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360 results for “Defence”
Data from: Kin recognition affects plant communication and defence
The ability of many animals to recognize kin has allowed them to evolve diverse cooperative behaviours; such ability is less well studied for plants. Many plants, including Artemisia tridentata, have been found to respond to volatile cues emitted by experimentally wounded neighbours to increase levels of resistance to herbivory. We report that this communication was more effective among A. tridentata plants that were more closely related based on microsatellite markers. Plants in the field that received cues from experimentally clipped close relatives experienced less leaf herbivory over the growing season than those that received cues from clipped neighbours that were more distantly related. These results indicate that plants can respond differently to cues from kin, making it less likely that emitters will aid strangers and making it more likely that receivers will respond to cues from relatives. More effective defence adds to a growing list of favourable consequences of kin recognition for plants.
Data from: Induced defences alter the strength and direction of natural selection on reproductive traits in common milkweed
Evolutionary biologists have long sought to understand the ecological processes that generate plant reproductive diversity. Recent evidence indicates that constitutive antiherbivore defences can alter natural selection on reproductive traits, but it is unclear whether induced defences will have the same effect and whether reduced foliar damage in defended plants is the cause of this pattern. In a factorial field experiment using common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca L., we induced plant defences using jasmonic acid (JA) and imposed foliar damage using scissors. We found that JA-induced plants experienced selection for more inflorescences that were smaller in size (fewer flowers), whereas control plants only experienced a trend towards selection for larger inflorescences (more flowers); all effects were independent of foliar damage. Our results demonstrate that induced defences can alter both the strength and direction of selection on reproductive traits, and suggest that antiherbivore defences may promote the evolution of plant reproductive diversity.
Data from: Collective defence portfolios of ant hosts shift with social parasite pressure
Host defences become increasingly costly as parasites breach successive lines of defence. Because selection favours hosts that successfully resist parasitism at the lowest possible cost, escalating coevolutionary arms races are likely to drive host defence portfolios towards ever more expensive strategies. We investigated the interplay between host defence portfolios and social parasite pressure by comparing 17 populations of two Temnothorax ant species. When successful, collective aggression not only prevents parasitation but also spares host colonies the cost of searching for and moving to a new nest site. However, once parasites breach the host's nest defence, host colonies should resort to flight as the more beneficial resistance strategy. We show that under low parasite pressure, host colonies more likely responded to an intruding Protomognathus americanus slavemaker with collective aggression, which prevented the slavemaker from escaping and potentially recruiting nest-mates. However, as parasite pressure increased, ant colonies of both host species became more likely to flee rather than to fight. We conclude that host defence portfolios shift consistently with social parasite pressure, which is in accordance with the degeneration of frontline defences and the evolution of subsequent anti-parasite strategies often invoked in hosts of brood parasites.
Data from: Variation in growth and defence traits among plant populations at different elevations: implications for adaptation to climate change
Alpine plants occurring at high elevation are vulnerable to ongoing climate change, yet relatively little is known about the potential for high‐elevation species to adapt to changing environmental conditions. In particular, the extent to which high‐elevation plants will be able to resist predicted increases in the intensity of biotic interactions, such as herbivory, remains unclear. Species distributed across broad elevational ranges provide an opportunity to investigate evolutionary mechanisms and traits involved in adaptation to varying abiotic and biotic environments. This study focused on the perennial alpine plant Arabis alpina and combined field surveys and climate‐chamber experiments to test for intraspecific genetic divergence in traits related to growth and defence against herbivores. We screened multiple populations from low, intermediate and high elevations across a broad geographic area, characterising differences in growth form, leaf structural traits, palatability for herbivores and defensive chemistry. We then quantified the proportion of variation explained by elevation and population‐level effects. Our results document within‐species genetic divergence in multiple traits relevant for adaptation to the different abiotic and biotic pressures experienced at low and high elevations. Rates of herbivore damage declined with increasing elevation in the field, but plants from high‐ and intermediate‐elevation populations were generally more palatable for specialist herbivores than those from low‐elevation populations in feeding assays. Elevational clines were also observed in several glucosinolate defence compounds, and leaf herbivory more strongly induced glucosinolates in plants from high‐elevation populations than in those from low‐elevation populations. Leaf trichome density and growth form also diverged among populations contributing to growth‐defence phenotypes associated with different elevations. However, populations from similar elevations often differed significantly in both growth and defence‐related traits, with trait variation often better explained by population‐level effects than by elevation alone. Synthesis: Arabis alpina exhibits patterns of genetic variation in growth and defence traits consistent with adaptation to different elevations. However, populations from similar elevations also diverged in many of these ecologically relevant traits. Together, the extent of the observed trait variation suggests that this alpine species has considerable potential to adapt to a changing biotic environment.
