Projects per year
Abstract
Introduction: Usually whole plant or whole leaf extracts are analyzed to study the chemical ecology of insect-plant interactions. For herbivore species the contact with the leaf surface enables them to estimate the quality of the plant. The relationship between the leaf-surface and leaf-tissue secondary metabolites (SMs) could offer important new insights in insect-plant interactions mediated by SMs. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), typical defense chemicals in Jacobaea species, are repellent for generalist herbivores but are attractive to specialists. Objectives: Explore whether the PAs on the leaf surface are a reliable representation of the PAs in the leaf tissue in PA-containing plants. Method: The concentration of individual PAs present on the leaf surface and in the corresponding leaf tissue from 37 genotypes (one plant from each genotype) of an F2 generation of a cross between Jacobaea vulgaris and Jacobaea aquatica was measured by high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). PAs were removed from the leaf surface by extraction with a slightly acidic aqueous solution. Results: The total amount of PAs present on the surface of the leaves was only 0.015% (range 0.001–0.163%) of the total amount present in the leaf tissue. Most PAs present in the leaf tissue were also found on the surface, except for jaconine, dehydrojaconine, dehydrojacoline and usaramine N-oxide. Positive correlations between leaf-surface and leaf-tissue concentrations were found for most of the jacobine-like and otosenine-like PAs, but correlations for total PA, senecionine- and erucifoline-like PAs were not significant. Conclusion: These results indicate that PA variation on the leaf surface only partially reflects the PA variation in the leaf tissue. Because most herbivores are affected in a different manner by individual PAs, this result means that the leaf surface does not give a reliable estimate of plant quality to herbivores.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 47 |
Journal | Metabolomics |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2017 |
Keywords
- Host-plant recognition
- Jacobaea aquatica
- Jacobaea vulgaris
- Oviposition
- Secondary metabolites
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Projects
- 1 Finished
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Expertise ontwikkeling plant toxines (KB-15-001-015, KB-06-005-037)
1/01/10 → 31/12/14
Project: EZproject