The broad-leaf herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid turns rice into a living trap for a major insect pest and a parasitic wasp

Xin, Zhaojun; Yu, Zhaonan; Erb, Matthias; Turlings, Ted C. J.; Wang, Baohui; Qi, Jinfeng; Liu, Shengning; Lou, Yonggen (2012). The broad-leaf herbicide 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid turns rice into a living trap for a major insect pest and a parasitic wasp. New Phytologist, 194(2), pp. 498-510. Wiley-Blackwell 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2012.04057.x

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Synthetic chemical elicitors of plant defense have been touted as a powerful means for sustainable crop protection. Yet, they have never been successfully applied to control insect pests in the field.
We developed a high-throughput chemical genetics screening system based on a herbivore-induced linalool synthase promoter fused to a β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter construct to test synthetic compounds for their potential to induce rice defenses.
We identified 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), an auxin homolog and widely used herbicide in monocotyledonous crops, as a potent elicitor of rice defenses. Low doses of 2,4-D induced a strong defensive reaction upstream of the jasmonic acid and ethylene pathways, resulting in a marked increase in trypsin proteinase inhibitor activity and volatile production. Induced plants were more resistant to the striped stem borer Chilo suppressalis, but became highly attractive to the brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens and its main egg parasitoid Anagrus nilaparvatae. In a field experiment, 2,4-D application turned rice plants into living traps for N. lugens by attracting parasitoids.
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Our findings demonstrate the potential of auxin homologs as defensive signals and show the potential of the herbicide to turn rice into a selective catch crop for an economically important pest.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS) > Biotic Interactions 08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS)
UniBE Contributor:	Erb, Matthias
Subjects:	500 Science > 580 Plants (Botany)
ISSN:	0028-646X
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell
Language:	English
Submitter:	Peter Alfred von Ballmoos-Haas
Date Deposited:	14 Jul 2015 10:19
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:48
Publisher DOI:	10.1111/j.1469-8137.2012.04057.x
Uncontrolled Keywords:	2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid; plant defense;rice; synthetic chemical elicitor; tritrophic interaction
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/70252