Abstract
Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations are among the chief factors shaping the mode and magnitude of interactions between plants and herbivorous insects. Here, we describe the first global analysis of systemic transcriptomic responses of grapevine Vitis vinifera plants to feeding of European grapevine moth Lobesia botrana larvae at future elevated CO2 concentrations. The study was conducted on mature, fruit-bearing grapevine plants under ambient and elevated CO2 concentrations in a grapevine free-air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE) facility. Grapevine transcriptional response to herbivory was clearly dependent on phenological stage, with a higher number of differentially expressed genes identified at fruit development compared to berry ripening. At fruit development, more transcripts were differentially expressed as a response to herbivory under elevated compared to ambient CO2 concentrations. Classification of the respective transcripts revealed that in particular genes involved in metabolic pathways, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites and plant-pathogen interactions were significantly enriched. Most of these genes had similar expression patterns under both CO2 concentrations, with a higher fold-change under elevated CO2 concentrations. Differences in expression levels of a subset of herbivory responsive genes were further validated by RT-qPCR. Our study indicates that future elevated CO2 concentrations will affect interactions between grapevine plants and one of its key insect pests, with consequences for future relevance of L. botrana in worldwide viticulture.
Highlights
Plants interact with herbivorous insects in complex and multi-faceted ways[1,2,3,4]
Production of plant hormones like ethylene or jasmonic acid is suppressed by increasing CO2, while salicylic acid levels have been shown to increase at the same time, affecting specific secondary chemical pathways involved in transcriptional regulation of specific plant defence-related genes[15]
We were interested in answering the following questions: (1) Is the same set of genes expressed after L. botrana herbivory at two different grapevine phenological stages? (2) Do grapevine plants show differential transcriptomic responses to L. botrana herbivory under ambient and elevated CO2 concentrations? (3) How do grapevine plants respond to elevated CO2 concentrations under L. botrana herbivory? This study will provide first insights into the genome-wide transcriptional responses of grapevine plants to feeding of a herbivorous insect, both under current and future CO2 concentrations
Summary
Plants interact with herbivorous insects in complex and multi-faceted ways[1,2,3,4]. Abiotic conditions prevailing in the respective environment are among the chief factors influencing the mode and magnitude of these interactions. We carried out the first global analysis of transcriptomic response of grapevine plants to feeding of a herbivorous insect at two different phenological grapevine stages It is the first assessment of systemic responses in leaves of field-grown, mature and fruit-bearing plants under ambient (current) and elevated (future) CO2 concentrations, grown in a grapevine free-air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE) facility, via high throughput sequencing of transcriptomes (RNA-Seq). This study will provide first insights into the genome-wide transcriptional responses of grapevine plants to feeding of a herbivorous insect, both under current and future CO2 concentrations It will indicate the future importance of the European grapevine moth as a pest insect for worldwide viticulture
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