Jasmonic acid and its precursor 12-oxophytodienoic acid control different aspects of constitutive and induced herbivore defenses in tomato.
- Publication Type
- Journal contribution (peer reviewed)
- Authors
- Bosch, M., Wright, L.P., Gershenzon, J., Wasternack, C., Hause, B., Schaller, A., and Stintzi, A.
- Year of publication
- 2014
- Published in
- Plant Physiol.
- Band/Volume
- 166/
- DOI
- 10.1104/pp.114.237388
- Page (from - to)
- 396-410
The jasmonate family of growth regulators includes the isoleucine conjugate of jasmonic acid (JA-Ile) and its biosynthetic precursor 12-oxophytodienoic acid (OPDA) as signaling molecules. In order to assess the relative contribution of JA/JA-Ile and OPDA to insect resistance in tomato, we silenced the expression of OPDA reductase (OPR3) by RNA interference. Consistent with a block in the biosynthetic pathway downstream of OPDA, OPR3-RNAi plants contained wild-type levels of OPDA but failed to accumulate JA or JA-Ile after wounding. JA/JA-Ile deficiency in OPR3-RNAi plants resulted in reduced trichome formation and impaired monoterpene and sesquiterpene production. The loss of these JA/JA-Ile-dependent defense traits rendered them more attractive to the specialist herbivore Manduca sexta with respect to feeding and oviposition. Oviposition preference resulted from reduced levels of repellant mono- and sesquiterpenes. Feeding preference, on the other hand, was caused by increased production of cis-3-hexenal acting as a feeding stimulant for M. sexta larvae in OPR3-RNAi plants. Despite impaired constitutive defenses and increased palatability of OPR3-RNAi leaves, larval development was indistinguishable on OPR3-RNAi and wild-type plants, and much delayed as compared to development on the JA/JA-Ile insensitive (jai1) mutant. Apparently, signaling through JAI1, the tomato ortholog of COI1 in Arabidopsis, is required for defense while the conversion of OPDA to JA/JA-Ile is not. Comparing the signaling activities of OPDA and JA/JA-Ile, we found that OPDA can substitute for JA/JA-Ile in the local induction of defense gene expression, but the production of JA/JA-Ile is required for a systemic response.