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Herbivore-Specific Transcriptional Responses and Their Research Potential for Ecosystem Studies

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Insects and Ecosystem Function

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 173))

Summary

While simulations of herbivory with mechanical clipping provide many experimental advantages over true herbivory for ecological research, faithful mimicking can be onerous. Not only do herbivores differ in how and what they remove from a plant, but also they differ in saliva and regurgitate composition, microbial commensalists, pathogen vectoring, feeding phenology and tritrophic interactions, all of which can dramatically alter a plant’s response. These differences in response emerge from alterations in primary and secondary metabolism that are activated by specific signalling pathways and signal recognition systems. Frequently, these responses are under transcriptional control and affect genes involved in hormone biosynthesis and perception, volatile organic compound and secondary metabolite synthesis, photosynthesis and transcriptional and translational processes, in other words, in metabolism sensu lato.We review studies that have identified herbivore-specific transcriptional responses, introduce the molecular techniques used to measure these changes, and argue that research into molecular mechanisms provides ecologists with tools to monitor and manipulate the subtle effects that insects have on ecosystem function.

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Authors
  1. C. Voelckel
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  2. I. T. Baldwin
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecology, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Dornburger Str. 159, 07743, Jena, Germany

    Wolfgang W. Weisser

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology — MS 170, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, 77005-1892, Houston, TX, USA

    Evan Siemann

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Voelckel, C., Baldwin, I.T. (2008). Herbivore-Specific Transcriptional Responses and Their Research Potential for Ecosystem Studies. In: Weisser, W.W., Siemann, E. (eds) Insects and Ecosystem Function. Ecological Studies, vol 173. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74004-9_17

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