Comparative metabolomics of the interaction between rice and the brown planthopper

Introduction

The interactions between plants and insect herbivores are complex and multifaceted. Rice and its specialist insect pest the brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens Stål (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) constitute an ideal system for studying plant–insect interactions.

Objectives

Combined metabolomics analyses of rice plant and BPH were conducted to understand the mechanism of host rice plant defense and BPH insect response.

Methods

Metabolite dynamics in rice leaf sheath and BPH honeydew was investigated using the gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method. The GC–MS data were analyzed by principal component analysis and partial least squares-discriminant analysis.

Results

Twenty-six metabolites were detected in the leaf sheath extracts. Rice leaf sheath metabolomics analysis results show that BPH feeding induces distinct changes in the metabolite profiles of YHY15 and TN1 plants. These results suggest that BPH infestation enhance fatty acid oxidation, the glyoxylate cycle, gluconeogenesis and the GABA shunt in TN1 plants, and glycolysis and the shikimate pathway in YHY15. We propose that the BPH15 gene mediates a resistance reaction that increases the synthesis of secondary metabolites through the shikimate pathway. Thirty-three metabolites were identified in BPH honeydew. Honeydew metabolomics analysis results show that when BPH insects were fed on resistant YHY15 plants, most of the amino acids in honeydew were significantly decreased compared to those of BPH fed on TN1 plants. Based on metabolomics results, we propose that BPH feeding on resistant YHY15 plants would enhance amino acid absorption. At the same time, urea was significantly increased in BPH fed on YHY15.

Conclusion

Metabolomics study is valuable in understanding the complex and multifaceted interaction between plants and insect herbivores and provide essential clue for development of novel control BPH strategies.

     

Effects of Nitrogen,Phosphorous and Potassium on Host-Choice Behavior of Brown Planthopper, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nilaparvata lugens</Emphasis> (Stål) on Rice Cultivar

The brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) (Homoptera: Delphacidae) is a major pest of many rice growing countries worldwide. It has been observed that one rice field is severely infested by BPH while an adjacent field left untouched. We hypothesized that differences in nutrient content in rice plants may explain this behavior. BPH feeding and oviposition behavior was evaluated on rice plants that had been grown under a range of fertilizer treatments. Tissue samples from experimental rice plants were analyzed for percent N, P, K, Si, free sugars and soluble proteins which were regressed with BPH host choice parameters. A completely randomized design with four replications in a factorial scheme was used in experiments where levels of soil N, P and K were taken as factors. Nymph feeding preference did not differ significantly among different nutrient treated rice plants. Adult females preferred to feed and oviposit on rice plants fertilized with N but it showed negative preference with K supplementation, while P had no marked effect. The position of feeding and ovipositing shifted gradually from lower to upper of leaf sheath and then to leaf blade with decrease of N fertilization to the rice plant. Host choice of BPH for feeding and ovipositing were positively associated with plant tissue concentrations of N, total free sugars and soluble proteins, negatively with Si but not with P and K. Plant tissue biochemical those are associated with BPH host preference may regulate how fast and where they settle on a rice plant.     

A salivary sheath protein essential for the interaction of the brown planthopper with rice plants

Salivary secretions, including gel saliva and watery saliva, play crucial roles in the interaction between the insect and plant during feeding. In this study, we identified a salivary gland-specific gene encoding a salivary sheath protein (NlShp) in Nilaparvata lugens. NlShp has two alternative splicing variants; both are expressed at high levels during the nymph and adult stages. Immunohistochemical staining showed that the NlShp were synthesized in the principal gland cells of the salivary gland. LC-MS/MS and western blot analysis confirmed that NlShp was one of the components of the salivary sheath. Simultaneously knocking down the two NlShp variants by RNA interference inhibited both salivary flange and salivary sheath formation and resulted in a lethal phenotype within four days for the brown planthopper (BPH) feeding on rice plants, indicating that the salivary sheath and salivary flanges were essential for plant-associated feeding. Despite the salivary sheath deficiency, no obvious phenotype was observed in the NlShp-knockdown BPHs fed on artificial diet. The electrical penetration graph (EPG) results showed that salivary sheath-deficient BPHs exhibited a prolonged nonpenetration period, scarce sap period, and increased stylet movement on rice plants and eventually starved to death. Our results provided evidence that the interaction between the salivary sheath and host plant might be a critical step in successful BPH feeding. According to present research, we propose a salivary sheath required feeding model for piercing-sucking insects and provide a potential target for rice planthopper management.     