Data from: Resource allocation trade-offs and the loss of chemical defences during apple domestication
Background and Aims: Most crops have been dramatically altered from their wild ancestors with the primary goal of increasing harvestable yield. A long-held hypothesis is that increased allocation to yield has reduced plant investment in defence and resulted in crops that are highly susceptible to pests. However, clear demonstrations of these trade-offs have been elusive due to the many selective pressures that occur concurrently during crop domestication. Methods: To provide a robust test of whether increased allocation to yield can alter plant investment in defence, this study examined fruit chemical defence traits and herbivore resistance across 52 wild and 56 domesticated genotypes of apples that vary >26-fold in fruit size. Ninety-six phenolic metabolites were quantified in apple skin, pulp and seeds, and resistance to the codling moth was assessed with a series of bioassays. Key Results: The results show that wild apples have higher total phenolic concentrations and a higher diversity of metabolites than domesticated apples in skin, pulp and seeds. A negative phenotypic relationship between fruit size and phenolics indicates that this pattern is driven in part by allocation-based trade-offs between yield and defence. There were no clear differences in codling moth performance between wild and domesticated apples and no overall effects of total phenolic concentration on codling moth performance, but the results did show that codling moth resistance was increased in apples with higher phenolic diversity. The concentrations of a few individual compounds (primarily flavan-3-ols) also correlated with increased resistance, primarily driven by a reduction in pupal mass of female moths. Conclusions: The negative phenotypic relationship between fruit size and phenolic content, observed across a large number of wild and domesticated genotypes, supports the hypothesis of yield–defence trade-offs in crops. However, the limited effects of phenolics on codling moth highlight the complexity of consequences that domestication has for plant–herbivore interactions. Continued studies of crop domestication can further our understanding of the multiple trade-offs involved in plant defence, while simultaneously leading to novel discoveries that can improve the sustainability of crop production.
Data from: Too hard to swallow: a secret secondary defence of an aposematic insect
Anti-predator strategies are significant components of adaptation in prey species. Aposematic prey are expected to possess effective defences that have evolved simultaneously with their warning colours. This study tested the hypothesis of the defensive function and ecological significance of the hard body in aposematic Pachyrhynchus weevils pioneered by Alfred Russel Wallace nearly 150 years ago. We used predation trials with Japalura tree lizards to assess the survivorship of 'hard' (mature) vs. 'soft' (teneral) and 'clawed' (intact) vs. 'clawless' (surgically removed) weevils. The ecological significance of the weevil's hard body was evaluated by assessing the hardness of the weevils, the local prey insects, and the bite forces of the lizard populations. The existence of toxins or deterrents in the weevil was examined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). All 'hard' weevils were instantly spat out after being bitten once and survived attacks by the lizards. In contrast, the 'soft' weevils were chewed and subsequently swallowed. The results were the same regardless of the presence or absence of the weevil's tarsal claws. The hardness of 'hard' Pachyrhynchus weevils was significantly higher than the average hardness of other prey insects in the same habitat and the mean bite forces of the local lizards. The four candidate compounds of the weevil identified by GC-MS had no known toxic or repellent functions against vertebrates. These results reveal that the hardness of aposematic prey functions as an effective secondary defence, and they provide a framework for understanding the spatio-temporal interactions between vertebrate predators and aposematic insect prey.
