Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 69
Colloquium
Manc~uca sexta recognition and resistance among
allopolyploicl Nicotiana host plants
Yonggen Lou* and tan T. Baldwint
Department of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena 07745, Germany
Allopolyploid speciation occurs instantly when the genomes of
different species combine to produce self-fertile offspring and has
played a central role in the evolution of higher plants, but its
consequences for adaptive responses are unknown. We compare
herbivore-recognition and -resistance responses of the diploid
species and putative ancestral parent Nicotiana affenuata with
those of the two derived allopolyploid species Nicotiana clevelan-
dii and Nicotiana bigelovii. Manduca sexta larvae attack all three
species, and in N. affenuata attack is recognized when larval oral
secretions are introduced to wounds during feeding, resulting in a
jasmonate burst, a systemic amplification of trypsin inhibitor
accumulation, and a release of volatile organic compounds, which
function as a coordinated defense response that slows caterpillar
growth and increases the probability of their being attacked. Most
aspects of this recognition response are retained with modifica-
tions in one allotetraploid (N. bigelo vi/9 but lost in the other (M
clevelandi/~. Differences between diploid and tetraploid species
were apparent in delays (maximum 1 and 0.5 h, respectively) in the
jasmonate burst, the elicitation of trypsin inhibitors and release of
volatile organic compounds, and the constitutive levels of nicotine,
trypsin inhibitors, diterpene glycosides, rutin, and caffeoylpu-
trescine in the leaves. Resistance to M. sexta larvae attack was most
strongly associated with diterpene glycosides, which were higher
in the diploid than in the two allotetraploid species. Because M.
sexta elicitors differentially regulate a large proportion of the N.
affenuata transcriptome, we propose that these species are suited
for the study of the evolution of adaptive responses requiring
trans-activation mechanisms.
Dolyploid speciation plays a central role in the evolution of
~ plants; as much as 70% of all angiosperm species are thought
to have had polyploidization in their lineages (1~. Allopolyploid
speciation occurs instantly when the genomes of different species
combine to produce self-fertile offspring and is a common
speciation mechanism in particular taxa. Polyploid speciations
are frequently associated with adaptive radiations, with the
polyploid taxa exhibiting greater ability to survive under unfa-
vorable conditions, perhaps because of increased heterozygosity
(2~. However the rapid changes in genomic architecture that
result *om the combination of new genomes are likely to wreak
havoc with adaptations that rely on the trans-activation of many
genes.
Evidence is rapidly accumulating that plants "recognize"
attack from particular herbivore species and tailor their induced
responses accordingly, and that a large fraction of a plant's
transcriptome is involved (3-11~. However, little to nothina is
known about how these complex responses are preserved or
altered during polyploid speciation events. Some polyploids are
more resistant to herbivore and pathogen attack than are closely
related diploids (12), but in autopolyploid complexes of Heuch-
era grossulariifolia (Saxifragaceae) no clear associations of re-
sistance with ploidy levels have been found (13-15~. Conse-
quently, plant polyploidy has not yet been integrated into our
understanding of the evolution of insect-plant chemical inter-
www. peas. org. /cg i /doi / 10. 1 073/ pnas.2 13 5348 1 00
actions, although for some plant-herbivore systems, the mech-
anisms of herbivore recognition and the adaptive tailoring of
defense responses are understood in sufficient detail to compare
responses across polyploid taxa.
In the genus Nicotiana, allopolyploidy has played an important
role in speciation (16~. Nicotiana attenuata (Na), a North Amer-
ican species that has been involved in two allopolyploid specia-
tion events in the formation of two other North American
species, Nicotiana bigelovii (Nb) and Nicotiana clevelandii (Nc),
is also one of the best-studied species with regard to herbivore-
recognition mechanisms (17~. Cytologically, Na is a 12-paired
species (n = 12) and is thought to be the common ancestor
during the amphidiploid speciation of Nb and Nc (both 24-paired
species; Fig. 1), which Goodspeed (16) deduced from their close
similarity in habit, leaf, inflorescence, and trichome morphology,
and approximation of "Drosera scheme" pairing in F~ Nb x Na
and Nc x Na hybrids. The other parental line involved in the
amphiploid origin of Nb end Nc is an early 12-paired alatoid race,
which became the progenitor of the section alatue and is thought
to be extinct (16~. Goodspeed's phylogenetic hypothesis has
recently been tested with molecular techniques and found to be
consistent with the available data (18~.
Plant-herbivore interactions have been intensively investi-
gated with ecological, chemical, and molecular approaches in the
Na-Manduca sexta system (17~. From this work, it is clear that
Na recognizes feeding by the larvae of its specialist sphingid
herbivore, M. sexta, as evidenced by Manduca-induced specific
patterns of hormone signaling (JA, ethylene), secondary metab-
olite accumulation (responsible for both direct and indirect
defenses), and gene transcript accumulation. These herbivore-
induced responses are different from those induced by mechan-
ical damage or exogenous applications of methyl jasmonate
(MeJA), and are elicited by FACs in the OS of the larvae (8, 11,
19) (Fig. 1~.
