Article Addendum

The role of isoprene in insect herbivory

Volume 3, Issue 12   December 2008
Pages 1141 - 1142
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/psb.3.12.7171
Authors: Jullada Laothawornkitkul, Nigel D. Paul, Claudia E. Vickers, Malcolm Possell, Philip M. Mullineaux, C. Nicholas Hewitt and Jane E. Taylor

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Abstract:
Several hypotheses have previously been proposed to explain the function of isoprene in plants, including its ability to protect the leaf metabolic machinery from transient high temperature1,2 and from oxidative stress.3 Isoprene may also serve as a metabolic overflow mechanism for carbon or photosynthetic energy4-6 and may promote flowering in neighbouring plants.7 We have reported recently that isoprene can be detected by a herbivore, Manduca sexta, and that it directly deters them from feeding, with an isoprene emission threshold level of <6 nmol m-2 s-1.8 We demonstrated this using both in vivo experiments, using isoprene-emitting transgenic tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun) and non-emitting azygous control plants, and in vitro experiments, using an artificial (isoprene-emitting and non-emitting control) diet. Here we discuss the potential role of isoprene in plant-herbivore interactions and the possibility that isoprene actually serves multiple purposes in plants.

Addendum to: Laothawornkitkul J, Paul ND, Vickers CE, Possell M, Taylor JE, Mullineaux PM, Hewitt CN. Isoprene emissions influence herbivore feeding decisions. Plant Cell Environm 2008; 31:1410-5; PMID: 18643955; DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3040.2008.01849.x.

Received: October 13, 2008; Accepted: October 13, 2008

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