Trade-offs in non-native plant herbivore defences enhance performance

Non-native plants are typically released from specialist enemies but continue to be attacked by generalists, albeit at lower intensities. This reduced herbivory may lead to less investment in constitutive defences and greater investment in induced defences, potentially reducing defence costs. We compared herbivory on 27 non-native and 59 native species in the field and conducted bioassays and chemical analyses on 12 pairs of non-native and native congeners. Non-natives suffered less damage and had weaker constitutive defences, but stronger induced defences than natives. For non-natives, the strength of constitutive defences was correlated with the intensity of herbivory experienced, whereas induced defences showed the reverse. Investment in induced defences correlated positively with growth, suggesting a novel mechanism for the evolution of increased competitive ability. To our knowledge, these are the first linkages reported among trade-offs in plant defences related to the intensity of herbivory, allocation to constitutive versus induced defences, and growth.

Rapid growth and defence evolution following multiple introductions

Rapid adaptation can aid invasive populations in their competitive success. Resource allocation trade-off hypotheses predict higher resource availability or the lack of natural enemies in introduced ranges allow for increased growth and reproduction, thus contributing to invasive success. Evidence for such hypotheses is however equivocal and tests among multiple ranges over productivity gradients are required to provide a better understanding of the general applicability of these theories.Using common gardens, we investigated the adaptive divergence of various constitutive and inducible defence-related traits between the native North American and introduced European and Australian ranges, while controlling for divergence due to latitudinal trait clines, individual resource budgets, and population differentiation, using >11,000 SNPs.Rapid, repeated clinal adaptation in defence-related traits was apparent despite distinct demographic histories. We also identified divergence among ranges in some defence-related traits, although differences in energy budgets among ranges may explain some, but not all, defence-related trait divergence. We do not identify a general reduction in defence in concert with an increase in growth among the multiple introduced ranges as predicted trade-off hypotheses. Synthesis: The rapid spread of invasive species is affected by a multitude of factors, likely including adaptation to climate and escape from natural enemies. Unravelling the mechanisms underlying invasives' success enhances understanding of eco-evolutionary theory and is essential to inform management strategies in the face of ongoing climate change.

OPEN RESEARCH BADGES

This article has been awarded Open Materials, Open Data, Preregistered Research Designs Badges. All materials and data are publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8028875.v1, https://github.com/lotteanna/defence_adaptation,https://doi.org/10.1101/435271.

Immigration of susceptible hosts triggers the evolution of alternative parasite defence strategies

Migration of hosts and parasites can have a profound impact on host-parasite ecological and evolutionary interactions. Using the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa UCBPP-PA14 and its phage DMS3vir, we here show that immigration of naive hosts into coevolving populations of hosts and parasites can influence the mechanistic basis underlying host defence evolution. Specifically, we found that at high levels of bacterial immigration, bacteria switched from clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR-Cas) to surface modification-mediated defence. This effect emerges from an increase in the force of infection, which tips the balance from CRISPR to surface modification-based defence owing to the induced and fixed fitness costs associated with these mechanisms, respectively.

Silencing OsSLR1 enhances the resistance of rice to the brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens

DELLA proteins, negative regulators of the gibberellin (GA) pathway, play important roles in plant growth, development and pathogen resistance by regulating multiple phytohormone signals. Yet, whether and how they regulate plant herbivore resistance remain unknown. We found that the expression of the rice DELLA gene OsSLR1 was down-regulated by an infestation of female adults of the brown planthopper (BPH) Nilaparvata lugens. On one hand, OsSLR1 positively regulated BPH-induced levels of two mitogen-activated protein kinase and four WRKY transcripts, and of jasmonic acid, ethylene and H₂ O₂ . On the other hand, silencing OsSLR1 enhanced constitutive levels of defence-related compounds, phenolic acids, lignin and cellulose, as well as the resistance of rice to BPH in the laboratory and in the field. The increased resistance in rice with silencing of OsSLR1 is probably due to impaired JA and ethylene pathways, and, at least in part, to the increased lignin level and mechanical hardness of rice leaf sheaths. Our findings illustrate that OsSLR1, acting as an early negative regulator, plays an important role in regulating the resistance of rice to BPH by activating appropriate defence-related signalling pathways and compounds. Moreover, our data also provide new insights into relationships between plant growth and defence.

