Using plant chemistry to improve interactions between plants, herbivores and their natural enemies: challenges and opportunities

Erb, Matthias; Züst, Tobias; Robert, Christelle Aurélie Maud (2021). Using plant chemistry to improve interactions between plants, herbivores and their natural enemies: challenges and opportunities. Current opinion in biotechnology, 70, pp. 262-265. Elsevier 10.1016/j.copbio.2021.05.011

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Plant secondary (or specialized) metabolites determine multitrophic interaction dynamics. Herbivore natural enemies exploit plant volatiles for host location and are negatively affected by plant defense chemicals that are transferred through herbivores. Recent work shows that herbivore natural enemies can evolve resistance to plant defense chemicals, and that generating plant defense resistance through forward evolution enhances their capacity to prey on herbivores. Here, we discuss how this knowledge can be used to engineer better biocontrol agents. We argue that herbivore natural enemies which are adapted to plant chemistry will likely enhance the efficacy of future pest control efforts. Detailed phenotyping and field experiments will be necessary to quantify costs and benefits of optimizing chemical links between plants and higher trophic levels.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Review 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, Robert, Christelle Aurélie Maud

Subjects:

500 Science > 580 Plants (Botany)

ISSN:

0958-1669

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Peter Alfred von Ballmoos-Haas

Date Deposited:

22 Jul 2021 10:24

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:52

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.copbio.2021.05.011

PubMed ID:

34242994

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/157629

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/157629

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