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Phloem Sugar Flux and Jasmonic Acid-Responsive Cell Wall Invertase Control Extrafloral Nectar Secretion in Ricinus communis

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Abstract

Plants secrete extrafloral nectar (EFN) that attracts predators. The efficiency of the resulting anti-herbivore defense depends on the quantity and spatial distribution of EFN. Thus, according to the optimal defense hypothesis (ODH), plants should secrete EFN on the most valuable organs and when herbivore pressure is high. Ricinus communis plants secreted most EFN on the youngest (i.e., most valuable) leaves and after the simulation of herbivory via the application of jasmonic acid (JA). Here, we investigated the physiological mechanisms that might produce these seemingly adaptive spatiotemporal patterns. Cell wall invertase (CWIN; EC 3.2.1.26) was most active in the hours before peak EFN secretion, its decrease preceded the decrease in EFN secretion, and CWIN activity was inducible by JA. Thus, CWIN appears to be a central player in EFN secretion: its activation by JA is likely to cause the induction of EFN secretion after herbivory. Shading individual leaves decreased EFN secretion locally on these leaves with no effect on CWIN activity in the nectaries, which is likely to be because it decreased the content of sucrose, the substrate of CWIN, in the phloem. Our results demonstrate how the interplay of two physiological processes can cause ecologically relevant spatiotemporal patterns in a plant defense trait.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Antonio Cisneros for taking the photographs of R. communis, CINVESTAV-Irapuato for providing all field facilities and Caroline Woods as well as three anonymous referees for multiple valuable comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. CONACyT of México is gratefully acknowledged for financial support to DOT (grant: 191236) and MH (project grants: 129678 and 130656).

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  1. Departamento de Ingeniería Genética, CINVESTAV-Irapuato, Km. 9.6 Libramiento Norte, 36821, Irapuato, Guanajuato, México

    Cynthia Millán-Cañongo, Domancar Orona-Tamayo & Martin Heil

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  1. Cynthia Millán-Cañongo
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  2. Domancar Orona-Tamayo
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  3. Martin Heil
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Correspondence to Martin Heil.

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Cynthia Millán-Cañongo and Domancar Orona-Tamayo have contributed equally to this paper

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Millán-Cañongo, C., Orona-Tamayo, D. & Heil, M. Phloem Sugar Flux and Jasmonic Acid-Responsive Cell Wall Invertase Control Extrafloral Nectar Secretion in Ricinus communis . J Chem Ecol 40, 760–769 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-014-0476-3

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