Foliar herbivory increases sucrose concentration in bracteal extrafloral nectar of cotton

Cultivated cotton, such as Gossypium hirsutum L., produces extrafloral (EF) nectar on leaves (foliar) and reproductive structures (bracteal) as an indirect anti-herbivore defense. In exchange for this carbohydrate-rich substance, predatory insects such as ants protect the plant against herbivorous i...

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Autores principales: Cody C. Gale, Pierre Lesne, Caroline Wilson, Anjel M. Helms, Charles P-C. Suh, Gregory A. Sword
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Publicado: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:79ed866c094c4496b3c162d1d7ff266b2021-11-04T07:42:10ZFoliar herbivory increases sucrose concentration in bracteal extrafloral nectar of cotton1932-6203https://doaj.org/article/79ed866c094c4496b3c162d1d7ff266b2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8555782/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Cultivated cotton, such as Gossypium hirsutum L., produces extrafloral (EF) nectar on leaves (foliar) and reproductive structures (bracteal) as an indirect anti-herbivore defense. In exchange for this carbohydrate-rich substance, predatory insects such as ants protect the plant against herbivorous insects. Some EF nectar-bearing plants respond to herbivory by increasing EF nectar production. For instance, herbivore-free G. hirsutum produces more bracteal than foliar EF nectar, but increases its foliar EF nectar production in response to herbivory. This study is the first to test for systemically induced changes to the carbohydrate composition of bracteal EF nectar in response to foliar herbivory on G. hirsutum. We found that foliar herbivory significantly increased the sucrose content of bracteal EF nectar while glucose and fructose remained unchanged. Sucrose content is known to influence ant foraging behavior and previous studies of an herbivore-induced increase to EF nectar caloric content found that it led to increased ant activity on the plant. As a follow-up to our finding, ant recruitment to mock EF nectar solutions that varied in sucrose content was tested in the field. The ants did not exhibit any preference for either solution, potentially because sucrose is a minor carbohydrate component in G. hirsutum EF nectar: total sugar content was not significantly affected by the increase in sucrose. Nonetheless, our findings raise new questions about cotton’s inducible EF nectar responses to herbivory. Further research is needed to determine whether an herbivore-induced increase in sucrose content is typical of Gossypium spp., and whether it constitutes a corollary of systemic sucrose induction, or a potentially adaptive mechanism which enhances ant attraction to the plantCody C. GalePierre LesneCaroline WilsonAnjel M. HelmsCharles P-C. SuhGregory A. SwordPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 10 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Cody C. Gale
Pierre Lesne
Caroline Wilson
Anjel M. Helms
Charles P-C. Suh
Gregory A. Sword
Foliar herbivory increases sucrose concentration in bracteal extrafloral nectar of cotton
description Cultivated cotton, such as Gossypium hirsutum L., produces extrafloral (EF) nectar on leaves (foliar) and reproductive structures (bracteal) as an indirect anti-herbivore defense. In exchange for this carbohydrate-rich substance, predatory insects such as ants protect the plant against herbivorous insects. Some EF nectar-bearing plants respond to herbivory by increasing EF nectar production. For instance, herbivore-free G. hirsutum produces more bracteal than foliar EF nectar, but increases its foliar EF nectar production in response to herbivory. This study is the first to test for systemically induced changes to the carbohydrate composition of bracteal EF nectar in response to foliar herbivory on G. hirsutum. We found that foliar herbivory significantly increased the sucrose content of bracteal EF nectar while glucose and fructose remained unchanged. Sucrose content is known to influence ant foraging behavior and previous studies of an herbivore-induced increase to EF nectar caloric content found that it led to increased ant activity on the plant. As a follow-up to our finding, ant recruitment to mock EF nectar solutions that varied in sucrose content was tested in the field. The ants did not exhibit any preference for either solution, potentially because sucrose is a minor carbohydrate component in G. hirsutum EF nectar: total sugar content was not significantly affected by the increase in sucrose. Nonetheless, our findings raise new questions about cotton’s inducible EF nectar responses to herbivory. Further research is needed to determine whether an herbivore-induced increase in sucrose content is typical of Gossypium spp., and whether it constitutes a corollary of systemic sucrose induction, or a potentially adaptive mechanism which enhances ant attraction to the plant
format article
author Cody C. Gale
Pierre Lesne
Caroline Wilson
Anjel M. Helms
Charles P-C. Suh
Gregory A. Sword
author_facet Cody C. Gale
Pierre Lesne
Caroline Wilson
Anjel M. Helms
Charles P-C. Suh
Gregory A. Sword
author_sort Cody C. Gale
title Foliar herbivory increases sucrose concentration in bracteal extrafloral nectar of cotton
title_short Foliar herbivory increases sucrose concentration in bracteal extrafloral nectar of cotton
title_full Foliar herbivory increases sucrose concentration in bracteal extrafloral nectar of cotton
title_fullStr Foliar herbivory increases sucrose concentration in bracteal extrafloral nectar of cotton
title_full_unstemmed Foliar herbivory increases sucrose concentration in bracteal extrafloral nectar of cotton
title_sort foliar herbivory increases sucrose concentration in bracteal extrafloral nectar of cotton
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/79ed866c094c4496b3c162d1d7ff266b
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