Andrea A. Gust and Thorsten Nürnberger

PNAS December 29, 2020 117 (52) 32839-32841

Figure: Pattern generation and perception in herbivory-induced plant immune activation. Plant leaf materials taken up by caterpillars during feeding (1) serve as a source for herbivory-associated patterns. Caterpillar gut proteases release peptides from plant chloroplast ATP synthase (blue), called inceptins (2). Via caterpillar OSs, these peptides are transferred back to the plant (3) where they are recognized by a PRR complex made of the INR, the adaptor kinase SOBIR1, and SERK-type coreceptors (4). Inceptin recognition induces plant defenses that ultimately stop herbivore growth .

Herbivory, the feeding on living plant parts by animals, is a fundamental ecosystem process affecting both global autotroph biomass production in natural habitats and crop production in agricultural settings (1). Invasions by herbivorous insects are an ancient threat to food security as evidenced, for example, by their inclusion as one of the 10 Biblical plagues. Insect pests remain a major threat to the world’s food security both in terms of regular annual crop loss as well as periodic catastrophic losses such as those caused by locust swarms that have repeatedly swept over large parts of East Africa (2). Modern integrated pest management strategies comprise mechanical methods (barriers, traps, tillage), the use of synthetic insecticides, the application of biological control agents (pest-parasitizing insects, insecticidal nematodes), and molecular marker-based breeding strategies (3). Biotechnological transfer of insect resistance traits holds great potential for the production of crops with enhanced pest resilience. This strategy requires a detailed understanding of mechanisms underlying insect pest recognition in host plants, which until recently, was lacking. In PNAS, Steinbrenner et al. (4) reveal the molecular identity of a plant immune receptor sensing herbivory-inflicted host tissue damage.

See more: https://www.pnas.org/content/117/52/32839