Abstract
Root mutualistic microbes can modulate the production of plant secondary metabolites affecting plant–herbivore interactions. Still, the main mechanisms underlying the impact of root mutualists on herbivore performance remain ambiguous. In particular, little is known about how changes in the plant metabolome induced by root mutualists affect the insect metabolome and post-larval development. By using bioassays with tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum), we analyzed the impact of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis and the growth-promoting fungus Trichoderma harzianum on the plant interaction with the specialist insect herbivore Manduca sexta. We found that root colonization by the mutualistic microbes impaired insect development, including metamorphosis. By using untargeted metabolomics, we found that root colonization by the mutualistic microbes altered the secondary metabolism of tomato shoots, leading to enhanced levels of steroidal glycoalkaloids. Untargeted metabolomics further revealed that root colonization by the mutualists affected the metabolome of the herbivore, leading to an enhanced accumulation of steroidal glycoalkaloids and altered patterns of fatty acid amides and carnitine-derived metabolites. Our results indicate that the changes in the shoot metabolome triggered by root mutualistic microbes can cascade up altering the metabolome of the insects feeding on the colonized plants, thus affecting the insect development.
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Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
Root colonization by mutualistic microbes impaired Manduca sexta development, including metamorphosis.
- Taxon
- Manduca sexta
Manduca sextae1 - Treatment
- root colonization by the mutualistic microbese0
- Interactor
- mutualistic microbese0other
- Outcome
- insect development, including metamorphosise0
- Direction
- impairede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“We found that root colonization by the mutualistic microbes impaired insect development, including metamorphosis.”
e1“the specialist insect herbivore Manduca sexta”
Claim · model-written summary
Root colonization by mutualistic microbes enhanced steroidal glycoalkaloid levels in tomato shoots.
- Taxon
- tomato
Solanum lycopersicume0 - Organ / stage
- shootse0
- Treatment
- root colonization by the mutualistic microbese0
- Interactor
- mutualistic microbese0symbiont
- Outcome
- levels of steroidal glycoalkaloidse0
- Direction
- enhancede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“root colonization by the mutualistic microbes altered the secondary metabolism of tomato shoots, leading to enhanced levels of steroidal glycoalkaloids.”
Claim · model-written summary
Root colonization by mutualists enhanced steroidal glycoalkaloid accumulation in Manduca sexta.
- Taxon
- Manduca sextaManduca sextae1
- Treatment
- root colonization by the mutualistse0
- Interactor
- mutualistse0other
- Outcome
- accumulation of steroidal glycoalkaloidse0
- Direction
- enhancede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“root colonization by the mutualists affected the metabolome of the herbivore, leading to an enhanced accumulation of steroidal glycoalkaloids and altered patterns of fatty acid amides and carnitine-derived metabolites.”
e1“the specialist insect herbivore Manduca sexta”
Claim · model-written summary
Root colonization by mutualists altered fatty acid amide and carnitine-derived metabolite patterns in Manduca sexta.
- Taxon
- Manduca sextaManduca sextae1
- Treatment
- root colonization by the mutualistse0
- Interactor
- mutualistse0other
- Outcome
- patterns of fatty acid amides and carnitine-derived metabolitese0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“root colonization by the mutualists affected the metabolome of the herbivore, leading to an enhanced accumulation of steroidal glycoalkaloids and altered patterns of fatty acid amides and carnitine-derived metabolites.”
e1“the specialist insect herbivore Manduca sexta”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors infer that microbe-induced shoot metabolome changes cascade into insect metabolome changes and affect insect development.
- Taxon
- Manduca sextaManduca sextae1
- Interactor
- root mutualistic microbese0other
- Outcome
- insect developmente0
- Qualifier
- changes in the shoot metabolomee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Our results indicate that the changes in the shoot metabolome triggered by root mutualistic microbes can cascade up altering the metabolome of the insects feeding on the colonized plants, thus affecting the insect development.”
e1“the specialist insect herbivore Manduca sexta”