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Scopolamine in Brugmansia Suaveolens (Solanaceae): Defense, Allocation, Costs, and Induced Response

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Abstract

Brugmansia suaveolens (Solanaceae) contains tropane alkaloids (TAs), which can act as chemical defenses. Selective pressures might modulate the allocation of alkaloids within the plant, as postulated by optimal-defense theory. By tracing scopolamine, the most abundant TA in this species, we found that scopolamine in an artificial diet, in concentrations similar to those in leaves of B. suaveolens, increased mortality and prolonged developmental time of the larvae of the generalist noctuid moth Spodoptera frugiperda. A diet of undamaged leaves of B. suaveolens also showed a large negative effect on the growth of larvae of S. frugiperda compared to a diet of leaves of Ricinus communis, a species that did not have negative effects on this moth; more valuable plant parts, such as young leaves, flowers, and unripe fruits with seeds, have higher scopolamine concentrations than other tissues; leaves of B. suaveolens increase their content of scopolamine after artificial damage. The highest induction was found 24 hr after the damage, and after that, scopolamine content decreased to constitutive levels. This increase represented a cost, because in another experiment, a treatment with methyl jasmonate, an elicitor hormone, increased scopolamine production 9.5-fold and decreased leaf growth 2.3-fold; a diet of artificially damaged leaves of B. suaveolens showed a negative effect on the growth of larvae of S. furgiperda compared to undamaged leaves, suggesting that damage by herbivores induces resistance. Our data are in line with the optimal-defense theory, but experiments in the field with herbivores that share an evolutionary history with B. suaveolens must be undertaken to understand the dynamics of TA allocation in response to herbivory.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Flávia Tavares Colpas, Keith S. Brown, Klaas Vrieling, Rodrigo Cogni, Suzana de Fátima Alcântara, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript. The research was supported by a Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo grant for JRT (98/01065-7). We thank also the Prefeitura Municipal de Jundiaí for permission to work in Serra do Japi. This work is part of the Ph.D. dissertation of MNA at Pós-Graduação em Biologia Vegetal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade de Campinas.

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  1. Centro Pluridisciplinar de Pesquisas Químicas, Biológicas e Agrícolas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, C.P. 6171, Campinas, São Paulo, 13.081-970, Brazil

    Marcos Nopper Alves & Adilson Sartoratto

  2. Laboratório de Ecologia Química, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, C.P. 6109, Campinas, São Paulo, 13.083-970, Brazil

    José Roberto Trigo

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  1. Marcos Nopper Alves
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Correspondence to José Roberto Trigo.

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Alves, M.N., Sartoratto, A. & Trigo, J.R. Scopolamine in Brugmansia Suaveolens (Solanaceae): Defense, Allocation, Costs, and Induced Response. J Chem Ecol 33, 297–309 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-006-9214-9

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