser, Baiming Liu, Huipeng Pan, Min Xiang, Wen Xie, Shaoli Wang, Qingjun Wu, Chuanyou Li, Yong Liu, Xuguo Zhou and Youjun Zhang (2019)
Variation in both host defense and prior herbivory can alter plant-vector-virus interactions
BMC Plant Biology 19 (556)
Abstract:
Background
While virus-vector-host interactions have been a major focus of both basic and applied ecological research, little is known about how different levels of plant defense interact with prior herbivory to affect these relationships. We used genetically-modified strains of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) varying in the jasmonic acid (JA) plant defense pathways to explore how plant defense and prior herbivory affects a plant virus (tomato yellow leaf curl virus, 'TYLCV'), its vector (the whitefly Bemisia tabaci MED), and the host.
Results
Virus-free MED preferred low-JA over high-JA plants and had lower fitness on high-JA plants. Viruliferous MED preferred low-JA plants but their survival was unaffected by JA levels. While virus-free MED did not lower plant JA levels, viruliferous MED decreased both JA levels and the expression of JA-related genes. Infestation by viruliferous MED reduced plant JA levels. In preference tests, neither virus-free nor viruliferous MED discriminated among JA-varying plants previously exposed to virus-free MED. However, both virus-free and viruliferous MED preferred low-JA plant genotypes when choosing between plants that had both been previously exposed to viruliferous MED. The enhanced preference for low-JA genotypes appears linked to the volatile compound neophytadiene, which was found only in whitefly-infested plants and at concentrations inversely related to plant JA levels.
Conclusions
Our findings illustrate how plant defense can interact with prior herbivory to affect both a plant virus and its whitefly vector, and confirm the induction of neophytadiene by MED. The apparent attraction of MED to neophytadiene may prove useful in pest detection and management.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Full text of article
Database assignments for author(s): Shaoli Wang, Yong Liu, Xu-Guo Zhou

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
resistance/tolerance/defence of host

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Bemisia tabaci biotype MED	Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)