Penetration into rice tissues by brown planthopper and fine structure of the salivary sheaths

The fine structure of the salivary sheaths in plant tissues can provide important information on homopteran probing and ingestion behaviors. Salivary sheaths secreted by the brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) (Homoptera: Delphacidae), and their tissue pathway were investigated using light, scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopy. About half of the salivary flanges on the surface of the food substrate were connected with internal salivary sheaths. Only 43% of the salivary sheaths showed side branches. Many sculpture‐like protuberances and small cavities had been formed on the outer surface of the salivary sheath, but the sheath lumen circumferences were sealed. Brown planthoppers showed a preference for probing and leaving salivary sheaths in the susceptible rice variety TN1 rather than in the resistant variety B5 during the first 2 days of the experiments. The salivary sheaths in rice tissues reached the inner tissue layer of the leaf sheaths and stems, but were mostly observed to end in the first and second layer of the leaf sheaths. Brown planthoppers also preferred to probe into the thick segment of the outer leaf sheath. After ingestion by the insect, the cytoplasm in both phloem and companion cells degraded and the main organelles were lost. Numerous small vesicles were found in most of the phloem cells, but cell walls remained intact. Large numbers of symbiont‐like structures were observed inside the salivary sheath lumen. These results indicated that BPH has complicated feeding behaviors, which warrants further investigation.     

Lipid profiles reveal different responses to brown planthopper infestation for pest susceptible and resistant rice plants

Introduction

Brown planthopper (BPH) is the most destructive insect pest for rice, causing major reductions in rice yield and large economic losses. More than 31 BPH-resistance genes have been located, and several of them have been isolated. Nevertheless, the metabolic mechanism related to BPH-resistance genes remain uncharacterized.

Objectives

To elucidate the resistance mechanism of the BPH-resistance gene Bph6 at the metabolic level, a Bph6-transgenic line R6 (BPH-resistant) and the wild-type Nipponbare (BPH-susceptible) were used to investigate their lipid profiles under control and BPH treatments.

Methods

In conjunction with multivariate statistical analysis and quantitative real-time PCR, BPH-induced lipid changes in leaf blade and leaf sheath were investigated by GC–MS-based lipidomics.

Results

Forty-five lipids were identified in leaf sheath extracts. Leaf sheath lipidomics analysis results show that BPH infestation induces significant differences in the lipid profiles of Nipponbare and R6. The levels of hexadecanoic acid, methyl ester, linoleic acid, methyl ester, linolenic acid, methyl ester, glycidyl palmitate, eicosanoic acid, methyl ester, docosanoic acid, methyl ester, beta-monolinolein, campesterol, beta-sitosterol, cycloartenol, phytol and phytyl acetate had undergone enormous changes after BPH feeding. These results illustrate that BPH feeding enhances sterol biosynthetic pathway in Nipponbare plants, and strengthens wax biosynthesis and phytol metabolism in R6 plants. The results of quantitative real-time PCR of 5 relevant genes were consistent with the changes in metabolic level. Forty-five lipids were identified in the leaf blade extracts. BPH infestation induces distinct changes in the lipid profiles of the leaf blade samples of Nipponbare and R6. Although the lipid changes in Nipponbare are more drastic, the changes within the two varieties are similar. Lipid profiles in leaf sheath brought out significant differences than in leaf blade within Nipponbare and R6. We propose that Bph6 mainly affects the levels of lipids in leaf sheath, and mediates resistance by deploying metabolic re-programming during BPH feeding.

