Sensing Herbivory Attack
Further information: Plant perception (physiology)Induced defences require plant sensing the nature of injury, such as wounding from herbivore attack as opposed to wounding from mechanical damage. Plants therefore use a variety of cues, including the sense of touch, and salivary enzymes of the attacking herbivore. For example, in a study to test whether plants can distinguish mechanical damage from insect herbivory attack, Korth and Dixon (1997) discovered that the accumulation of induce defence transcription products occurred more rapidly in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) leaves chewed on by caterpillars than in leaves damaged mechanically. Distinct signal transduction pathway are activated in response either to insect damage or mechanical damage in plants. While chemicals released in wounding responses are the same in both cases, the pathway in which they accumulate are separate. Not all herbivore attack begins with feeding, but with insects laying eggs on the plant. The adults of butterflies and moths (order Lepidoptera), for example, do not feed on plants directly, but lay eggs on plants which are suitable food for their larva. In such cases, plants have been demonstrated to induce defences upon contact from the ovipositing of insects.
Read more about this topic: Inducible Plant Defenses Against Herbivory
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