We compare these herbivore recognition and resistance re-
sponses observed in the diploid species Na with those observed
in the two allopolyploid species Nc and Nb. While Na is found
throuchout the Great Basin Desert after fires in pinyon-juniper-
sage habitats and north along the Sierras into California and
Oregon, Nb is found in sandy washes along the California coast,
and Nc grows in drier habitats throughout Baja California and
This paper results from the Arthur M. Sackier Colioquium of the Nationat Academy of
Sciences, "Chemical Communication in a Post-Genomic Worid," held January 17-19, 2003,
at the Arnoid and Mabei Beckman Center of the National Academies of Science and
Engineering in Irvine, CA.
Abbreviations: Na, Nicotiana attenuate; Nb, Nicotiana bige/ovii; Nc, Nicotiana c/eve/andii;
FACs, fatty acicl-amino acid conjugates; OS, oral secretions and regurgitants; JA, jasmonate;
MeJA, methyl jasmonate; DTG, diterpene glycoside; VOCs, volatile organic compounds;
TrypPI, trypsin inhibitor.
*Present address: Institute of Applied Entomology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310029,
China.
tTo whom correspondence should be aWressed. E-maii: baidwin~ice.mpg.de.
2003 by The Nationai Academy of Sciences of the USA
PNAS 1 November 25, 2003 1 vol. 100 1 suppl. 2 1 14581-14586
OCR for page 69
| N. clevelandd | | N. bigelovii |
. .. .
n = 24\/ :~
| dowse
~_~'\,,A,Y~)
n= 12
| N. attenuate ||
A
Plant Treatment. Plants were treated with 150 ,ug of MeJA in 20
Indirect defense Al of lanolin paste (19) applied to two leaves: at nodes 0
(source-sink transition leaf) and one node older (node 1~.
Controls (lanolin) were similarly treated with 20 al of pure
lanolin. For M. sexta OS-treated plants, leaves at the same two
nodal positions per plant were damaged by rolling a fabric
pattern wheel over the leaf surface to create a standardized
mechanical wound, and 20 Al of OS "diluted 1:10 (vol/vol) with
water] from fourth-fifth instar larvae was added to the puncture
wounds on each leaf. Controls (water) were wounded and treated
with 20 al of deionized water. Unmanipulated plants (controls)
were included in each experiment.
l
Putresane ~ <3
B
Fig. 1. (A) The two tetraploid (n = 24) species Nb and Nc are thought to have
arisen from an allopolyploid speciation of an ancestral diploid (n = 12) Na that
hybridized with an extinct diploid alatoid species as proposed by Goodspeed
(16) and confirmed by Chase et al. (18). (B) Attack by Manduca sexta larvae is
recognized by Na when fatty acid-amino acid conjugates (FACs) in larval oral
secretions and regurgitants (OS) are introduced into plant wounds (W) during
feeding, resulting in signal crosstalk between jasmonate (JA)- and ethylene
(ET)-mediated pathways and the elicitation of direct [nicotine, protease in-
hibitors (Pi), and diterpene glycosides (DTGs)] and indirect [volatile organic
compounds (\/OCs)1 defenses. MJ, methyl jasmonate; PMT, putrescine N-
methyltransferase.
southern California (16~. Two decades of fieldwork has estab-
lished that M. sexta larvae are one of the three most abundant
and damaging herbivores found on Na. Much less has been
published on the herbivore communities of the two tetraploids;
however, M. sexta larvae have been found on both species in
nature (I.T.B., unpublished observations). Given that the JA
burst in response to M. sexta OS applications to mechanical
wounds is the signature of herbivore recognition that likely
organizes much of the tailoring of the defense responses, we
determine whether the three species differ in the timing and
magnitude of the JA burst. Because the JA burst occurs locally
and is not strongly influenced by leaf ontogeny (20), we measure
it in a single, standardized leaf node in all three species. In
addition to wounding, OS applications, and herbivore attack, JA
applications are also known to elicit the accumulation of herbi-
vore-induced defense metabolites in Na, such as nicotine (91~
protease inhibitors (21, 22), VOCs (19), caffeoylputrescine,
chlorogenic acid, and DTGs (23~. These defense responses
exhibit a mixture of systemic and local responses, and we
measured them in three phyllotactically adjacent leaves after
elicitation, to characterize both systemic and localized elicitation
in all three species. Because the indirect defense (VOC release)
is a whole-plant response, we measure whole-plant releases.
Exogenous application of the methyl ester of JA, MeJA, provides
a convenient and reproducible elicitor of insect resistance, and
we examine MeJA-elicited resistance to M. sexta attack.
Materials and Methods
Plant Growth. Na seeds originated from a population in Utah
(24~; Nc and Nb v. bigelovii seeds were kindly supplied by Verne
A. Sisson (Oxford Tobacco Research Station, Oxford, NC) and
originated from collections made by H. Goodspeed (16~. Seeds
were sterilized and germinated on agar (for smoke treatment of
Ata seeds see ref. 25) and after 10 days of growth, planted into
soil in Teku pots (Waalwijk, The Netherlands) and once estab-
lished, transferred to 1-liter pots in soil and grown in the
glasshouse at 26-28°C, under 16 h of light supplemented by
Philips Sun-T Agro 400- or 600-W sodium lights. Plants in the
same stage of rosette growth, 2 weeks after their transfer to
1-liter pots were used in all experiments.
