UC Davis Biological Sciences Newsletter - Spring 1998
Plants Thrive When Insects Trigger Immune ResponsesUC Davis researchers have demon- strated for the first time that plants realize a net benefit when their internal defense systems are "jump started" by leaf-munching insects, thus warding off major damage from later pests. Such inducible immune-like responses--common throughout the plant kingdom--are being studied for their potential as an alternative to chemical pesticides in agriculture."Inducible responses have been observed in plants for more than 100 years, but were experimentally confirmed only in the last two decades," says Anurag Agrawal, a population biology doctoral candidate in the entomology department, who recently reported his findings in the journal Science. "Researchers in this field have predicated much of their work on the presumption that plants do benefit from induced responses," says Agrawal. "This study confirms those assumptions." Agrawal found that wild radish plants with caged caterpillars feeding on their leaves produced more seed during a growing season than did plants in control groups that received no caterpillar damage. The caterpillar-bearing test plants also sustained less damage from other insect pests than did the control plants. Previous research suggests that the caterpillar feeding triggers biochemical changes that make the plant's taste and texture less appealing to insects, Agrawal says. Reference: Agrawal AA. 1998. Science 279:1201-1202.
UC Davis Biological Sciences Newsletter - Spring 1998 |