Dual chemical barriers protect a plant against different larval stages of an insect

J. Alan A. Renwick, Wenqing Zhang, Meena Haribal, Athula B. Attygalle, Kimberly D. Lopez

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

59 Scopus citations

Abstract

The host plants of the native American butterfly, Pieris napi oleracea, include most wild mustards. However, garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata, a highly invasive weed that was introduced from Europe, appears to be protected from this insect. Although adults will oviposit on the plant, most larvae of P. n. oleracea do not survive on garlic mustard. We used feeding bioassays with different larval stages of the insect to monitor the isolation and identification of two bioactive constituents that could explain the natural resistance of this plant. A novel cyanopropenyl glycoside (1), alliarinoside, strongly inhibits feeding by first instars, while a flavone glycoside (2), isovitexin-6″-D-β-glucopyranoside, deters later instars from feeding. Interestingly, the first instars are insensitive to 2, and the late instars are little affected by 1. Furthermore, differential effects of dietary experience on insect responses suggest that 1 acts through a mechanism of post-ingestive inhibition, whereas 2 involves gustatory deterrence of feeding.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1575-1583
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Chemical Ecology
Volume27
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 2001

Keywords

  • Alliaria
  • Crucifer
  • Feeding deterrent
  • Feeding inhibition
  • Flavonoid
  • Garlic mustard
  • Pieridae
  • Pieris

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Dual chemical barriers protect a plant against different larval stages of an insect'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this