Data from: From resource to female defence: the impact of roosting ecology on a bat's mating strategy
With their extraordinary species richness and diversity in ecological traits and social systems, bats are a promising taxon for testing socio-ecological hypotheses in order to get new insights into the evolution of animal social systems. Regarding its roosting habits, proboscis bats form an extreme by occupying sites which are usually completely exposed to daylight (e.g. tree trunks, vines or rocks). This is accompanied by morphological and behavioural adaptations to remain cryptic in exposed day roosts. With long-term behavioural observations and genetic parentage analyses of individually marked proboscis bats, we assessed its social dispersion and male mating strategy during day and night. Our results reveal nocturnal male territoriality—a strategy which most closely resembles a resource-defence polygyny that is frequent also in other tropical bats. Its contrasting clumped social dispersion during the day is likely to be the result of strong selection for crypsis in exposed roosts and is accompanied by direct female defence in addition to male territoriality. To the best of our knowledge, such contrasting male mating strategies within a single day–night cycle have not been described in a vertebrate species so far and illustrate a possible evolutionary trajectory from resource-defence to female-defence strategy by small ecologically driven evolutionary steps.
Data from: Plant defence responses to volatile alert signals are population-specific
Herbivore-induced volatiles are widespread in plants. They can serve as alert signals that enable neighbouring leaves and plants to pre-emptively increase defences and avoid herbivory damage. However, our understanding of the factors mediating volatile organic compound (VOC) signal interpretation by receiver plants and the degree to which multiple herbivores affect VOC signals is still limited. Here we investigated whether plant responses to damage-induced VOC signals were population specific. As a secondary goal, we tested for interference in signal production or reception when plants were subjected to multiple types of herbivore damage. We factorially crossed the population sources of paired Phaseolus lunatus plants (same versus different population sources) with a mechanical damage treatment to one member of the pair (i.e. the VOC emitter, damaged versus control), and we measured herbivore damage to the other plant (the VOC receiver) in the field. Prior to the experiment, both emitter and receiver plants were naturally colonized by aphids, enabling us to test the hypothesis that damage from sap-feeding herbivores interferes with VOC communication by including emitter and receiver aphid abundances as covariates in our analyses. One week after mechanical leaf damage, we removed all the emitter plants from the field and conducted fortnightly surveys of leaf herbivory. We found evidence that receiver plants responded using population-specific 'dialects' where only receivers from the same source population as the damaged emitters suffered less leaf damage upon exposure to the volatile signals. We also found that the abundance of aphids on both emitter and receiver plants did not alter this volatile signalling during both production and reception despite well-documented defence crosstalk within individual plants that are simultaneously attacked by multiple herbivores. Overall, these results show that plant communication is highly sensitive to genetic relatedness between emitter and receiver plants and that communication is resilient to herbivore co-infestation.
Pathogen defence is a potential driver of social evolution in ambrosia beetles
Social immunity – the collective behavioural defences against pathogens - is considered a crucial evolutionary force for the maintenance of insect societies. It has been described and investigated primarily in eusocial insects, but its role in the evolutionary trajectory from parental care to eusociality is little understood. Here, we report on the existence, plasticity, effectiveness and consequences of social pathogen defence in experimental nests of cooperatively breeding ambrosia beetles. After an Aspergillus-spore-buffer solution or a control buffer solution had been injected in laboratory nests, totipotent adult female workers increased their activity and hygienic behaviours like allogrooming and cannibalism. Such social immune responses had not been described for any non-eusocial, cooperatively breeding insect before. Removal of beetles from <i>Aspergillus</i>-treated nests in a paired experimental design revealed that the hygienic behaviours of beetles significantly reduced pathogen prevalence in the nest. Furthermore, in response to pathogen injections, female helpers delayed dispersal and thus prolonged their cooperative phase within their mother's nest. Our findings of appropriate social responses to an experimental immune challenge in a cooperatively breeding beetle corroborate the view that social immunity is not an exclusive attribute of eusocial insects, but rather a concomitant and presumably important feature in the evolutionary transitions towards complex social organization.
