Plant-plant Communication Research Articles

Airborne induction and priming of plant defenses against a bacterial pathogen.

Herbivore-induced plant volatiles affect the systemic response of plants to local damage and hence represent potential plant hormones. These signals can also lead to "plant-plant communication," a defense induction in yet undamaged plants growing close to damaged neighbors. We observed this phenomenon in the context of disease resistance. Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus) plants in a natural population became more resistant against a bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas syringae pv syringae, when located close to conspecific neighbors in which systemic acquired resistance to pathogens had been chemically induced with benzothiadiazole (BTH). Airborne disease resistance induction could also be triggered biologically by infection with avirulent P. syringae. Challenge inoculation after exposure to induced and noninduced plants revealed that the air coming from induced plants mainly primed resistance, since expression of PATHOGENESIS-RELATED PROTEIN2 (PR-2) was significantly stronger in exposed than in nonexposed individuals when the plants were subsequently challenged by P. syringae. Among others, the plant-derived volatile nonanal was present in the headspace of BTH-treated plants and significantly enhanced PR-2 expression in the exposed plants, resulting in reduced symptom appearance. Negative effects on growth of BTH-treated plants, which usually occur as a consequence of the high costs of direct resistance induction, were not observed in volatile organic compound-exposed plants. Volatile-mediated priming appears to be a highly attractive means for the tailoring of systemic acquired resistance against plant pathogens.

Rhizosphere microbiota interfers with plant-plant interactions

Diversity, structure and productivity of above-ground compartment of terrestrial ecosystems have been generally considered as the main drivers of the relationships between diversity and ecosystem functioning. More recently it has been suggested that plant population dynamics may be linked with the development of the below-ground community. The biologically active soil zone where root-root and rootmicrobe communications occur is named Rhizosphere where root exudates play active roles in regulating rhizosphere interactions. Root exudation can regulate the soil microbial community, withstand herbivory, facilitate beneficial symbioses, modify the chemical and physical soil properties and inhibit the growth of competing plant species. In this review, we explore the current knowledge assessing the importance of root exudates in plant interactions, in communications between parasitic plants and their hosts and how some soil microbial components could regulate plant species coexistence and change relationships between plants. This review will be focussed on several well documented biological processes regulating plant-plant communications such as exotic plant species invasions, negative root-root communication (allelopathy) and parasitic plant / host plant interactions and how some soil microbial components can interfere with signal traffic between roots. The reported data show that the overall effect of one plant to another results from multiple interacting mechanisms where soil microbiota can be considered as a key component. (Resume d'auteur)

Rhizosphere microbiota interfers with plant-plant interactions

Diversity, structure and productivity of above-ground compartment of terrestrial ecosystems have been generally considered as the main drivers of the relationships between diversity and ecosystem functioning. More recently it has been suggested that plant population dynamics may be linked with the development of the below-ground community. The biologically active soil zone where root-root and root-microbe communications occur is named “Rhizosphere” where root exudates play active roles in regulating rhizosphere interactions. Root exudation can regulate the soil microbial community, withstand herbivory, facilitate beneficial symbioses, modify the chemical and physical soil properties and inhibit the growth of competing plant species. In this review, we explore the current knowledge assessing the importance of root exudates in plant interactions, in communications between parasitic plants and their hosts and how some soil microbial components could regulate plant species coexistence and change relationships between plants. This review will be focussed on several well documented biological processes regulating plant-plant communications such as exotic plant species invasions, negative root-root communication (allelopathy) and parasitic plant / host plant interactions and how some soil microbial components can interfere with signal traffic between roots. The reported data show that the overall effect of one plant to another results from multiple interacting mechanisms where soil microbiota can be considered as a key component.

Priming for stress resistance: from the lab to the field

Upon treatment with necrotizing pathogens, many plants develop an enhanced capacity for activating defense responses to biotic and abiotic stress--a process called priming. The primed state can also be induced by colonization of plant roots with beneficial micro-organisms or by treatment of plants with various natural and synthetic compounds. Priming is thought to be the mechanism by which plants can show induced resistance against ostensibly virulent pathogens after a conditioning treatment. Although the phenomenon has been known for years, it has been appreciated just recently that priming for enhanced defense responses can result from plant-plant communication in nature and that priming can also boost the resistance of crops to biotic and abiotic stresses in the field.

