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Rapidly Induced Chemical Defenses in Maize Stems and Their Effects on Short-term Growth of Ostrinia nubilalis

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Abstract

Plants damaged by insect herbivory often respond by inducing a suite of defenses that can negatively affect an insect’s growth and fecundity. Ostrinia nubilalis (European corn borer, ECB) is one of the most devastating insect pests of maize, and in the current study, we examined the early biochemical changes that occur in maize stems in response to ECB herbivory and how these rapidly induced defenses influence the growth of ECB. We measured the quantities of known maize defense compounds, benzoxazinoids and the kauralexin class of diterpenoid phytoalexins. ECB herbivory resulted in decreased levels of the benzoxazinoid, 2,4-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-1,4-benzoxazin-3-one)-β-D-glucopyranose (DIMBOA-Glc), and a corresponding increase in 2-(2-hydroxy-4,7-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoxazin-3-one)-β-D-glucopyranose (HDMBOA-Glc). Total quantities of benzoxazinoids and kauralexins were increased as early as 24 h after the initiation of ECB feeding. The plant hormones, jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene (ET), and the transcripts encoding their key biosynthetic enzymes also accumulated in response to ECB herbivory, consistent with a role in defense regulation. The combined pharmacological application of JA and the ET precursor, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid to stem internode tissue likewise resulted in changes in benzoxazinoids similar to that observed with ECB damage. Despite the fact that maize actively mounts a defense response to ECB stem feeding, no differences in percent weight gain were observed between ECB larvae that fed upon non-wounded control tissues compared to tissues obtained from plants previously subjected to 24 h ECB stem herbivory. These rapid defense responses in maize stems do not appear to negatively impact ECB growth, thus suggesting that ECB have adapted to these induced biochemical changes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank B. Forguson for greenhouse assistance, H. Alborn, and S. Willms for technical assistance, and student workers M. Legaspi and J. Thomas for laboratory assistance.

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  1. Center of Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, USDA and Agricultural Research Service, 1600/1700 Southwest 23rd Drive, Gainesville, FL, 32608, USA

    Nicole J. Dafoe, Alisa Huffaker, Martha M. Vaughan, Adrian J. Duehl, Peter E. Teal & Eric A. Schmelz

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  1. Nicole J. Dafoe
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  2. Alisa Huffaker
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  3. Martha M. Vaughan
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Correspondence to Nicole J. Dafoe.

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Supplemental Fig. 1

Validation plots evaluating target and reference gene primer efficiency for quantitative real-time PCR. The variation of ΔCT (CT target–CT reference) with template cDNA dilutions (1, 1:10, 1:100, 1:1000) was determined to verify that amplification reactions had the same PCR efficiency. The slope of the resulting semi-log regression line was used as criterion for passing the validation experiment. The absolute value of the slope of ΔCT vs. log input for each primer pair was <0.1. A) anthranilate synthase subunit 2 ASsub2, B) anther ear 2 An2 and C) allene oxide synthase AOS primers were validated with elongation factor 1α EF1α and D) 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase ACC Ox was validated with ribosomal protein 17 RPL17. (PDF 31 kb)

Supplemental Fig. 2

Effect of jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene (ET) precursor, aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) on kauralexin accumulation. Comparison of average total kauralexin concentrations at 24 h between control, wounded, JA, ACC and JA and ACC treated stem internode tissue (N = 5, ±SEM). Different letters (a–c) represent significant differences (P < 0.01 for all ANOVAS; P < 0.05 for Tukey test corrections for multiple comparisons). (PDF 12 kb)

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Dafoe, N.J., Huffaker, A., Vaughan, M.M. et al. Rapidly Induced Chemical Defenses in Maize Stems and Their Effects on Short-term Growth of Ostrinia nubilalis . J Chem Ecol 37, 984–991 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-011-0002-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-011-0002-9

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