Conclusion

The results indicate that wax biosynthesis, sterol biosynthetic pathway and phytol metabolism play vital roles in rice response to BPH infestation. This finding demonstrated that the combination of lipidomics and quantitative real-time PCR is an effective approach to elucidating the interactions between brown planthopper and rice mediated by resistance genes.

     

Local and systemic production of nitric oxide in tomato responses to powdery mildew infection

Various genetic and physiological aspects of resistance of Lycopersicon spp. to Oidium neolycopersici have been reported, but limited information is available on the molecular background of the plant–pathogen interaction. This article reports the changes in nitric oxide (NO) production in three Lycopersicon spp. genotypes which show different levels of resistance to tomato powdery mildew. NO production was determined in plant leaf extracts of L. esculentum cv. Amateur (susceptible), L. chmielewskii (moderately resistant) and L. hirsutum f. glabratum (highly resistant) by the oxyhaemoglobin method during 216 h post-inoculation. A specific, two-phase increase in NO production was observed in the extracts of infected leaves of moderately and highly resistant genotypes. Moreover, transmission of a systemic response throughout the plant was observed as an increase in NO production within tissues of uninoculated leaves. The results suggest that arginine-dependent enzyme activity was probably the main source of NO in tomato tissues, which was inhibited by competitive reversible and irreversible inhibitors of animal NO synthase, but not by a plant nitrate reductase inhibitor. In resistant tomato genotypes, increased NO production was localized in infected tissues by confocal laser scanning microscopy using the fluorescent probe 4-amino-5-methylamino-2',7'-difluorofluorescein diacetate. NO production observed in the extracts from pathogen conidia, together with elevated NO production localized in developing pathogen hyphae, demonstrates a complex role of NO in plant–pathogen interactions. Our results are discussed with regard to a possible role of increased NO production in pathogens during pathogenesis, as well as local and systemic plant defence mechanisms.     

Differential gene expression in response to brown planthopper feeding in rice

Plant responses to herbivores are complex. 108 cDNA clones representing genes relating to plant responses to chewing insect-feeding, pathogen infection, wounding and other stresses were collected. Northern blot and cDNA array analysis were employed to investigate gene expression regulated by piercing-sucking insect, brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Homoptera: Dephacidae) on both the resistant and susceptible rice genotypes. After BPH feeding in rice for 72 h, the expression of most tested genes was affected. 14 genes in resistant rice variety B5 and 44 genes in susceptible MH63 were significantly up- or down-regulated. Most of the well-regulated genes were grouped in the categories of signaling pathways, oxidative stress/apoptosis, wound-response, drought-inducible and pathogen-related proteins. Those related to the flavonoid pathway, aromatic metabolidsm and the octadecanoid pathway were mostly kept unchanged or down-regulated. Our results indicate that BPH feeding induces plant responses which would take part in a jasmonic acid-independent pathway and crosstalk with those related to abiotic stress, pathogen invasion and phytohormone signaling pathways.     

Survival rate and stylet penetration behavior of current Korean populations of the brown planthopper,Nilaparvata lugens,on resistant rice varieties

To understand the development of host plant resistance-breaking ability of the current BPH populations in Korea, we conducted nymphal survivorship tests and electrical penetration graph (EPG) studies on susceptible and resistant rice varieties with four different BPH populations, which were collected in the early 1980s (S-BPH) and in 2005, 2006, and 2007. The S-BPH had low survival rates on resistant rice varieties carrying either Bph1 or bph2. However, the current BPH populations have high resistance-breaking ability on the varieties with their elevated survival rates, whereas their survival rates were still low on the other resistant varieties, Gayabyeo (Bph1  the other unknown gene) and Rathu Heenati (Bph3). The EPG analysis also revealed that the ratio of BPH that could reach the phloem sap ingestion waveform (N4-b) within 15 h on the resistant rice varieties containing Bph1 or bph2 was higher in the current BPH populations (16.7–50%) than in the S-BPH population (0-4.2%). However, the pre-reaching time from the penetration start to the first N4-b waveform in the current BPH populations was significantly longer on resistant varieties (Bph1 or bph2) than on susceptible varieties. Furthermore, the total duration of N4-b waveform was significantly shorter on the resistant varieties.From these results, we suggest that, although the current BPHs collected in Korea have a high resistance-breaking ability through the increase of survival rate on resistant rice varieties carrying either Bph1 or bph2, they still have some difficulties feeding on the phloem sap of the resistant rice varieties.     