14582 1 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/ 10.1 073/pnas.2 135348100
Comparison of Induced Secondary Metabolites. JA burst Thirty-six
plants of each species were selected and randomly assigned to
two treatment groups: OS (20 Al of OS) or water (20 Al of
deionized H2O) were added to the lamina of node 1 leaves
immediately after three rows of puncture wounds were created
with a fabric pattern wheel. The treated leaves were harvested at
0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 3, and 8 h after wounding and treatment, and JA
was extracted (three plants per treatment per harvest) for
analysis by GC-MS with a doubly labeled internal standard
(~1,2-~3CjJA) as described in ref. 26.
Trypsin Inhibitor (TrypPI). Plants of each species were randomly
assigned to the five treatments (three to five plants per treatment
and harvest). Leaves at nodes -1, 1, and 2 were harvested (at
1300 hours) at 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 days after treatment for the lanolin
and MeJA treatments. For OS, water, and control treatments
plants were harvested 4 days after treatment. TrypPI concen-
tration was measured as described in ref. 21 and expressed as
nmol per mg of protein.
Nonvolatile secondary metabolites. Plants of each species were
randomly assigned to MeJA, lanolin, OS, water, and control
treatments, each with three to six replicates, and harvested as
described for TrypPI measures. Leaf extracts were prepared for
analysis of nicotine, rutin, caffeoylputrescine, chlorogenic acid,
and DTGs by HPLC as described in ref. 23.
Volatiles. Sixteen plants of each species were randomly assigned
to four treatment groups (four replicates each): MeJA, lanolin,
OS, and water. Plants were individually placed in 50-liter glass
chambers, and the VOCs released were trapped on super Q
(Alltech Associates) traps for 6 h, 24 h after elicitation (the time
of maximum release after a single elicitation) and measured by
GC-MS as described in ref. 19. Germacrene A was confirmed by
mass spectra, a diagnostic thermal Cope-rearrangement to `~-el-
emene (27) and retention time of an authentic standard from a
liverwort (Frullania macrocephalum) extract (kindly supplied by
Jan-Willem de Kraker, Wageningen University, Wageningen,
The Netherlands). VOCs were expressed as percentages of peak
areas relative to the internal standard, tetralin, per 6 h of
trapping per plant.
Herbivory Experiment. Forty plants were randomly assigned to two
treatment groups: MeJA and lanolin. Freshly hatched M. sexta L.
(Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) larvae (eggs from North Carolina
State University Insectary, Raleigh) were placed individually on
the node -1 leaf of each plant that had been treated with MeJA
or pure lanolin 4 days earlier. Larval mass was measured (to 0.1
ma) on the second, fourth, and sixth day after the start of the
experiment.
Statistical Analysis. TrypPI activity and nicotine and rutin data
were log transformed, DTG and caffeoylputrescine values were
square root transformed, and chlorogenic acid values were
inversion transformed before analysis to meet requirements of
normality. Differences in JA burst, OS-induced TrypPI, and
VOCs were determined by t tests. All other data were analyzed
by multivariate ANOVA (MANOVA). If the MANOVA anal-
Lou and Baldwin
OCR for page 69
ca 1
~ of
2-
1-
oo
O'
(
2
* · os N. attenuate
~ w
~ `X
r ~ ~ ~ ~ , ,
s 6 ~ 8
N. bigelovii
i 2 3 i s
N. clevelandii
v ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
0 1 2 3 4 5
Time (h)
6 ~ 8
Fig. 2. JA concentrations (~1 SE) in Na, Nb, and Nc leaves that were wounded
with a fabric pattern wheel and the resulting puncture wounds were imme-
diately treated with 20 Al of either M. sepia 05 (a) or deionized water (W. O)
attime 0. Asterisks indicate level of significant differences between members
of a pair (*, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01).
ysis was significant (P < 0.05), univariate ANOVAs for the
individual effects and Fisher least significant difference posthoc
tests to detect significant differences between groups were
conducted. Data were analyzed with STATVIEW (SAS Institute,
Cary, NC), and the results are available in Statistical Analysis,
which is published as supporting information on the PNAS web
site, www.pnas.org.
Results
OS-Elicited JA Burst. Application of M. sexta OS to puncture
wounds in Na leaves resulted in a transient JA burst (attaining
values that were 30% higher than those of wounded and water-
treated leaves), which reached maximum values at 30 min and
waned to control levels by 90 min (Fig. 2), as previously described
(8, 28~. Surprisingly, the JA burst was significantly attenuated in
Nc, in which maximum values measured (at 1 h) were half of
those observed in Na and Nb. The JA burst observed in No,
although comparable in magnitude to that of Na, was delayed
even longer (by 1 h) than that observed in Nc (delay of 0.5 h in
comparison to that of Na). Moreover, the JA burst in Nb, in
comparison to those of Na or Nc, did not wane rapidly, and
significant differences were still found at the 8-h harvest (Fig. 2~.
