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Plant-Herbivore Interactions: Insights from Chemical Ecology and Chemodiversity
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Plant-Herbivore Interactions: Insights from Chemical Ecology and Chemodiversity

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Protection and Biotic Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 June 2024) | Viewed by 9726

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Renato Crespo Pereira

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro Research Institute, Rio de Janeiro 22460-030, Brazil
Interests: marine ecology; marine chemical ecology; marine natural products; benthic ecology
Prof. Dr. Davyson de Lima Moreira

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Natural Products Laboratory, Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro Research Institute, Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, Rio de Janeiro 22460-030, Brazil
Interests: chemistry of natural products; analytical methodologies; chemical ecology; piperaceae; chemophenetics; chemodiversity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Bernardo Antonio Perez Da Gama

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Marine Biology Department, Federal Fluminense University, Niterói 24210-201, Brazil
Interests: benthic ecology; ecology of seaweeds; marine chemical ecology; antifouling; biofouling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Chemically mediated interactions between plants and herbivores are known as key drivers of ecological and evolutionary processes in terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems. Herbivores, faced with resources with different nutritional characteristics and palatability, have developed several adaptations that drive plants concomitantly, and consequently, to produce secondary metabolites (SMs), with different patterns of diversification (chemodiversity), forming the basis for chemical ecology. The specific mechanisms through which trophic relations contribute to the diversification of SMs, and ultimately to the maintenance of biodiversity in the environment, as well as their role in structuring biological communities are still to be explored. Despite the knowledge accumulated in decades of study, there are still many gaps that need to be filled, involving, for example, previous and current plant–herbivore interactions at the population level and the observed patterns of conserved SMs (constitutive) versus activated or induced ones.  Further, there is a need to broaden the one-sided focus to different specific life stages at different organizational levels for the entire developmental process and their respective assessments of chemical responses to biological drivers such as herbivory. At the ontogenetic level, there are few analyses of the production of herbivore effectors and the expression of plant defense genes that can considerably expand the range of reproduction targets.

In this Special Issue, original articles, methods, opinions, perspectives, hypotheses, modeling, and reviews exploring these approaches in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments will be very welcome. The themes can also be varied, involving aspects such as metabolism, metabolomic, effects of biotic and abiotic factors on chemical mediation, and chemical mediation as a structuring element at different levels of organization.

We are excited to create this Special Issue that covers plant–herbivore chemical interaction in aquatic and terrestrial environments at different scales of chemodiversity in the journal Plants. This Special Edition aims to collect high-quality manuscripts on different aspects involving chemically mediated plant–herbivore interactions.

Prof. Dr. Renato Crespo Pereira
Prof. Dr. Davyson de Lima Moreira
Dr. Bernardo Antonio Perez Da Gama
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • chemical ecology
  • chemical mediation
  • phenotypic chemical diversity
  • plant defense traits
  • evolution of chemical defense
  • chemodiversity
  • chemically mediated interactions
  • herbivory