Data from: Defence versus defence: are crucian carp trading off immune function against predator-induced morphology?
1. Numerous species adopt inducible defence strategies, i.e. they have phenotypically plastic traits that decrease the risk of capture and consumption by potential predators. The benefits of expressing alternative phenotypes in high- versus low-risk environments are well documented. However, inducible anti-predator traits are also expected to incur costs, as they are not expressed when predators are absent, yet empirical evidence of such costs remains scarce. 2. Virtually all animals in nature are simultaneously under strong selection to evade both capture by predators and infection by parasites or pathogens, and, hence, display a diverse arsenal of defences to combat these threats, raising the possibility of trade-offs between defences. A classic example of a predator-induced morphological defence is the deep-bodied shape of crucian carp that reduces risk of predation from gape-size limited predators. The goal of this study was to examine if predator exposure affects also immune function in crucian carp, and if the degree of expressed morphological defence is traded off against immune function in individuals. 3. Following exposure to manipulations of perceived risk (predator presence/absence) in a long-term experiment (eight months), key aspects of innate immune function and individual differences in the expression of inducible morphological defence were quantified. 4. Predator-exposed individuals showed lower haptoglobin levels and complement activity, but higher natural antibody titres than fish from predator-free conditions. When experimentally challenged with a mimicked bacterial infection (LPS injection), fish reared in the presence of a natural predator showed a weaker immune response. Moreover, among predator-exposed individuals, the magnitude of morphological defence expression correlated with both baseline immune function and the ability to mount an immune response. However, these relationships were not consistently supportive of a general trade-off among defences. 5. Our results suggest that fish exposed to predators on average reduce investment in immune function and, further, the observed relationships among defences in predator-exposed individuals can best be explained from individual fitness and pace-of-life perspectives.
Data from: Express yourself: bold individuals induce enhanced morphological defences
Organisms display an impressive array of defence strategies in nature. Inducible defences (changes in morphology and/or behaviour within a prey's lifetime) allow prey to decrease vulnerability to predators and avoid unnecessary costs of expression. Many studies report considerable interindividual variation in the degree to which inducible defences are expressed, yet what underlies this variation is poorly understood. Here, we show that individuals differing in a key personality trait also differ in the magnitude of morphological defence expression. Crucian carp showing risky behaviours (bold individuals) expressed a significantly greater morphological defence response when exposed to a natural enemy when compared with shy individuals. Furthermore, we show that fish of different personality types differ in their behavioural plasticity, with shy fish exhibiting greater absolute plasticity than bold fish. Our data suggest that individuals with bold personalities may be able to compensate for their risk-prone behavioural type by expressing enhanced morphological defences.
Active eosinophils regulate host defence and immune responses in colitis
<p>This repository contains processed R objects generated and used for this publication. </p><p>The code is available at: <a href="https://github.com/Moors-Code/Eosinophils_scRNASeq">https://github.com/Moors-Code/Eosinophils_scRNASeq</a>.</p><p>The publication can be accessed from here: <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05628-7">https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05628-7</a></p><p>The scRNAseq raw datasets are available here: <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE182001">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE182001</a>.</p>
Interactions between silicon and alkaloid defences in endophyte-infected grasses and the consequences for a folivore