TrypPI. Whereas constitutive levels of TrypPI in untreated con-
trol plants (C) did not differ among the three species, the elicited
levels did, and averaged across all elicitation treatments, Nb had
the highest TrypPI concentrations, followed by Nc, and the
lowest in Na. (Fig. 3~. OS significantly amplified wound-induced
increases of TrypPI concentrations in the treated leaf in both Na
(3.4-fold) and Nb (2.8-fold), but not in Nc (1.3-fold) (Fig. 3~. In
contrast, treatment with MeJA resulted in long-lasting (>8 days;
Fig. 8, which is published as supporting information on the PNAS
web site) significant local and systemic increases in TrypPI
activity in all three species in which the absolute increase in the
treated leaf (node 1) was always greater than the systemic
response and the systemic response in older sink leaves (node 2)
was greater than those in younger source leaves (node -1)
(Fig. 3~.
Nicotine. MeJA treatment elicited significant long-lasting in-
creases in nicotine levels in all three species, with the largest
increase observed in leaves at node -1 in Na and Nk, but in Nc
leaves, no consistent ranking was found (Figs. 9 and 10, which are
Lou and Baldwin
12 ~ tic N. attenuate
9 it w **
_ os . Hi;'
6 rS_~i ~] ~]
· 1 2
; N. bigelovii
.S
P.
30
20
10 ~
O _ At,
-
-1 1
' -1 1
Leaf node
2
N. clevelandii
.
2
Fig. 3. Mean (+ 1 SE) TrypPI concentrations of Na, Nb, and Nc leaves growing
at nodes -1, 1, and 2, 4 days after leaves at node 0 and 1 were treated with
20 Al of lanolin containing 150 ,ug of MeJA (MJ) or with 20 Al of pure lanolin
(LC), or were wounded and treated with 40 Al of M. sexta OS or 40 ,ul of
deionized water (W) or left unwounded and untreated (C). Asterisks indicate
level of significant differences between members of a treatment and control
pair(LCvs.MJandOSvs.W:*,P<0.05;**,P<001).
published as supporting information on the PNAS web site).
Quantities measured in the three species followed a pattern
similar to that observed for TrypPIs: Nh had the highest (5.7- and
2.5-fold higher than those in Na and Nc, respectively) and Nc had
intermediate values (2.3-fold higher than those of Na) as aver-
aged across the five harvests from all treatments. OS treatment
of puncture wounds did not elicit increases that were significantly
higher than those elicited by wounding and water treatments in
all three species (Fig. 9), despite the higher elicitation of JA by
OS treatment (Fig. 2~. As previously described (9, 29), the
suppression of wound-induced nicotine increases reflects an
OS-elicited ethylene burst that suppresses transcripts of the
rate-limiting enzyme in nicotine biosynthesis (putrescine N-
methyltransferase; Fig. 1~.
DTGs. DTG levels were highest in Na, intermediate in Nb, and not
detectable in Nc (Fig 4~. DTGs levels decreased with increasing
leaf age in Na but not in Nb. MeJA elicitation significantly
increased DTG levels in both Na and Nh both locally and
systemically, but the strongest elicitation was observed in the
treated leaf (Fig. 4~. Wounding and treatment with OS or water
did not elicit DTG increases in either Na or Nb.
VOCs. Six compounds dominated the headspace of MeJA- or
OS-treated plants: cis-~-ocimene, trans-,B-ocimeIle, linalool,
a-bergamotene, germacrene A, and cisjasmone. Qualitative and
quantitative differences were found among the three species.
Four compounds (not trans-13-ocimene and linalool) were found
in the headspace of Na, five (not germacrene A) in Nb, and four
(not cz-bergamotene and germacrene A) in Nc (Fig. 5~. In
general, the VOC profile composition was more similar between
the two tetraploid species than between the tetraploid and
diploid species. MeJA elicitation dramatically increased the
release of c~-bergamotene and cisjasmone but not germacrene A
and cis-,l3-ocimene in Na; cite ocimene, trans-~B-ocimene, lina-
lool, cisjasmone (which was not detectable before elicitation),
and c'-bergamotene in Nb; and cis-`B-ocimene (but not trans-,8-
ocimene), linalool, and cisjasmone in Nc. OS treatments also
increased the amounts of VOCs released in both Na and Nb, but
surprisingly, not inNc. InNa end Nit, OS treatment increased the
release of three, albeit different, VOCs: a!-bergamotene, ger-
PNAS I November25, 2003 1 vol. Too 1 suppl. 2 1 14583
OCR for page 69
8O
20
n
so
6
12
8
4
40
T T
., _ ~
o
N. attenuate r ~ c
777 w
_ as
~54 LC
~3 MJ
IV. bigelovii
Al; ~ 1~
Leaf node
Flow
2
T **
_ .—~
2
Fig. 4. Mean (+ 1 SE) DTG peak areas of Na and Nb leaves growing at nodes
-1, 1, and 2, 4 days after leaves at node O and 1 were treated with either 20
,ul of lanolin containing 150 ,ug of MeJA (MJ) or 20 ,ul of pure lanolin (LC),
wounded and treated with 40 ,ul of M. sexta OS or 40 Al of deionized water
(W), or left unwounded and untreated (C). DTGs were not detected in extracts
of Nc leaves. Asterisks indicate level of significant differences between mem-
bers of a treatment and control pair (LC vs. MJ and OS vs. W: *, P < 0.05; **,
P< 0.01).
macrene A, and cisjasmone; and cite ocimene, trans-~-
ocimene, and linalool, respectively (Fig. 5~.
Phenolics. MeJA treatment (but not OS treatment) significantly
increased caffeoylputrescine in all species, but the increases
(25.6-fold) were larger in Nc than those in Na (10.1-fold) and Nb
(2.5-fold). Elicited changes in chlorogenic acid and rutin were
complex, with both increases and decreases observed after the
different treatments (Table 1, which is published as supporting
information on the PNAS web site). Chlorogenic acid concen-
trations were significantly reduced by OS and W treatments in
Na and Nb, but in Nc, only W treatment resulted in significant
decreases. MeJA treatment significantly increased levels in older
leaves at node 2 in Na and Nc but decreased levels in Nb in all
300~
2ool
_ 100
i_
~ 800
._
600
400
200
,,~ flu
~ 60
an
an
vice w IV. attenuate
_ as
tic
~ M]
O
~ 2 3
].],~,~ *. *,
4 s 6
N. bigelovii
o—
N. clevelandii
4 s 6
Compound
Fig. S. Mean (+ 1 SE) peak areas of VOCs in the headspace of Na, Nb, and Nc
plants sampled for 6 h, starting 24 h after treatment with 20 ,ul of lanolin
containing 150 ,ug of MeJA (MJ), 20 Al of pure lanolin (LC), or wounding and
treatment with 40 Al of M. sexta OS or 40 Al of water (W) to leaves at nodes
O and 1. Numbers identify compounds: 1, cis-,B-ocimene; 2, trans-,B-ocimene; 3,
linalool; 4, cis-a-bergamotene; 5, germacrene A; and 6, cisjasmone. Asterisks
indicate level of significant differences between members of a treatment and
control pair (LC vs. MJ and OS vs. W: *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01).
14584 1 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2135348100
a3-
-
ce Q2
-
~ 0.1
ct
1 1LC
_
00 ~~ non 11 1 1
Na Nb Nc Na Nb Nc Na Nb Nc
2 4 6
Days
Fig. 6. Mean (+ 1 SE) mass of 12-20 replicate M. sexta larvae fed on individual
Na, Nb, and Nc plants, 2, 4, and 6 days after plants were treated with 20 ,u I of
lanolin containing 150 ,ug of MeJA (MJ) or 20 Al of pure lanolin (LC) to leaves
at nodes O and 1. Asterisks indicate significant differences between members
of a pair (*, P ~ 0.05).
leaves. MeJA treatment decreased rutin levels in all species but
in different leaves (at nodes - 1 in Na and Nb, but 1 in Nc). OS
treatment decreased rutin levels only in the treated leaf of Nc.
Herbivory Experiment. Weight gain was greatest when larvae fed
on Nc, followed by those fed Nb, and the least on Na (Fig. 6~. By
day 6, the masses of caterpillars fed on Na and Nb were only
23.62% and 48.75% of those feeding on Nc, respectively. Inter-
estingly, differences in larval mass between caterpillars fed on
MeJA- and lanolin-treated plants were significantly reduced only
in Nb-fed larvae at days 4 and 6, although the masses of
caterpillars fed both MeJA-treated Na and Nc plants were
consistently lower than those fed on lanolin-treated plants from
the respective species (Fig. 6~.
· .
Dlscusslon
Adaptive phenotypic responses increases the "fit" between
organisms and their environment by altering the expression of a
large number of genes in response to environmental signals.
Different stress factors, such as insect herbivores, pathogens, and
abiotic factors, elicit physiological, biochemical, and morpho-
logical changes in plants, likely as a result of crosstalk among a
large number of signal transduction pathways, which include JA,
ethylene, abscisic acid, and salicylates (301. Specific combina-
tions of signals are thought to provide "signature" sets thought
to activate an appropriate response to a specific stress. However,
little is known whether crosstalk among signaling pathways
results in adaptive responses, but work on plant-herbivore
interactions provides some of the best examples to date.
When herbivores attack plants, they cause wounding, but a
plant's response to herbivore attack in many cases cannot be
mimicked by mechanical wounding or simple JA applications,
which are thought to mediate many wound responses (30-32~.
Several different types of elicitors in the OS of herbivorous
insects have been reported to alter a plant's wound response,
including enzymatic elicitors such as {3-glucosidase (33) and
glucose oxidase (34) as well as FACs (8, 35~. Manduca larvae
contain at least 8 FACs in their OS that are necessary and
sufficient for the JA burst and VOC release (8) as well as the
amplification of TrypPIs (A. Roda, A. Steppuhn, and I.T.B.,
unpublished results) observed in Manduca-attacked Na plants.
Moreover, the two most abundant FACs in M. sexta OS are
responsible for 64% of the up-regulated (of 67) and 49% of the
down-regulated (of 78) genes that are differentially regulated
when M. sexta OS is added to plant wounds (11~. Manduca OS
is also known to elicit an ethylene burst, which reduces wound-
induced nicotine accumulation by down-regulating transcripts of
Lou and Baldwin
OCR for page 69
putrescine N-methyltransferase, which catalyzes the key regula-
tory step in nicotine biosynthesis (9, 29~.
Although much remains unknown about the functional sig-
nificance of these complex alterations, evidence is accumulating
that the herbivore-specific increases in TrypPIs and VOCs, as
well as the down-regulation of the wound-induced nicotine
production, represent adaptive tailoring of the plant's defense
response against Manduca attack. The VOC release functions as
a potent indirect defense in nature, by attracting the generalist
predator Geocoris pallens to feeding larvae (36~. This voracious
predator is size-selective, preferentially attacking eggs and lar-
vae in the first three instars (37), and the up-regulation of
TrypPIs by Manduca attack slows the growth of larvae (22),
keeping them in stages that are more vulnerable to the predator.
In addition, nicotine, which is sequestered by M. sexta larvae
through dietary intake, negatively affects the performance of the
parasitoids of M. sexta (38) and hence is coopted for the defense
of the herbivore. Hence when Na is attacked by this nicotine-
tolerant herbivore, it will likely realize a fitness benefit by the
coordinated up-regulation of the predator-attracting VOC re-
lease and the amplification of wound-induced TrypPI produc-
tion, while suppressing wound-induced nicotine production. A
recently discovered natural mutant of Na that lacks the ability to
produce TrypPls is also deficient in herbivore-induced VOC
release (22~. Moreover, nicotine production is costly, requiring
8% of whole-plant nitrogen, an investment that cannot be
recouped by metabolism, and is associated with diminished
intraspecific competitive abilities for soil nitrogen (17~. Hence,
when Na is attacked by this nicotine-tolerant herbivore, it will
likely realize a fitness benefit from suppressing its induced
nicotine production when growing in competition with conspe-
cifics, as it commonly does as a result of its germination behavior
that synchronizes growth with the posture environment (17~.
To compare the ability of the diploid species, Na, to recognize
attack from M. sexta larvae with that of the two allopolyploid
species, Nb and Nc, we examined the timing of the JA burst and
the subsequently elicited changes in secondary metabolites when
M. sexta OS was applied to mechanically generated wounds on
leaves. From these experiments, it was clear that whereas a
statistically significant JA burst occurred in all three species, the
Nc's JA increase was only half that observed in Na and Nb (Fin.
2~. Nc's attenuated JA burst was also associated with a lack of
OS-elicited VOC release (Fig. 5), TrypPI increase (Fig. 3), and
reduction in chlorogenic acid contents (Table 1), responses that
were clearly preserved in Nb. The lack of OS-elicited responses
in Nc was not due to an inability of this species to respond
because MeJA elicitation resulted in VOC, TrypPI, and chlo-
rogenic acid increases. These results demonstrate that Na's
herbivore recognition mechanism has partly been conserved
during allopolyploid speciation in Nb, but lost in Nc, a result
consistent with Goodspeed's phylogenetic hypothesis that Nb is
more closely related to Na than Nc is (16~.
Not all OS-elicited responses appear to be lost in Nc, however.
The down-regulation of wound-induced nicotine production by
OS appears to be retained in all species. The observation that M.
sexta OS elicitation did not result in higher nicotine levels
compared with water treatments of mechanical wounds (Fig. 9)
despite a higher JA pool induced (Fig. 2), as has been observed
in another diploid Nicotiana species [Nicotiana sylvestris (39~]
suggests that OS-elicited ethylene signaling remains intact in all
three species (9~. Similarly, some JA-elicited responses are not
elicited by OS treatment in all three species. DTGs (Fig. 4),
caffeoylputrescine, and rutin (Table 1) were elicited by MeJA
treatment but not by OS treatment. For these metabolites, JA
elicitation clearly recruits a signal cascade that is not activated
by OS treatment
In addition to the differences in response to OS, the tet-
raploids also differed in the amount and timing of certain elicited
Lou and Baldwin
metabolites. The rapid activation and waning of the JA burst
observed in Na was both delayed and lasted significantly longer
in Nb. As such, Nb's wound-induced JA dynamics are more
similar to those observed in Arabidopsis, tomato, and potato
(26~. In nature, Na grows in close association with sagebrush,
Artemisia tridentata Nuttall subsp. tridentata (Asteraceae), which
releases MeJA in high, allelopathically active quantities (40, 41),
potentially sufficient to influence the defense responses in the
neighboring Na plants (42~. In contrast, neither Nb nor Nc is
commonly found growing in close association with sagebrush,
and the rapid endogenous JA dynamics observed in Na may
allow it to distinguish endogenous from exogenously derived JA.
The three species also differed in constitutive levels of sec-
ondary metabolites in a manner consistent with a gene-dose
effect. For example, both tetraploid species had significantly
higher nicotine (8.31- and 2.72-fold higher than Na: Fig. 9) and
TrypPI (9.18- and 2.63-fold higher than those in Na: Fig. 3)
levels, and lower DTGs (Fig. 4), rutin, and caffeoylputrescine
(Table 1) levels compared with the level observed in Na.
Comparing the two tetraploid spec~es, all of these metabolites,
with the exception of caffeoylputrescine, were significantly
higher in Nb than in Nc. Differences in ecological habit between
the tetraploid and diploid species may select for high nicotine
and TrypPI levels. Of the three species, only Na "chases" fires
in ecological time by mass-germinating from long-lived seed
banks with smoke-related germination cues. By timing its growth
with the ephemeral but high-resource postfire environment, Na
is commonly exposed to very strong intraspecific competition,
which in turn likely selects for rapid growth (17~. Because both
constitutive and inducible protease inhibitor production (22) and
nicotine production (24) are associated with growth and fitness
reductions, it is possible that selecting habitats that place a
premium on fast growth also selects for low constituti~re defense
levels. Neither Nb nor Nc times their germination with the
postfire environment and therefore they may not be under
similarly strong selection for rapid growth and competitive
ability.
MeJA-elicitation altered the secondary metabolite profiles in
all three species, and by comparing these changes with MeJA-
elicited changes in M. sexta larval performance, we could infer
their relative influence on larval performance. M. sexta larval
growth was highest in Nc, followed by in Nb, and the lowest in
Na (Fig. 6~. Significant difference in larval mass between
10 -
8-
1. r
1
u . . _ 11 1~
Na Nb Nc Na NbNc Na Nb Nc Na Nb Nc Na Nb Nc Na Nb Nc
Nicotine TrypPI DTG CP CA Rutin
Compound
Fig. 7. Relative values of nicotine, TrypPI, DTGs, caffeoylputrescine (CP),
chlorogenic acid (CA), and rutin in MeJA-treated (solid bars) and lanolin-
treated (open bars) Na, Nb, and Nc plants compared with the corresponding
chemical concentrations in lanolin-treated Na, which were arbitrarily assigned
a value of 1.0.
PNAS 1 November 25, 2003 1 vol. 100 1 suppl. 2 1 14585
OCR for page 69
caterpillars fed on MeJA- and lanolin-treated plants was found
only in Nb, although caterpillars fed on MeJA-treated plants
tended to have lower masses than those fed on lanolin-treated
plants in Na and Nc. We standardized the MeJA-elicited me-
tabolite changes to the uninduced levels found in Na, which was
arbitrarily assigned a value of 1 (Fig. 7) to identify metabolites
that correlated with the observed changes in M. sexta larval
growth (Fig. 64. This analysis suggested that DTGs, which were
highest in Na, intermediate in Nb, and not detectable in Nc, were
most strongly associated with larval performance (Fig. 7~. How-
ever, larval mass did not significantly differ between MeJA- and
lanolin-treated Na plants, whereas DTGs did differ. Complex
nonlinear interactions between other induced metabolites (nic-
otine and TrypPIs) and DTGs may influence the relationship
with larval mass gain and DTG content. DTGs have been
reported to inhibit the larval growth of tobacco budworm larvae,
Heliothis virescens (43~; however, conclusive evidence that DTGs
are directly responsible for the observed effects will require
direct manipulations of DTG production in plants. Interestingly,
although nicotine (44) and TrypPI (22) have been reported to
inhibit larval growth in Na and N. sylvestris, this analysis suggests
that neither is as strongly correlated as DTGs are with M. sexta
performance.
Although the ecological significance of the loss and retention
of herbivore recognition abilities in the two allopolyploid species
1. Masterson, J. (1994) Science 264, 421-424.
2. Song, K., Lu, P., Tang, K & Osborn, T. C. (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
92, 7719-7723.
3. Korth, K. L. & Dixon, R. A. (1997) Plant Physiol. 115, 1299-1305.
4. Walling, L. L. (2000) J. Plant Growth Regul. 19, 195-216.
5. Reymond, P., Weber, H., Damond, M. & Farmer, E. E. (2000) Plant cen 12,
707-719.
6. Hermsmeier, D., Schittko, U. & Baldwin, I. T. (2001) Plant P*yszol. 125, 68~700.
7. Schittko, U., Hermsmeier, D. & Baldwin, I. T. (2001) Plant Physiol. 125,
701-710.
8. Halitschke, R., Schittko, U., Pohnert, G., Boland, W. & Baldwin, I. T. (2001)
Plant Physzol. 125, 711-717.
9. Winz, R. A. & Baldwin, I. T. (2001) Plant Physiol. 125, 2189-2202.
10. Hui, D., Iqbal, J., Lehmann, K, Gase, K., Saluz, H. P. & Baldwin, I. T. (2003) 30
Plant Physiol. 131, 1877-1893. 31.
11. Halitschke, R., Gase, K, Hui, D., Schmidt, D. & Baldwin, I. T. (2003) Plant 32.
Physiol. 131, 1894-1902.
Schoen, D. J., Burdon, J. J. & Brown, A. H. D. (1992) Theor. Appl. Genet. 83,
827-832.
13. Thompson, J. N., Cunningham, B. M., Segraves, K A., Althoff, D. M. &
Wagner, D. (1997) Am. Nat. 150, 731-743.
14. Nuismer, S. L. & Thompson, J. N. (2001) Proc. R Soc. London Ser. B 268,
1937-1940.
15. Janz, N. & Thompson, J. N. (2002) Oecologza 130, 570-575.
16. Goodspeed, T. H. (1954) The Genus Nicotiana (Chronica Botanic, Waltham,
MA).
17. Baldwin, I. T. (2001) Plant Physiol. 127, 1449-1458.
18. Chase, M. W., Knapp, S., Cox, A. V., Clarkson, J. J., Butsko, Y., Joseph, J.,
Savolainen, V. & Parokonny, A. S. (2003) Ann. Bot. 92, 107-127.
19. Halitschke, R., Kessler, A., Kahl, J., Lorenz, A. & Baldwin, I. T. (2000)
Oecologca 124, 408-417. 41.
20. Ohnmeiss, T. E., McCloud, E. S., Lynds, G. Y. & Baldwin, I. T. (1997) New 42.
Phytol. 137, 441-452.
21. Van Dam, N. M., Horn, M., Mares, M. & Baldwin, I. T. (2001) J. Chem. Ecol.
27, 547-568.
22. Glawe, G. A., Zavala, J. A., Kessler, A., Van Dam, N. M. & Baldwin, I. T. (2003)
Ecology 84, 79-90.
14586 1 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2135348100
remains unknown, this species complex may be an ideal system
in which to study the retention and modification of trans-
activated adaptive responses. The changes in secondary metab-
olites elicited by Manduca OS in Na are accompanied by a
large-scale transcriptional change (6, 8, 10, 11), the majority of
which can be elicited by only two FACs in Manduca OS (11~.
Given that these differentially regulated genes are likely dis-
persed throughout Na's 12 pairs of chromosomes, a small
number of FAC-regulated trans-active elements are likely re-
sponsible for herbivore recognition in this species. How these
putative trans-active elements have retained their ability to
respond to OS in Nb, while recruiting different cis-elements tas
is suggested by the different spectrum of VOCs released by OS
elicitation (Fig. 5~], but losing the ability in Nc, will likely provide
important insights into the maintenance or modification of
polygenic adaptive traits during allopolyploid speciation. More-
over, given that it is possible to hybridize the different North
American Nicotiana species to create artificial tetraploid lines
(16), these evolutionary hypotheses are eminently falsifiable.
We thank B. Krock for identification of germacrene A; B. Krock, C. von
Dahl, J. Zavala, R. Halitschke, T. Kruegel, and C. McInerney for
invaluable analytical support; two anonymous reviewers for substantially
improving the manuscript; and the Max Planck Society and the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft (SPP 1152) for funding.
23. Keinanen, M., Oldham, N. J. & Baldwin, I. T. (2001) J. Agric. Food Chem. 49,
3553-3558.
24. Baldwin, I. T. (1998) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 8113-8118.
25. Kruegel, T., Lim, M., Gase, K., Halitschke, R. & Baldwin, I. T. (2002)
Chemoecology 12.
26. Park, J.-H., Halitschke, R., Kim, H. B., Baldwin, I. T., Feldmann, K. A. &
Feyereisen, R. (2002) Plant J. 31, 1-12.
27. de Kraker, J.-W., Franssen, M. C. R, de Groot, A., Konig, W. A. &
Bonwmeester, H. J. (1998) Plant Physiol. 117, 1381-1392.
28. Schittko, U., Preston, C. A. & Baldwin, I. I. (2000) Pla~zta 210, 343-346.
29. Kahl, J., Siemens, D. H., Aerts, R. J., Gabler, R., Kuhnemann, F., Preston, C. A.
& Baldwin, I. T. (2000) Planta 210, 336-342.
Kessler, A. & Baldwin, I. T. (2002) Ann. Rev. Plant Biol. 53, 299-328.
Baldwin, I. T. (1988) Oecologia 378-381.
Baldwin, I. T., Halitschke, R., Kessler, A. & Schittko, U. (2001) Curr. Opin.
Plant Biol. 4, 351-358.
33. Mattiacci, L., Dicke, M. & Posthumus, M. A. (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
92, 2036-2040.
34. Musser, R. O., Hum-Musser, S. M., Eichenseer, H., Peiffer, M., Ervin, G.,
Murphy, J. B. & Felton, G. W. (2002) Nat;ure 416, 599-600.
35. Turlings, T. C. J., Alborn, H. T., Loughrin, J. H. & Tumlinson, J. H. (2000)
J. Chem. Ecol. 26,189-202.
36. Kessler, A. & Baldwin, I. T. (2001) Science 291, 2141-2144.
37. Kessler, A. & Baldwin, I. T. (2002) Ecology 83, 2346-2354.
38. Barbosa, P., Gross, P. & Kemper, J. (1991) Ecolo'~ 72, 1567-1575.
39. McCloud, E. S. & Baldwin, I. T. (1997) Planta 203, 430-435.
40. Preston, C. A., Laue, G. & Baldwin, I. T. (2001) Biochem. Syst. Ecol. 29,
1007-1023.
Preston, C. A., Betts, H. & Baldwin, I. T. (2002) J. Chem. Ecol. 28, 2343-2369.
. Karban, R., Baldwin, I. T., Baxter, K. J., Laue, G. & Felton, G. W. (2000)
Oecologca 125, 66-71.
43. Snook, M. E., Johnson, A. W., Severson, R. F., Teng, Q., White, R. A., Jr.,
Sisson, V. A. & Jackson, D. M. (1997) J. Agric. Food Chem. 45, 2299-2308.
44. Voelckel, C., Krugel, T., Gase, K, Heidrich, N., van Dam, N. M., Winz, R. &
Baldwin, I. T. (2001) Chemeecology 11,121-126.
Lou and Baldwin