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 1703 KiB  
Article
Green Lacewing Chrysoperla externa Is Attracted to Volatile Organic Compounds and Essential Oils Extracted from Eucalyptus urograndis Leaves
by David Jackson Vieira Borges, Rafael Aparecido Carvalho Souza, Alberto de Oliveira, Raquel Maria Ferreira de Sousa, Henrique Venâncio, Guilherme Ramos Demetrio, Bianca Giuliano Ambrogi and Jean Carlos Santos
Plants 2024, 13(16), 2192; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13162192 - 8 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1255
Abstract
Plant herbivore interactions have long been recognized as a complex interplay influenced by various factors, including plant volatile emissions. Understanding the role of these volatiles in mediating plant predator interactions is crucial for developing sustainable pest management strategies. This study investigated the olfactory [...] Read more.
Plant herbivore interactions have long been recognized as a complex interplay influenced by various factors, including plant volatile emissions. Understanding the role of these volatiles in mediating plant predator interactions is crucial for developing sustainable pest management strategies. This study investigated the olfactory preferences of Chrysoperla externa larvae for volatiles emitted by Eucalyptus urograndis leaves, focusing on both seedlings and essential oils (EOs). We used Y-tube olfactometry to compare larval preferences between the clean air and various plant treatments, including undamaged and herbivore-damaged leaves. Chemical analysis of EOs revealed higher concentrations of oxygenated monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes in young and damaged leaves, particularly linalool, which has been implicated in insect attraction. Our results showed a significant preference for volatiles emitted by young damaged leaves over clean air for both seedlings (χ2 = 11.03, p = 0.001) and EOs (χ2 = 9.76, p = 0.002). Chrysoperla externa larvae are significantly attracted to specific volatiles from damaged E. urograndis leaves, suggesting these compounds could serve as cues for natural enemy foraging. Our findings enhance the understanding of plant–predator dynamics and suggest potential applications of eucalyptus plantations to sustain C. externa populations for biocontrol purposes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant-Herbivore Interactions: Insights from Chemical Ecology and Chemodiversity)
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18 pages, 2592 KiB  
Article
Biochemical Responses in Populus tremula: Defending against Sucking and Leaf-Chewing Insect Herbivores
by Filip Pastierovič, Alina Kalyniukova, Jaromír Hradecký, Ondřej Dvořák, Jan Vítámvás, Kanakachari Mogilicherla and Ivana Tomášková
Plants 2024, 13(9), 1243; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13091243 - 30 Apr 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1873
Abstract
The main biochemical traits were estimated in poplar leaves under biotic attack (aphids and spongy moth infestation). Changes in the abundance of bioactive compounds in genetically uniform individuals of European aspen (Populus tremula), such as proline, polyphenolic compounds, chlorophylls a and [...] Read more.
The main biochemical traits were estimated in poplar leaves under biotic attack (aphids and spongy moth infestation). Changes in the abundance of bioactive compounds in genetically uniform individuals of European aspen (Populus tremula), such as proline, polyphenolic compounds, chlorophylls a and b, and volatile compounds, were determined between leaves damaged by sucking insects (aphid—Chaitophorus nassonowi) and chewing insects (spongy moth—Lymantria dispar) compared to uninfected leaves. Among the nine analyzed phenolic compounds, only catechin and procyanidin showed significant differences between the control leaves and leaves affected by spongy moths or aphids. GC-TOF-MS volatile metabolome analysis showed the clear separation of the control versus aphids-infested and moth-infested leaves. In total, the compounds that proved to have the highest explanatory power for aphid-infested leaves were 3-hexenal and 5-methyl-2-furanone, and for moth-infested leaves, trans-α-farnesene and 4-cyanocyclohexane. The aphid-infested leaves contained around half the amount of chlorophylls and twice the amount of proline compared to uninfected leaves, and these results evidenced that aphids influence plant physiology more than chewing insects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant-Herbivore Interactions: Insights from Chemical Ecology and Chemodiversity)
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15 pages, 1592 KiB  
Article
Chemical Defense against Herbivory in the Brown Marine Macroalga Padina gymnospora Could Be Attributed to a New Hydrocarbon Compound
by Renato Crespo Pereira, Wladimir Costa Paradas, Rodrigo Tomazetto de Carvalho, Davyson de Lima Moreira, Alphonse Kelecom, Raoni Moreira Ferreira Passos, Georgia Correa Atella and Leonardo Tavares Salgado
Plants 2023, 12(5), 1073; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12051073 - 28 Feb 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2454
Abstract
Brown marine macroalga Padina gymnospora (Phaeophyceae, Ochrophyta) produces both secondary metabolites (phlorotannins) and precipitate calcium carbonate (CaCO3—aragonite) on its surface as potential defensive strategies against herbivory. Here, we have evaluated the effect of natural concentrations of organic extracts (dichloromethane—DI; ethyl acetate—EA [...] Read more.
Brown marine macroalga Padina gymnospora (Phaeophyceae, Ochrophyta) produces both secondary metabolites (phlorotannins) and precipitate calcium carbonate (CaCO3—aragonite) on its surface as potential defensive strategies against herbivory. Here, we have evaluated the effect of natural concentrations of organic extracts (dichloromethane—DI; ethyl acetate—EA and methanol—ME, and three isolated fractions) and mineralized tissues of P. gymnospora as chemical and physical resistance, respectively, against the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus through experimental laboratory feeding bioassays. Fatty acids (FA), glycolipids (GLY), phlorotannins (PH) and hydrocarbons (HC) were also characterized and/or quantified in extracts and fractions from P. gymnospora using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and gas chromatography (GC) coupled to mass spectrometry (CG/MS) or GC coupled to flame ionization detector (FID) and chemical analysis. Our results showed that chemicals from the EA extract of P. gymnospora were significantly important in reducing consumption by L. variegatus, but the CaCO3 did not act as a physical protection against consumption by this sea urchin. An enriched fraction containing 76% of the new hydrocarbon 5Z,8Z,11Z,14Z-heneicosatetraene exhibited a significant defensive property, while other chemicals found in minor amounts, such as GLY, PH, saturated and monounsaturated FAs and CaCO3 did not interfere with the susceptibility of P. gymnospora to L. variegatus consumption. We suggest that the unsaturation of the 5Z,8Z,11Z,14Z-heneicosatetraene from P. gymnospora is probably an important structural characteristic responsible for the defensive property verified against the sea urchin. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant-Herbivore Interactions: Insights from Chemical Ecology and Chemodiversity)
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25 pages, 3106 KiB  
Article
Volatile Chemical Variation of Essential Oils and Their Correlation with Insects, Phenology, Ontogeny and Microclimate: Piper mollicomum Kunth, a Case of Study
by Daniel de Brito-Machado, Ygor Jessé Ramos, Anna Carina Antunes e Defaveri, George Azevedo de Queiroz, Elsie Franklin Guimarães and Davyson de Lima Moreira
Plants 2022, 11(24), 3535; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11243535 - 15 Dec 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3064
Abstract
The aim of this study was to monitor the volatile chemical composition from leaves and reproductive organs of Piper mollicomum Kunth (PM), in its reproduction period, as well as register inflorescence visitors, microclimate and phenological information. The essential oils (EOs) obtained from the [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to monitor the volatile chemical composition from leaves and reproductive organs of Piper mollicomum Kunth (PM), in its reproduction period, as well as register inflorescence visitors, microclimate and phenological information. The essential oils (EOs) obtained from the different fresh organs by hydrodistillation were identified and quantified by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) and by GC coupled to a Flame Ionization Detector (GC/FID), respectively. The cercentage content of some volatiles present in reproductive organs, such as limonene, 1,8-cineole, linalool and eupatoriochromene, increased during the maturation period of the inflorescences, and decreased during the fruiting period, suggesting a defense/attraction activities. Furtermore, a biosynthetic dichotomy between 1,8-cineole (leaves) and linalool (reproductive organs) was recorded. A high frequency of bee visits was registered weekly, and some correlations showed a positive relationship between this variable and terpenes. Microclimate has an impact on this species’ phenological cycles and insect visiting behavior. All correlations between volatiles, insects, phenology and microclimate allowed us to present important data about the complex information network in PM. These results are extremely relevant for the understanding of the mechanisms of chemical–ecological plant–insect interactions in Piperaceae, a basal angiosperm. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant-Herbivore Interactions: Insights from Chemical Ecology and Chemodiversity)
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