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Lack of correlation between constitutive and induced resistance to a herbivore in crucifer plants: real or flawed by experimental methods?
Author(s) -
Zhang PengJun,
Shu JinPing,
Wu ZhiYi,
Dicke Marcel,
Liu ShuSheng
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
entomologia experimentalis et applicata
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.765
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1570-7458
pISSN - 0013-8703
DOI - 10.1111/j.1570-7458.2009.00829.x
Subject(s) - diamondback moth , plutella , plutellidae , biology , crucifer , lepidoptera genitalia , jasmonic acid , cabbage looper , resistance (ecology) , herbivore , trichoplusia , botany , noctuidae , ecology , genetics , gene
The correlation between constitutive and induced resistance to herbivores in plants has long been of interest to evolutionary biologists, and various approaches to determining levels of resistance have been used in this field of research. In this study, we examined the relationship between constitutive and induced resistance to the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), in 11 closely related species of wild crucifers. We assessed the survival, development, and reproduction of the test insects and calculated their intrinsic rate of increase as an indicator of constitutive and induced resistance for the plants. We used larvae of P. xylostella and jasmonic acid as elicitors of the induced response. We failed to find a correlation between constitutive and induced resistance in these crucifer plants when the induction of resistance was initiated by either herbivory or jasmonic acid application. Analysis of the results suggests that the failure to detect a relationship between the two types of resistance could be caused by flaws in measuring constitutive resistance, which was apparently confounded with induced resistance. We discuss the difficulties and pitfalls in measuring constitutive resistance and ways to improve the methodology in investigating the relationships between constitutive and induced resistance in plants.