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Review
. 2012 May;17(5):250-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2012.01.003. Epub 2012 Feb 1.

Role of phytohormones in insect-specific plant reactions

Matthias Erb  1 , Stefan Meldau, Gregg A Howe
Affiliations
Review

Role of phytohormones in insect-specific plant reactions

Matthias Erb et al. Trends Plant Sci. 2012 May.

Abstract

The capacity to perceive and respond is integral to biological immune systems, but to what extent can plants specifically recognize and respond to insects? Recent findings suggest that plants possess surveillance systems that are able to detect general patterns of cellular damage as well as highly specific herbivore-associated cues. The jasmonate (JA) pathway has emerged as the major signaling cassette that integrates information perceived at the plant-insect interface into broad-spectrum defense responses. Specificity can be achieved via JA-independent processes and spatio-temporal changes of JA-modulating hormones, including ethylene (ET), salicylic acid (SA), abscisic acid (ABA), auxin, cytokinins (CK), brassinosteroids (BR) and gibberellins (GB). The identification of receptors and ligands and an integrative view of hormone-mediated response systems are crucial to understand specificity in plant immunity to herbivores.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Molecular recognition of pathogens and herbivores by plants. 1. Microbe-, pathogen- and damage-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs, PAMPs and DAMPs) are recognized by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and lead to PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI). 2. Pathogen effectors suppress PTI. 3. Resistance gene products recognize effectors and lead to effector-triggered immunity (ETI). 4. Oviposition-associated compounds are recognized by unknown receptors and trigger defensive responses. 5. Putative herbivore-associated molecular patterns (HAMPs) are recognized by receptors and lead to herbivore-triggered immunity (HTI). 6. Wounding leads to the release of DAMPs and to wound-induced resistance (WIR). 7. Effector-like molecules from insects can suppress HTI and WIR. Uncharacterized elements are indicated by broken lines.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Perception triggers herbivore- and tissue-specific hormonal network responses. (a–d) Conceptual kinetics of three hypothetical phytohormones are shown by solid and broken, black and gray lines. Panels (a–c) with a white background represent the same tissue, whereas panel (d) with a darker background represents a different tissue or tissue age. (a,b) Different herbivores can elicit different hormonal responses. (c,d) Hormonal responses to the same herbivore can show tissue- or age-specific differences. A hypothetical hormone-responsive transcriptional network is then triggered by the different hormones. This network is represented here by specific transcripts (black circles) which differ in their expression intensity (different sizes of the circles) and interact in space and time (solid black lines represent strong interactions and dashed black lines represent weak interactions). Grey ellipses denote specific groups of transcripts that are functionally related. The integration of spatiotemporal changes of hormone signaling into the downstream transcriptional network can lead to herbivore-specific plant responses.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The jasmonate core pathway and its modulating factors. A conceptual, non-exhaustive overview is presented. General and specific herbivore-associated patterns, including HAMPs, DAMPs and wounding, activate the jasmonate pathway (blue area). Increased accumulation of JA-Ile promotes the interaction of JAZ proteins with the SCF ubiquitin ligase SCFCOI1. Ubiquitin-dependent degradation of JAZs by the 26S proteasome releases transcription factors from their JAZ-bound repressed state, thereby activating the expression of transcriptional regulons that promote defense and inhibit vegetative growth. JA-independent hormonal pathways are also induced (purple area), and several hormones, including salicylic acid (SA), ethylene (ET), auxin, gibberellins (GA), cytokinins (CK) and brassinosteroids (BR) modulate JA metabolism and signaling (light-blue area). Herbivory also leads to oxidative stress, changes in intracellular pH and dessication, which modulate the JA pathway either directly or indirectly through other hormones. Together, this leads to complex phenotypic changes that comprise both specific and general responses, the majority of which can be linked back to the jasmonate pathway.
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