Rice phenolamindes reduce the survival of female adults of the white-backed planthopper Sogatella furcifera
Wanwan Wang, Zhuoxian Yu, Jinpeng Meng, Pengyong Zhou, Ting Luo, Jin Zhang, Jun Wu, Yonggen Lou
Abstract
Abstract In response to infestation by herbivores, rice plants rapidly biosynthesize defense compounds by activating a series of defense-related pathways. However, which defensive compounds in rice are effective against herbivores remains largely unknown. We found that the infestation of white-backed planthopper (WBPH) Sogatella furcifera gravid females significantly increased levels of jasmonic acid (JA), jasmonoyl-isoleucine (JA-Ile) and H 2 O 2 , and reduced the level of ethylene in rice; levels of 11 of the tested 12 phenolamides (PAs) were subsequently enhanced. In contrast, WBPH nymph infestation had no effect on levels of JA, JA-Ile, ethylene and H 2 O 2 in rice, and enhanced levels of only 2 of 12 PAs. Moreover, infestation by brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens gravid females also affected the production of these PAs differently. Bioassays revealed that 4 PAs – N-feruloylputrescine, N-feruloyltyramine, feruloylagmatine and N1,N10-diferuloylspermidine – were toxic to newly emerged WBPH female adults. Our results suggest that WBPH- or BPH-induced biosynthesis of PAs in rice seems to be shaped primarily by the specific profile of defense-related signals elicited by the herbivore and that PAs play a role in conferring the resistance to WBPH on rice.