Journal of Chemical Ecology (2014) 40, 484-490

Naoko Yoshinaga, Chihiro Ishikawa, Irmgard Seidl-Adams, Elizabeth Bosak, Takako Aboshi, James H. Tumlinson and Naoki Mori (2014)
N-(18-hydroxylinolenoyl)-l-glutamine: A newly discovered analog of volicitin in Manduca sexta and its elicitor activity in plants
Journal of Chemical Ecology 40 (5), 484-490
Abstract: Plants attacked by insect herbivores release a blend of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that serve as chemical cues for host location by parasitic wasps, natural enemies of the herbivores. Volicitin, N-(17-hydroxylinolenoyl)-l-glutamine, is one of the most active VOC elicitors found in herbivore regurgitants. Our previous study revealed that hydroxylation on the 17th position of the linolenic acid moiety of N-linolenoyl-l-glutamine increases by more than three times the elicitor activity in corn plants. Here, we identified N-(18-hydroxylinolenoyl)-l-glutamine (18OH-volicitin) from larval gut contents of tobacco hornworm (THW), Manduca sexta. Eggplant and tobacco, two solanaceous host plants of THW larvae, and corn, a non-host plant, responded differently to this new elicitor. Eggplant and tobacco seedlings emitted twice the amount of VOCs when 18OH-volicitin was applied to damaged leaf surfaces compared to N-linolenoyl-l-glutamine, while both these fatty acid amino acid conjugates (FACs) elicited a similar response in corn seedlings. In both solanaceous plants, there was no significant difference in the elicitor activity of 17OH- and 18OH-volicitin. Interestingly, other lepidopteran species that have 17OH-type volicitin also attack solanaceous plants. These data suggest that plants have developed herbivory-detection systems customized to their herbivorous enemies.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): James H. Tumlinson

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.
	Spodoptera litura
	Manduca sexta	Eggplant (Solanum melongena)
	Manduca sexta	Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum)