Green leaf volatiles protect maize (Zea mays) seedlings against damage from cold stress

Abstract

Although considerable evidence has accumulated on the defensive activity of plant volatile organic compounds against pathogens and insect herbivores, less is known about the significance of volatile organic compounds emitted by plants under abiotic stress. Here, we report that green leaf volatiles (GLVs), which were previously shown to prime plant defences against insect herbivore attack, also protect plants against cold stress (4 °C). We show that the expression levels of several cold stress-related genes are significantly up-regulated in maize (Zea mays) seedlings treated with physiological concentrations of the GLV, (Z)-3-hexen-1-yl acetate (Z-3-HAC), and that seedlings primed with Z-3-HAC exhibit increased growth and reduced damage after cold stress relative to unprimed seedlings. Together, these data demonstrate the protective and priming effect of GLVs against cold stress and suggest an activity of GLVs beyond the activation of typical plant defence responses against herbivores and pathogens.

The role of volatiles in plant communication

“…Many new aspects of responses to volatiles and volatile signal transduction in plants are being discovered. GLVs, for example, can protect maize seedlings against cold stress (Cofer et al ., ) and particular GLVs can induce stomatal closure thereby enhancing resistance against Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato infection (López‐Gresa et al ., ).…”

Variability in the Capacity to Produce Damage-Induced Aldehyde Green Leaf Volatiles among Different Plant Species Provides Novel Insights into Biosynthetic Diversity

“…However, while the direct protective activity of these compounds was always considered to be low, the priming of these responses appeared to be their major function resulting in an enhanced and, thus, more effective defense response when under actual attack. This GLV-induced priming was first described for maize (Zea mays) [10], but was since confirmed for many other plant species not only for defenses against herbivores and pathogens [11][12][13][14], but also against abiotic stresses [4][5][6][7][8].…”

“…By analyzing 59 plant species representing 32 families in 23 orders, we found a high degree of variation with regard to damage-induced GLV release, both quantitatively and qualitatively. We focused this analysis on the capacity to produce GLV rather than analyzing the responses to herbivory or pathogen infection, as well as abiotic stresses, as described previously [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. This is mainly because those stresses may individually alter the production of GLV.…”

“…In recent years, green leaf volatiles (GLV) were extensively characterized for their important role in the plant defense response against biotic and abiotic stresses, including insect herbivory and pathogen infection, as well as cold, heat, and salt stress [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Damaged plants almost instantly release GLV in large quantities, making them ideal chemical messengers for neighboring plants to prompt their defense responses [1][2][3].…”

Great Basin Bristlecone Pine Volatiles as a Climate Change Signal Across Environmental Gradients

“…VOCs emitted by GBBP are known to play important roles in defense, for example by repelling host-searching MPB (Gray et al, 2015). Plant VOCs can also protect against certain abiotic stresses, including high temperatures (Duhl, 2008), oxidative damage (Holopainen and Gershenzon, 2010), and cold stress (Cofer et al, 2018). In general, both biotic and abiotic stress increases VOC emissions from plants (Holopainen and Gershenzon, 2010), and trees are known to alter emission of VOCs in response to herbivory and changes in heat, light, precipitation, and season (Helmig et al, 2007;Trowbridge et al, 2014).…”