Uncovering an link between plant defense signaling and vertebrate feeding behavior suggests that large browsers may exert strong selection pressure on jasmonate-dependent secondary metabolites.
The natural volatile component DMNT protects plants from insect attacks by damaging peritropic matrix barriers in insect midguts, paving a promising way for the molecular breeding of plant protection.
Brassinosteroids signal through a pathway involving GSK3-like kinases and the WER-GL3/EGL3-TTG1 transcription factor complex to determine the fate of cells in the root epidermis.
Metabolomic analyses indicate that diet generalism may stem from a neutral metabolic response to different chemistries, rather than from an accumulation of specific adaptations.
Both the frequency of sesquiterpene-emitting individuals and the defense capacity of individual plants determine the consequences of sesquiterpene volatile emission for individuals and their neighbors in populations of the wild tobacco Nicotiana attenuata.
Variation in the gene NaMPK4 in plant populations increases reproductive yield, an effect which appears to be independent of soil water availability, neighbor-scale interactions and associations with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.
Zigmunds Orlovskis, Archana Singh ... Saskia A Hogenhout
Phytoplasma effector SAP54 hijacks previously unknown MADS-box protein roles in plant-insect interactions by modulating plant biotic stress responses to male leafhoppers and facilitating female attraction and reproduction on male-exposed leaves.
A gain-of-function in a new chemical defense resulted in no trade-offs and and independent evolution between novel and ancestral defenses, suggesting low redundancy among different defensive chemicals.
