Carnivorous sundew plants catch and digest insect prey for their own nutrition. The sundew species Drosera capensis shows a pronounced leaf bending reaction upon prey capture in order to form an 'outer stomach'. This formation is triggered by jasmonates, phytohormones typically involved in defence reactions against herbivory and wounding. Whether jasmonates still have this function in D. capensis in addition to mediating the leaf bending reaction was investigated here. Wounded, insect prey-fed and insect-derived oral secretion-treated leaves of D. capensis were analysed for jasmonates (jasmonic acid, JA; jasmonic acid-isoleucine conjugate, JA-Ile) using LC-MS/MS. Prey-induced jasmonate accumulation in D. capensis leaves was persistent, and showed high levels of JA and JA-Ile (575 and 55.7 pmol · g · FW(-1) , respectively), whereas wounding induced a transient increase of JA (maximum 500 pmol · g · FW(-1) ) and only low (3.1 pmol · g · FW(-1) ) accumulation of JA-Ile. Herbivory, mimicked with a combined treatment of wounding plus oral secretion (W+OS) obtained from Spodoptera littoralis larvae induced both JA (4000 pmol · g · FW(-1) ) and JA-Ile (25 pmol · g · FW(-1) ) accumulation, with kinetics similar to prey treatment. Only prey and W+OS, but not wounding alone or OS, induced leaf bending. The results indicate that both mechanical and chemical stimuli trigger JA and JA-Ile synthesis. Differences in kinetics and induced jasmonate levels suggest different sensing and signalling events upon injury and insect-dependent challenge. Thus, in Drosera, jasmonates are still part of the response to wounding. Jasmonates are also employed in insect-induced reactions, including responses to herbivory and carnivory.
Keywords: Carnivorous plants; Drosera; herbivory; jasmonic acid; leaf movement; oral secretion; sundew; wounding.
© 2014 German Botanical Society and The Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands.