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Microbes in Helicoverpa armigera oral secretions contribute to increased senescence around plant wounds
Author(s) -
Waterman Jamie M.,
Mann Timothy J.,
Cazzonelli Christopher I.,
Hartley Susan E.,
Johnson Scott N.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
ecological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2311
pISSN - 0307-6946
DOI - 10.1111/een.12886
Subject(s) - helicoverpa armigera , biology , herbivore , senescence , insect , brachypodium distachyon , plant defense against herbivory , helicoverpa zea , pest analysis , botany , noctuidae , lepidoptera genitalia , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , genome , gene
1. Plants have long been exposed to insect herbivore attack. Crucial to the plant's ability to defend itself is its ability to identify specific signals associated with attacking insects. Distinctive chemical cues, such as those associated with chewing insect oral secretions (OS), activate targeted defence responses to chewing insect herbivores. 2. Herbivore‐associated cues can be complicated by the fact that many herbivores form associations with microbes that produce their own specific signals, which may induce alternative defence processes. 3. Here we report that OS of the global pest, the cotton bollworm ( Helicoverpa armigera ), induce senescence around wounds in Brachypodium distachyon leaves. Crude OS activate greater levels of senescence than OS with reduced microbial abundance or mechanical wounding alone. Nonetheless, plants closed mechanical wounds more rapidly when treated with H. armigera OS regardless of the microbial component. 4. This study concludes that H. armigera OS can activate senescence and wound closure in plant tissues and that microbes within OS have an important role in shaping plant‐herbivore interactions through additional increases in senescence.