Tecia solanivora infestation increases tuber starch accumulation in Pastusa Suprema potatoes

Abstract

In response to infestation with larvae of the Guatemalan tuber moth (Tecia solanivora), some Solanum tuberosum (potato) varieties exhibit an overcompensation response, whereby the total dry mass of uninfested tubers is increased. Here, we describe early responses, within the first few days, of T. solanivora feeding, in the Colombian potato variety Pastusa Suprema. Non-targeted metabolite profiling showed significant secondary metabolism changes in T. solanivora-infested tubers, but not in uninfested systemic tubers. In contrast, changes in primary metabolism were greater in uninfested systemic tubers than in the infested tubers, with a notable 80% decline in systemic tuber sucrose levels within 1 d of T. solanivora infestation. This suggested either decreased sucrose transport from the leaves or increased sink strength, i.e., more rapid sucrose to starch conversion in the tubers. Increased sucrose synthesis was indicated by higher rubisco activase and lower starch synthase gene expression in the leaves of infested plants. Elevated sink strength was demonstrated by 45% more total starch deposition in systemic tubers of T. solanivora-infested plants compared to uninfested control plants. Thus, rather than investing in increased defense of uninfested tubers, Pastusa Suprema promotes deposition of photoassimilates in the form of starch as a response to T. solanivora infestation.

Global expression patterns of R-genes in tomato and potato

“…A total of 315 transcriptome datasets of tomato ( Zouari et al., 2014 ; Du et al., 2015 ; Barad et al., 2017 ; Sarkar et al., 2017 ; Sugimura and Saito, 2017 ; Xue et al., 2017 ; Yang et al., 2017 ; Zheng et al., 2017 ; Chen et al., 2018 ; Shukla et al., 2018 ; Fawke et al., 2019 ; Pesti et al., 2019 ; Wang et al., 2019b ) and potato ( Goyer et al., 2015 ; Zuluaga et al., 2015 ; Dees et al., 2016 ; Gao and Bradeen, 2016 ; Kochetov et al., 2017 ; Levy et al., 2017 ; Li et al., 2017 ; Lysøe et al., 2017 ; Hao et al., 2018 ; Kumar et al., 2018 ) were obtained from the Sequence Read Archive ( Figure S1 ). These studies included treatments with potentially beneficial organisms (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and biocontrol agents) as well as detrimental organisms (pathogenic bacteria, nematodes, fungi, viruses, viroids, insects and oomycetes).…”

“…Publicly available datasets were analyzed in this study. A total of 315 transcriptome datasets of tomato ( Zouari et al., 2014 ; Du et al., 2015 ; Barad et al., 2017 ; Sarkar et al., 2017 ; Sugimura and Saito, 2017 ; Xue et al., 2017 ; Yang et al., 2017 ; Zheng et al., 2017 ; Chen et al., 2018 ; Shukla et al., 2018 ; Fawke et al., 2019 ; Pesti et al., 2019 ; Wang et al., 2019b ) and potato ( Goyer et al., 2015 ; Zuluaga et al., 2015 ; Dees et al., 2016 ; Gao and Bradeen, 2016 ; Kochetov et al., 2017 ; Levy et al., 2017 ; Li et al., 2017 ; Lysøe et al., 2017 ; Hao et al., 2018 ; Kumar et al., 2018 ) were obtained from the Sequence Read Archive ( Figure S1 ).…”

Foliar spraying of plant growth regulators can alleviate high-temperature stress in late-sown spring potatoes to improve yield and quality

“…Take the dry matter from the tubers and use the anthrone colorimetric method to determine the starch content (Kumar et al 2018). Measurement of reducing sugar content using the 3,5-dinitro salicylic acid method (Muttucumaru et al 2017).…”

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and belowground herbivores interact to determine plant productivity and performance of subsequently feeding conspecifics by changing plant metabolites

“…Therefore, this is an ideal study system to investigate how herbivory (i.e., leaf herbivory and tuber herbivory) and AMF jointly affect plant productivity and subsequent above-and below-ground feeders and whether this could be mediated by induced changes in plant primary and secondary metabolites. Based on previous studies (Kumar et al 2016;Kumar et al 2018), we hypothesize that tuber herbivory may reduce subsequent foliar herbivore performance by increasing leaf defensive responses and increase tuber production by inducing an overcompensation effect. Considering the asymmetry of interaction between above-and belowground herbivores, we also hypothesize that leaf herbivory does not necessarily affect or increase tuber-feeder performance.…”