Plant Responses to Insect Herbivores

Dear Colleagues,

Insect herbivores are the most abundant and diverse attackers of plants, thereby inducing defensive traits that influence consumers at higher trophic levels. Heavy invasions of phloem-feeding herbivores cause prolonged deficiencies of photosynthates and lead to a severe reduction in plant growth. Herbivore insects alter photosynthetic activity and/or photosynthetic gene expression levels in the affected plants. The effects on photosynthesis were determined with the use of chlorophyll fluorescence and thermal imaging system techniques. Foliage damage by insects down-regulates the expression of photosynthesis-related genes, as an adaptive response that allows plants to invest resources in immediate insect defense needs, debilitating near term losses in photosynthetic capacity.
Plants have evolved complex defence mechanisms to withstand and counter herbivore attack with a variety of induced responses. Upon attack by insect herbivores, plants emit a mixture of volatile organic compounds that can act as both attractants and repellents to further colonization by the same or other insect species. These herbivore-induced plant-volatiles can provide specific information on the status of the plant to various community members both below and aboveground, including predators, herbivores, pollinators, or neighboring plants. Moreover, plants are known to synthesize a range of secondary metabolites in response to insect herbivores that either exist in biologically active forms or are stored as inactive precursors and converted by host enzymes to active forms in response to attack or tissue damage. With the application of new modern methods, a better understanding of the interactions between plants and insects can be revealed that can transform crop production through increased disease resistance and crop yield.
We would like to take this opportunity to invite contributions from experts. We encourage original research submissions, as well as review/mini review articles, concerning basic aspects and future directions in the field.

Prof. Michael Moustakas
Dr. Stefanos Andreadis
Collection Editors

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