Within‐plant signalling via volatiles overcomes vascular constraints on systemic signalling and primes responses against herbivores

Plant volatiles play important roles in signalling between plants and insects, but their role in communication among plants remains controversial. Previous research on plant-plant communication has focused on interactions between neighbouring plants, largely overlooking the possibility that volatiles function as signals within plants. Here, we show that volatiles released by herbivore-wounded leaves of hybrid poplar (Populus deltoides x nigra) prime defences in adjacent leaves with little or no vascular connection to the wounded leaves. Undamaged leaves exposed to volatiles from wounded leaves on the same stem had elevated defensive responses to feeding by gypsy moth larvae (Lymantria dispar L.) compared with leaves that did not receive volatiles. Volatile signals may facilitate systemic responses to localized herbivory even when the transmission of internal signals is constrained by vascular connectivity. Self-signalling via volatiles is consistent with the short distances over which plant response to airborne cues has been observed to occur and has apparent benefits for emitting plants, suggesting that within-plant signalling may have equal or greater ecological significance than signalling between plants.

A Volatile Response to Injury

Plants defend themselves against herbivores by releasing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that repel herbivores or attract herbivore predators. This response to herbivore-induced damage is mediated through jasmonic acid (JA). Herbivore-induced VOCs have also been reported to stimulate defenses in neighboring plants, thereby playing a role in plant-plant communication (see Gershenzon). Heil and Bueno found that regions of field-grown lima bean plants exposed to shoots that had been damaged by leaf beetles grew better, showed less herbivore damage, secreted more extrafloral nectar (EFN, which attracts herbivore predators), and attracted more ants than did regions that were unexposed to damaged shoots. When some leaves of field-grown lima bean plants were stimulated through damage and application of JA to produce VOCs, production of EFN was stimulated in nearby undamaged leaves from the same shoot or from a second shoot of the same plant. Enhanced production of EFN in undamaged leaves was inhibited, however, when the damaged leaves were covered with plastic bags. Exposure to VOCs also primed EFN secretion, so that the response to subsequent damage was greater in leaves previously exposed to VOCs. In experiments on potted plants, in which air from damaged leaves was blown toward undamaged leaves or directed away from them, only undamaged leaves exposed to air from damaged leaves responded with increased production of EFN. Thus, VOCs appear not only to function in plant-plant communication but also to act as an intraplant defense signal. M. Heil, J. C. Silva Bueno, Within-plant signaling by volatiles leads to induction and priming of an indirect plant defense in nature. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104 , 5467-5472 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text] J. Gershenzon, Plant volatiles carry both public and private messages. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104 , 5257-5258 (2007). [Full Text]

Emission of Herbivore-induced Volatiles in Absence of a Herbivore - Response of Zea mays to Green Leaf Volatiles and Terpenoids

Green leaf volatiles (GLV), a series of saturated and monounsaturated six-carbon aldehydes, alcohols, and esters are emitted by plants upon mechanical damage. Evidence is increasing that intact plants respond to GLV by activating their own defense mechanisms, thus suggesting that they function in plant-plant communication. The present paper demonstrates that exposure of maize plants to naturally occurring GLV, including (Z)-3-, (E)-2- and saturated derivatives, induce the emission of volatile blends typically associated with herbivory. Position or configuration of a double bond, but not the functional group of the GLV influenced the strength of the emissions. (Z)-3-Configured compounds elicited stronger responses than (E)-2- and saturated derivatives. The response to (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol increased linearly with the dose between 200 and 1000 nmol per plant. Not only the naturally occurring (E)-2-hexenal, but also (E)-2-pentenal and (E)-2-heptenal induced maize plants, although to a lesser extent. Externally applied terpenoids [(3E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene, beta-caryophyllene, and (E)-beta-farnesene] did not significantly increase the total amount of inducible volatiles in maize. Of three tested maize cultivars Delprim and Pactol responded much stronger than Attribut. Recovery experiments in the presence and absence of maize plants demonstrated that large proportions of externally applied GLV were assimilated by the plants, whereas (3E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene was recovered in much higher amounts. The results furthermore suggested that plants converted a part of the assimilated leaf aldehydes and alcohols to the respective acetates. We propose that GLV not only can alert neighboring plants, but may facilitate intra-plant information transfer and can help mediate the systemic defense response in a plant.