<p>1. Grasses have developed a wide range of morphological and physiological mechanisms to resist herbivory. For instance, they accumulate silicon (Si) in tissue, as physical defence, and associate symbiotically with foliar <i>Epichloë</i>-endophytes that provide chemical defence <i>via</i> antiherbivore alkaloids. Recent evidence showed that some <i>Epichloë</i>-endophytes increase foliar Si in forage grasses; however, it is unknown whether this impacts insect herbivores. Furthermore, while Si is primarily a physical defence, it also affects production of plant defensive secondary metabolites; Si supply might therefore affect <i>Epichloë</i>-alkaloids, although this remains untested.</p> <p>2. We grew endophyte-free (Nil) and <i>Epichloë</i>-infected tall fescue and perennial ryegrass in a factorial combination with or without Si supplementation, in the absence or presence of <i>Helicoverpa armigera</i>. <i>Epichloë</i>-endophyte strains were AR584 for tall fescue, and AR37, AR1 or Wild-type (WT) for perennial ryegrass. We assessed how Si supply and <i>Epichloë</i>-endophytes in interaction with herbivory affected foliar Si and mutualist-derived alkaloid concentrations. Subsequently, their effects on <i>H. armigera</i> relative growth rates (RGR) were evaluated. </p> <p>3. Endophytes generally increased Si concentrations in Si supplied plants.<b> </b>In tall fescue-AR584 and perennial ryegrass-AR37, endophytes increased constitutive (herbivore-free) and induced (herbivore-inoculated) Si concentrations by at least 25%; in contrast, in perennial ryegrass the AR1 endophyte only increased constitutive levels. Si supply did not affect alkaloids produced by AR584- or AR1/WT-endophytes; however, in the presence of herbivory, Si supply decreased the induction of alkaloids produced by AR37 endophytes by 33%. For tall fescue, Si supply reduced <i>H. armigera</i> RGR by at least 76%, regardless of endophytic status, whereas, endophyte-alkaloids played a secondary role only reducing herbivore growth in the absence of Si supply. Conversely, in perennial ryegrass both Si and endophyte-alkaloids (regardless of Si supply) reduced herbivore RGR although not synergised. </p> <p>4. Novel interactions between constitutive and induced Si- and alkaloid-based antiherbivore defences in grasses were observed. Overall, Si had a greater effect on the folivore than endophytes in both grasses. Endophyte-defences contributed more to herbivore resistance in perennial ryegrass than tall fescue. We demonstrate that Si and endophytes were not antagonistic and highlight that the protective nature of their interaction varies with the grass-endophyte species tested.</p>
Data to accompany 'New evidence suggests no sex bias in herbivory or plant defence'
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Dioecious plants can exhibit sexual dimorphism across a suite of plant traits, including susceptibility to herbivory and secondary chemistry. One hypothesis is that, due to greater costs of reproduction in females, males should grow faster and invest less in defense, resulting in male-biased herbivory. Indeed, a series of papers and a prominent meta-analysis have established male-biased herbivory as a robust result. However, more recent reviews have raised questions about how general the pattern is, citing the low breadth of taxon sampling. The literature on this topic has not been formally quantified by meta-analysis in over 15 years. Here we report the results of a meta-analysis of studies that measured sex bias in either herbivory and/or secondary defense in 71 dioecious plant species. We added 58 observations of herbivory and 41 of secondary chemistry to the original. We control for non-independence of effects from the same study and taxonomic group to address critiques of earlier studies. For secondary chemistry, we found no support for any consistent difference between male and female plants. For herbivory, results are directionally similar to earlier reports, although not statistically significant once we accounted for taxonomic group and study. We also found that the magnitude and direction of the effect of plant sex on herbivory declines, with earlier studies reporting a stronger male-bias. We discuss our results in light of the 'decline effect' and consider whether the datasets exhibit signs of evidence of the type(s) of biases that can result in declining effect sizes over time.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Dataset for: Interactive effects of tree species composition and water availability on growth and direct and indirect defences in Quercus ilex
