Symbionts protect aphids from parasitic wasps by attenuating herbivore-induced plant volatiles

Enric Frago (), Mukta Mala, Berhane T. Weldegergis, Chenjiao Yang, Ailsa McLean, H. Charles J. Godfray, Rieta Gols and Marcel Dicke
Additional contact information
Enric Frago: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University
Mukta Mala: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University
Berhane T. Weldegergis: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University
Chenjiao Yang: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University
Ailsa McLean: University of Oxford, South Parks Road
H. Charles J. Godfray: University of Oxford, South Parks Road
Rieta Gols: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University
Marcel Dicke: Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Plants respond to insect attack by releasing blends of volatile chemicals that attract their herbivores’ specific natural enemies, while insect herbivores may carry endosymbiotic microorganisms that directly improve herbivore survival after natural enemy attack. Here we demonstrate that the two phenomena can be linked. Plants fed upon by pea aphids release volatiles that attract parasitic wasps, and the pea aphid can carry facultative endosymbiotic bacteria that prevent the development of the parasitic wasp larva and thus markedly improve aphid survival after wasp attack. We show that these endosymbionts also attenuate the systemic release of volatiles by plants after aphid attack, reducing parasitic wasp recruitment and increasing aphid fitness. Our results reveal a novel mechanism through which symbionts can benefit their hosts and emphasise the importance of considering the microbiome in understanding insect ecological interactions.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01935-0 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-01935-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01935-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().