Baby cotton plants listen to warning signals, teens tune them out
Briones-May Y, Ramírez-Delgado VH, Garnica-Cabrera A, Sánchez-Durán J, Turlings TCJ
Plant Signaling
If you grow tomatoes, peppers, or any garden plant, this is a reminder that how a plant responds to its stressed neighbors can shift dramatically as it ages, so a pest-prevention trick that works on your seedlings might do nothing once they mature.
When a caterpillar chews on a cotton plant, that plant releases airborne chemical signals that can tip off nearby plants to prepare their defenses. Researchers found that very young cotton seedlings pick up on these signals and respond by making more sugary nectar (which attracts helpful predatory insects) and more bitter defensive compounds in their leaves. But slightly older juvenile plants, just two months further along, essentially ignore the same warning signals, suggesting plants lose this eavesdropping ability as they grow past their most vulnerable early stage.
Key Findings
Seedling emitter plants released larger quantities of volatile compounds after caterpillar damage than older juvenile emitters, and the chemical blend composition also differed between stages.
Seedling receiver plants exposed to damaged neighbors produced more extrafloral nectar (an indirect defense that attracts predatory insects) both before and after herbivory, while juvenile receivers showed no such response.
Seedling receivers also developed higher leaf phenolic concentrations (a direct chemical defense) after exposure to damaged neighbors, an effect absent in juvenile plants.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Young cotton seedlings warned by a damaged neighbor plant beef up their defenses, growing more nectar-producing glands and packing more protective chemicals into their leaves. But once those same plants reach a slightly older juvenile stage, they stop listening to the warning signals entirely.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Ontogenetic Variation in Plant-to-Plant Signaling Effects on Direct and Indirect Defenses in Wild Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum).
Various plant-related factors have been shown to influence volatile organic compound (VOC)-mediated plant-to-plant interactions, but effects of plant ontogeny have been rarely considered. Here, we ...
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