Differential expression of vitellogenin mRNA and protein in response to rice resistance genes in two strains of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nilaparvata</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">lugens</Emphasis> (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) with different levels of virulence

Controlling the brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), is a difficult task in rice (Oryza sativa L.) production. We focused on vitellogenins (Vg), which are the major yolk protein precursors of vitellins and play an important role in the reproduction of oviparous species, including insects. We studied the accumulation of Vg mRNA and protein in a virulent BPH strain, Nagasaki-03, and a nonvirulent strain, Hatano-66, after rearing them on four rice lines. The rice lines used were two single resistance gene introgression lines, Norin-PL3 (Bph1 carrier) and Norin-PL4 (bph2 carrier), a pyramided line in which both genes were combined, and a susceptible japonica recurrent parent Tsukushibare. RT-PCR and quantitative RT-PCR analyses showed that the Vg mRNA level decreased greatly in Hatano-66 on the resistant lines. In contrast, the level of reduction on the resistant lines was much less in Nagasaki-03. Immunoblot analysis showed that Nagasaki-03 retained comparable levels of 175 kDa Vg protein on both the susceptible and resistant lines, whereas in Hatano-66, no Vg protein was detected on the resistant lines. Our results showed that BPH resistance genes caused differential reduction in the accumulation of Vg mRNA and protein, leading to the retardation of BPH reproduction on the resistant host rice plants.     

抗感吡虫啉褐飞虱在抗虫水稻品种上的适合度比较

建立抗呲虫啉褐飞虱Nilaparvata lugens(St(a)l)种群和敏感呲虫啉褐飞虱种群在不同抗虫水稻品种(TN1、IR36)上的实验种群生命表,比较了抗感吡虫啉种群在感虫品种TN1上以及在抗虫品种IR36上饲养4代的种群趋势指数(Ⅰ)和适合度的差异.结果表明,在TN1上,抗呲虫啉和敏感吡虫啉褐飞虱种群的种群数...     

水稻品种诱导白背飞虱药剂敏感性及其相关酶活性变化的研究

白背飞虱雌成虫取食N22后,对马拉硫磷敏感性随取食天数增加呈增高趋势;而对叶蝉散的敏感性变化则正相反,在取食N22 1天后酯酶／羧酸酯酶即表现高水平的诱导活性,尔后随取食时间延长而降低,取食抗褐飞虱品种ASD7后,其体内酶活及对药剂抗性呈升高趋势。不同水稻品种中总酚含量以N22显著为高,相关分析表明,水稻叶鞘中的酚类物质可能是品种影响飞虱药剂敏感性的主要因素之一,因此,在生产实践中,适宜的杀虫剂与飞虱抗性品种应协同使用,以充分发挥各自的有效作用。     

Production of nitric oxide in host-virus interaction: A case study with a compatible begomovirus-kenaf host-pathosystem

Nitric oxide (NO) plays a key role in plant diseases resistance. Here we have first time demonstrated that begomovirus infection in susceptible H. cannabinus plants, results in elevated NO and reactive nitrogen species production during early infection stage not only in infected leaf but also in root and shoot. Production of NO was further confirmed by oxyhemoglobin assay. Furthermore, we used Phenyl alanine ammonia lyase as marker of pathogenesis related enzyme. In addition evidence for protein tyrosine nitration during the early stage of viral infection clearly showed the involvement of nitrosative stress.Key words: nitric oxide, mesta yellow vein mosaic virus, protein nitration     