Induction of Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and lipoxtgenase in cotton seedlings by mechanical wounding and aphid infestation*

Abstract It has been suggested that infestation of plants causes increases in the activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and lipowygenase (LOX), key enzymes in the phenolic compounds synthesis pathway and the octadecanoid pathway, respectively. The purpose of this work is to investigate whether he infestation of cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii) and mechanical wound can cause the induction of PAL and LOX activities in cotton seedlings, and whether the induction occurs in healthy seedlings growing nearby the attacked ones. The specific activities of PAL and LOX were measured using spectrophotometric method after aphid infestation and mechanical wounding. Result indicated that PAL activity and LOX activity were greatly induced by mechanical wounding and aphid infestation in cotton seedlings. The induction of PAL and LOX occured not only in wounded and infested seedlings but also in intact healthy seedlings growing nearby. After exposed to the aphid infestation-induced volatiles, the specific activity of PAL in cotton seedlings increased by 6% at 24 h, 80% at 48 h, 235% at 72 h compared to the control, and the specific activity of LOX increased by 18% at 24 h, 34% at 48 h, 24% at 72 h, 200% at 48 h, 164% at 72 h, respectively and the specific activity of LOX increased by 28% at 24 h, 37% at 48 h, 8% at 72 h, respectively. It suggests that the included volatiles are involved in plant-plant communication as airborne transferred signals.

Biochemical and physiological mechanisms mediated by allelochemicals.

Allelochemistry, the production and release of toxic chemicals produced by one species that affect a receiving susceptible species, has been the subject of diverse degrees of scientific enquiry. Recent advances in plant biology have permitted the revamp of allelochemistry as a biologically and ecologically sound explanation for plant invasion and plant-plant communication in the rhizosphere. Recent progress has been made in understanding the biochemical and molecular changes that are induced by allelochemicals in susceptible plant species, and the complex mechanisms that are used by allelochemical-resistant plants to defend against this toxic insult.

Volatile communication between barley plants affects biomass allocation.

Patterns of biomass allocation between different plant organs have often been used to explain the response of plants to variations in resource availability. This paper reports how aerial allelopathy (plant-plant communication) affects biomass allocation, that is the trade-off between root, stem and leaves, and also relative growth rate (RGR, increase in biomass per unit biomass per unit of time, mg g-1 d-1) and its components. Based on previous experiments, communication between two barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars (Alva and Kara) was used for the present study. Kara exposed to volatiles from Alva allocated significantly more biomass to roots compared with Kara exposed to volatiles from Kara or to clean air. There was no significant difference between plants of Kara exposed to volatiles from Kara and those exposed to clean air. Changes in total dry weight (TDW), RGR and unit leaf rate (ULR, increase in biomass per unit time and leaf area, kg m-2 d-1) were not significantly affected by plant-plant communication. However, there was a significant increase in specific leaf area (SLA, leaf area per leaf dry weight, m2 kg-1) in Kara when exposed to volatiles from Alva. The results show that aerial plant-plant communication does not affect total biomass production but does significantly affect biomass allocation in individual plants. There may be differences in the volatile profiles of Kara and Alva that induce increased biomass allocation to roots in the Kara plants exposed to volatiles from Alva.

Chemical information transfer between wounded and unwounded plants: backing up the future

Abstract This special issue on “Chemical information transfer between wounded and unwounded plants” provides an overview of past and ongoing experiments on plant-to-plant communication. Since the studies on plant responses to single gaseous compounds were not particularly emphasised, the actual number of studies relevant to the subject is underestimated. All in all, we think the amount of data on damage-induced plant-to-plant information transfer makes that the phenomenon can no longer be denied and deserves intensified attention by the scientific community. In this epilogue we highlight a couple of issues which received little attention and present some speculative ideas. First we concentrate on functional aspects of plant-plant communication we stress the concept of damage-induced signalling as an ecological cost to the signal-sending plant and we discuss the theoretical development on interplant signalling, which is still in its infancy. With respect to mechanisms, we compare above- to belowground signalling, discuss potential cues and stress the possibility that responses in signal-exposed plants may be hidden. Finally, we address some future prospects which may help in the further development of the still underexposed phenomenon of damage-induced plant-to-plant information transfer.

Plant-Plant Communications: Rhizosphere Signaling between Parasitic Angiosperms and Their Hosts1

Plants are in constant communication with a multitude of diverse organisms. Some symbioses, such as the association of nitrogen-fixing bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi with plant roots, are beneficial to the plant. Others, such as the interaction of plants with viral, microbial, fungal, and nematode