<p>Plant diversity has often been reported to decrease insect herbivory in plants. Of the numerous mechanisms that have been proposed to explain this phenomenon, how plant diversity influences plant defences via effects on growth has received little attention. In addition, plant diversity effects may be contingent on abiotic conditions (e.g., resource and water availability). Here, we used a long-term experiment to explore the interactive effects of tree species composition and water availability on growth, direct (i.e. phenolics) and indirect (i.e. Volatile Organic Compounds – VOCs) defences and leaf herbivory in <em>Quercus ilex</em>. We quantified herbivory by chewing insects, phenolic compounds and VOCs in <em>Q. ilex</em> trees growing in stands differing in tree species composition (<em>Q. ilex</em>, <em>Q. ilex</em> + <em>Betula Pendula</em>, <em>Q. ilex</em> + <em>Pinus pinaster</em> and <em>Q. ilex</em> + <em>B. pendula</em> + <em>P. pinaster</em>) and water availability (irrigated vs control). Both direct and indirect defences were affected by tree species composition, but such changes were not mediated by changes in tree stem diameter. <em>Q. ilex</em> trees growing in stands with <em>P. pinaster</em> had the lowest concentration of both direct and indirect defences. Importantly, the effects of tree species composition on VOCs were exacerbated on irrigated blocks. Despite variation in defences, tree species composition did not affect herbivory in <em>Q. ilex</em>. Accordingly, we did not find any association between defences and insect herbivory. Our results suggest that changes in the micro-environment rather than growth-defence associations may mediate tree diversity effects on defences. In addition, reduced defensive investment in more diverse stands could negatively impact tree resistance masking the beneficial effects of species diversity at reducing insect herbivory.</p>
Ontology for assessing defence-in-depth properties of nuclear overall I&C architectures
<p>A proof-of-concept OWL ontology for representing knowledge over nuclear overall instrumentation & control (I&C) system architectures, and a case study built around a proposed US variant of the European Pressurized Water Reactor.</p>
Crotalaria pallida chemical defence and ant attendance
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>The efficiency of different plant defences is expected to vary depending on the combination and abundance of herbivores. Effectiveness of ant-mediated defences can also depend on ant activity and local ant assemblage, which can vary due to human activities such as intensive grazing. We used the plant <em>Crotalaria pallida</em> (Fabaceae), its two pod-boring herbivores and the ants that visit the extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) to understand how chemical defence and ant-plant associations affect plant damage. We hypothesised causal relationships between plant chemical defence, ant presence on plants and herbivore damage in scenarios of constitutive and induced plant defences and tested the different possible relationships using path analysis. The constitutive model explained the data more adequately, and each plant defence had different effects on each herbivore species. First, chemical defence significantly reduced damage by the generalist pod borer <em>Etiella zinckenella</em> but not by the specialist <em>Utetheisa ornatrix</em>. Second, ant presence reduced damage by the generalist, but had no effect on damage by the specialist. Third, a larger number of pods on the plant increased ant presence, as expected since more pods results in more EFNs. Finally, we show that these density-dependent responses by ants mediate indirect cascades on herbivory and generate context-specific responses reducing damage by <em>E. zinckenella</em> in sites with cattle grazing. In synthesis, we highlight that plant defences have distinct effects on co-occurring herbivores and that indirect defences can mediate ecological cascades that generate context dependency in the efficiency of different defences. </span></p>
MADS2 regulates priming defence in postharvest peach through combined salicylic acid and abscisic acid signaling
<p>MADS-box genes play well-documented roles in plant development, but relatively little has been recorded regarding their involvement in the defence response. Herein, the treatment of peach fruit with BABA activated resistance against Rhizopus stolonifer, leading to a significant delay in the symptomatic appearance of Rhizopus rot disease. This protection was greatly potent in R. stolonifer-inoculated peaches and equipped the intertwined defence response containing H2O2 burst, ABA accumulation and callose deposition. Moreover, nucleus-localized PpMADS2 was identified as a PpNPR1 interacting partner via cDNA library screening. Y2H, LCI and co-IP assays further verified the interaction between PpNPR1 and PpMADS2. The DNA binding activity of PpNPR1 conferred by the PpNPR1-PpMADS2 complex was required for the transcription of SA-dependent PR and ABA-inducible PpCalS genes to gain the augmented BABA-IR, in which the PpMAPK1-induced posttranslational modification of PpMADS2 simultaneously was involved. Accordingly, PpMADS2 overexpression potentiated the transcription of a group of PR genes and fungal resistance in transgenic Arabidopsis. Conversely, mads2 knockout lines showed high sensitivity to fungal pathogen. Therefore, the results indicate that PpMADS2 positively participates in the BABA-elicited defence in peaches through the collaboration of SA-dependent NPR1 activation and ABA-signaling callose accumulation, which is also related to the posttranslational modification of PpMADS2 by PpMAPK1 for signal amplification.</p>
Omic characterisation of multi-component defences against the necrotrophic pathogen Pyrenophora tritici-repentis in wheat
<p>Supplementary data for a paper submission. The abstract is below. </p> <p> </p> <p><span><span>·<span> </span></span></span>Tan Spot disease is caused by the necrotrophic pathogen <em>Pyrenophora tritici-repentis</em> (<em>Ptr</em>) and poses a significant threat to global wheat production. Therefore, novel sources of resistance need to be identified, coupled with a fuller mechanistic understanding of host responses to <em>Ptr.</em></p> <p><span><span>·<span> </span></span></span>Herein, we characterise the interaction between <span>a <span>ToxA</span>-positive <em>Ptr</em> strain and parental wheat lines from a multiparent advanced generation intercross (MAGIC) population. Genotypes displaying moderate resistance (‘Robigus’) or susceptibility (‘Hereward’) to <em>Ptr </em>challenge were identified and characterised through histological, metabolomic, and transcriptomic approaches.</span></p> <p><span><span>·<span> </span></span></span><span>Histological investigations indicated the prominence of papilla-based defences in Robigus. Transcriptomic analyses could link this to the expression of barrier-related genes i.e. </span>actin polymerisation, callose deposition, vesicle trafficking, and cellulose synthesis. Inhibiting actin polymerisation with cytochalasin E increased lesion numbers but did not augment lesion growth, suggesting the deployment of other defence mechanisms. These may be influenced by auxin, as its exogenous application exacerbated symptom development.</p> <p><span><span>·<span> </span></span></span>Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses in Hereward following challenge with <em>Ptr</em> suggested shifts in primary metabolism, affecting glycolysis, the TCA cycle, and the γ-<span>aminob</span>utyric acid (GABA) shunt. Activation of salicylic acid (SA)-associated genes, including NPR1 and WRKY33, was specific to Hereward, and exogenous SA increased susceptibility to <em><span>Ptr </span></em><span>in both genotypes</span>.</p> <p><span><span>·<span> </span></span></span>This study suggests <span>barrier defences </span>could be effective against <em><span>Ptr </span></em><span>as well as a lack of </span>susceptibility factors like SA or the appropriate processing of IAA. These findings offer potential avenues for enhancing wheat resistance to <em>Ptr</em>.</p>
Plant-to-plant defence induction in cotton is mediated by delayed release of volatiles upon herbivory
<p>Data and R scripts for statistical analyses for the article <strong>"Plant-to-plant defence induction in cotton is mediated by delayed release of volatiles upon herbivory"</strong>.</p> <p>By: Luca Grandi, Wenfeng Ye, Mary V. Clancy, Armelle Vallat, Gaétan Glauser, Luis Abdala-Roberts, Thierry Brevault, Betty Benrey, Ted C.J. Turlings, Carlos Bustos-Segura</p> <p><strong>Summary:</strong></p> <p>· Caterpillar feeding immediately triggers the release of volatile compounds stored in the leaves of cotton plants. Additionally, after one day of herbivory, the leaves release other newly synthesised volatiles. We investigated whether these volatiles affect chemical defences in neighbouring plants and whether such temporal shifts in emissions matter for signalling between plants. </p> <p>· Undamaged receiver plants were exposed to volatiles from plants infested with <em>Spodoptera </em>caterpillars. For receiver plants, we measured changes in defence-related traits such as volatile emissions, secondary metabolites, phytohormones, gene expression, and caterpillar feeding preference. Then, we compared the effects of volatiles emitted prior to and after 24 h of damage on neighbouring plant defences. </p> <p>· Genes that were upregulated in receiver plants following exposure to volatiles from damaged plants were the same as those activated directly by herbivory on a plant. Only volatiles emitted after 24 h of damage, including newly produced volatiles, were found to increase phytohormone levels, upregulate defence genes, and enhance resistance to caterpillars.</p> <p>· These results indicate that the defence induction by volatiles is a specific response to <em>de novo</em> synthesised volatiles, suggesting that these compounds are honest signals of herbivore attack. These findings point to an adaptive origin of airborne signalling between plants.</p>
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.