共生菌在褐飞虱致害性变化中的作用

研究了不同虫源和致害性褐飞虱Nilaparvata lugens种群体内共生菌数量动态及其对褐飞虱在抗虫品种上的取食选择、生长发育、繁殖以及氨基酸转移酶活性的影响。结果表明,褐飞虱田间种群的致害性与其体内共生菌数量有关。广西南宁种群雌成虫体内的共生菌数量显著地高于浙江杭州和龙游两个虫源的雌成虫体内共生菌数量,而已纯化的3个不同致害性生物型体内的共生菌数量无显著差异。取食抗性品种能显著减少生物型Ⅰ雌成虫体内的共生菌数量。缺乏共生菌时,生物型Ⅰ、Ⅱ若虫对水稻品种TN1和ASD7的选择性增大,而对Mudgo的取食选择性下降。尽管缺共生菌的3个生物型在已适应的和不适应的感虫和抗虫品种上的若虫存活率和雌成虫产卵量均下降,若虫历期明显延长,但在已适应品种上的变化程度明显小于在不适应的抗虫品种上的变化程度。共生菌还明显影响成虫体内丙氨酸氨基转移酶和天门冬氨酸氨基转移酶的活性。这些结果证明体内共生菌的数量和质量在褐飞虱对水稻致害性的变化中发挥了重要作用。     

褐飞虱取食诱导的MAPK3基因在水稻叶鞘组织中的定位

利用Northern杂交技术,对促分裂原活化蛋白激酶基因（MAPK3,BPHiw103）进行了表达分析,同时,针对抗虫水稻B5植株接种褐飞虱若虫48h后的叶鞘组织切片进行了原位定位。Northern杂交结果表明,在褐飞虱取食后,MAPK3 mRNA整体表现为上调的特性。原位杂交显示,褐飞虱取食前,MAPK3在水稻叶的薄壁组织中大量表达;而取食后,在韧皮部表达明显增加,在薄壁组织表达则呈下降趋势。这一点在叶心组织切片中表现最为明显。这些结果说明,水稻在受褐飞虱若虫取食诱导和刺激后,MAPK3的表达在受伤部位急剧增加,推测MAPK3基因可能在水稻对褐飞虱的抗性反应中发挥作用。     

Dynamic metabolic responses of brown planthoppers towards susceptible and resistant rice plants

Brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens Stål, BPH) causes huge economic losses in rice‐growing regions, and new strategies for combating BPH are required. To understand how BPHs respond towards BPH‐resistant plants, we systematically analysed the metabolic differences between BPHs feeding on the resistant and susceptible plants using NMR and GC‐FID/MS. We also measured the expression of some related genes involving glycolysis and biosyntheses of trehalose, amino acids, chitin and fatty acids using real‐time PCR. BPH metabonome was dominated by more than 60 metabolites including fatty acids, amino acids, carbohydrates, nucleosides/nucleotides and TCA cycle intermediates. After initial 12 h, BPHs feeding on the resistant plants had lower levels of amino acids, glucose, fatty acids and TCA cycle intermediates than on the susceptible ones. The levels of these metabolites recovered after 24 h feeding. This accompanied with increased level in trehalose, choline metabolites and nucleosides/nucleotides compared with BPH feeding on the susceptible plants. Decreased levels of BPH metabolites at the early feeding probably resulted from less BPH uptakes of sap from resistant plants and recovery of BPH metabolites at the later stage probably resulted from their adaptation to the adverse environment with their increased hopping frequency to ingest more sap together with contributions from yeast‐like symbionts in BPHs. Throughout 96 h, BPH feeding on the resistant plants showed significant up‐regulation of chitin synthase catalysing biosynthesis of chitin for insect exoskeleton, peritrophic membrane lining gut and tracheae. These findings provided useful metabolic information for understanding the BPH–rice interactions and perhaps for developing new BPH‐combating strategies.