Testing phenotypic trade-offs in the chemical defence strategy of Scots pine under growth-limiting field conditions

Plants protect themselves from pathogens and herbivores through fine-tuned resource allocation, including trade-offs among resource investments to support constitutive and inducible defences. However, empirical research, especially concerning conifers growing under natural conditions, is still scarce. We investigated the complexity of constitutive and induced defences in a natural Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stand under growth-limiting conditions typical of alpine environments. Phenotypic trade-offs at three hierarchical levels were tested by investigating the behaviour of phenolic compounds and terpenoids of outer bark and phloem. We tested resource-derived phenotypic correlations between (i) constitutive and inducible defences vs tree ring growth, (ii) different constitutive defence metabolites and (iii) constitutive concentration and inducible variation of individual metabolites. Tree ring growth was positively correlated only with constitutive concentration of total terpenoids, and no overall phenotypic trade-offs between different constitutive defensive metabolites were found. At the lowest hierarchical level tested, i.e., at the level of relationship between constitutive and inducible variation of individual metabolites, we found that different compounds displayed different behaviours; we identified five different defensive metabolite response types, based on direction and strength of the response, regardless of tree age and growth rate. Therefore, under growth-limiting field conditions, Scots pine appears to utilize varied and complex outer bark and phloem defence chemistry, in which only part of the constitutive specialized metabolism is influenced by tree growth, and individual components do not appear to be expressed in a mutually exclusive manner in either constitutive or inducible metabolism.

Sex-related differences in growth and carbon allocation to defence in Populus tremula as explained by current plant defence theories

Plant defence theories have recently evolved in such a way that not only the quantity but also the quality of mineral nutrients is expected to influence plant constitutive defence. Recently, an extended prediction derived from the protein competition model (PCM) suggested that nitrogen (N) limitation is more important for the production of phenolic compounds than phosphorus (P). We aimed at studying sexual differences in the patterns of carbon allocation to growth and constitutive defence in relation to N and P availability in Populus tremula L. seedlings. We compared the gender responses in photosynthesis, growth and whole-plant allocation to phenolic compounds at different combination levels of N and P, and studied how they are explained by the main plant defence theories. We found no sexual differences in phenolic concentrations, but interestingly, slow-growing females had higher leaf N concentration than did males, and genders differed in their allocation priority. There was a trade-off between growth and the production of flavonoid-derived phenylpropanoids on one hand, and between the production of salicylates and flavonoid-derived phenylpropanoids on the other. Under limited nutrient conditions, females prioritized mineral nutrient acquisition, flavonoid and condensed tannin (CT) production, while males invested more in above-ground biomass. Salicylate accumulation followed the growth differentiation balance hypothesis as low N mainly decreased the production of leaf and stem salicylate content while the combination of both low N and low P increased the amount of flavonoids and CTs allocated to leaves and to a lesser extent stems, which agrees with the PCM. We suggest that such a discrepancy in the responses of salicylates and flavonoid-derived CTs is linked to their clearly distinct biosynthetic origins and/or their metabolic costs.

Paranoid potato: phytophthora-resistant genotype shows constitutively activated defense

Phytophthora is the most devastating pathogen of dicot plants. There is a need for resistance sources with different modes of action to counteract the fast evolution of this pathogen. In order to better understand mechanisms of defense against P. infestans, we analyzed several clones of potato. Two of the genotypes tested, Sarpo Mira and SW93-1015, exhibited strong resistance against P. infestans in field trials, whole plant assays and detached leaf assays. The resistant genotypes developed different sizes of hypersensitive response (HR)-related lesions. HR lesions in SW93-1015 were restricted to very small areas, whereas those in Sarpo Mira were similar to those in Solanum demissum, the main source of classical resistance genes. SW93-1015 can be characterized as a cpr (constitutive expressor of PR genes) genotype without spontaneous microscopic or macroscopic HR lesions. This is indicated by constitutive hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) production and PR1 (pathogenesis-related protein 1) secretion. SW93-1015 is one of the first plants identified as having classical protein-based induced defense expressed constitutively without any obvious metabolic costs or spontaneous cell death lesions.

ESI FTICR-MS analysis of larvae from the marine sponge Luffariella variabilis

The viviparous Great Barrier Reef sponge Luffariella variabilis (Poléjaeff 1884) contains a range of secondary metabolites, including manoalide (1) and manoalide monoacetate (3). ESI (+) FTICR-MS accurate mass determination has, for the first time, been used to detected the presence of 3 only in an organic extract of a single L. variabilis larva showing that the parentally produced 3 is sequestered in the larva. As 3 has previously been shown to have antibacterial and quorum sensing inhibition activity, and readily converts to 1, which also exhibits similar activity, it may provide a chemical defence against predation and microbial attack.