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Plant–Insect Bioassay for Testing Arabidopsis Resistance to the Generalist Herbivore Spodoptera littoralis

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Jasmonate in Plant Biology

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2085))

Abstract

Jasmonates are essential engineers of plant defense responses against many pests, including herbivorous insects. Herbivory induces the production of jasmonic acid (JA) and its bioactive conjugate jasmonoyl-l-isoleucine (JA-Ile), which then triggers a large transcriptional reprogramming to promote plant acclimation. The contribution of the JA pathway, including its components and regulators, to defense responses against insect herbivory can be evaluated by conducting bioassays with a wide range of host plants and insect pests. Here, we describe a detailed and reproducible protocol for testing feeding behavior of the generalist herbivore Spodoptera littoralis on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and hence infer the contribution of JA-mediated plant defense responses to a chewing insect.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to O. Kindler and R. Reist (Stein, CH) for providing S. littoralis eggs; to E. Warkus (Halle, DE) for manufacturing the custom-made bioassay cages; and to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant GA 2419/2-1 to D.G.) and IPB–Leibniz Association for funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Signal Processing, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Stefan Mielke & Debora Gasperini

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  1. Stefan Mielke
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  2. Debora Gasperini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Debora Gasperini .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. UMR DIADE - IRD, Montpellier, France

    Antony Champion

  2. UMR DIADE - IRD, Montpellier, France

    Laurent Laplaze

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Mielke, S., Gasperini, D. (2020). Plant–Insect Bioassay for Testing Arabidopsis Resistance to the Generalist Herbivore Spodoptera littoralis. In: Champion, A., Laplaze, L. (eds) Jasmonate in Plant Biology. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2085. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-0142-6_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-0142-6_5

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-0141-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-0142-6

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