Plants are able to respond to herbivore damage with de novo biosynthesis of an herbivore-characteristic blend of volatiles. The signal transduction initiating volatile biosynthesis may involve the activation of the octadecanoid pathway, as exemplified by the transient increase of endogenous jasmonic acid (JA) in leaves of lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus) after treatment with the macromolecular elicitor cellulysin. Within this pathway lima bean possesses at least two different biologically active signals that trigger different biosynthetic activities. Early intermediates of the pathway, especially 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (PDA), are able to induce the biosynthesis of the diterpenoid-derived 4,8, 12-trimethyltrideca-1,3,7,11-tetraene. High concentrations of PDA result in more complex patterns of additional volatiles. JA, the last compound in the sequence, lacks the ability to induce diterpenoid-derived compounds, but is highly effective at triggering the biosynthesis of other volatiles. The phytotoxin coronatine and amino acid conjugates of linolenic acid (e.g. linolenoyl-L-glutamine) mimic the action of PDA, but coronatine does not increase the level of endogenous JA. The structural analog of coronatine, the isoleucine conjugate of 1-oxo-indanoyl-4-carboxylic acid, effectively mimics the action of JA, but does not increase the level of endogenous JA. The differential induction of volatiles resembles previous findings on signal transduction in mechanically stimulated tendrils of Bryonia dioica.