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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lincoln, Nebraska » Wheat, Sorghum and Forage Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #328948
Title: Plant tolerance: A unique approach to control hemipteran pests

Author
item KOCH, KYLE - University Of Nebraska
item CHAPMAN, KAIT - University Of Nebraska
item LOUIS, JOE - University Of Nebraska
item HENG-MOSS, TIFFANY - University Of Nebraska
item Sarath, Gautam

Submitted to: Frontiers in Plant Science
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/29/2016
Publication Date: 9/13/2016
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/5508067
Citation: Koch, K., Chapman, K., Louis, J., Heng-Moss, T., Sarath, G. 2016. Plant tolerance: A unique approach to control hemipteran pests. Frontiers in Plant Science. 7:1363. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2016.01363.

Interpretive Summary: Piercing-sucking insect pests such as aphids and chinch bugs suck out plant sap thereby depriving the plant of nutrients needed for growth, and frequently compromise plant yields under cropping conditions. Finding natural (genetic) routes of resistance in plants to insects has been an ongoing challenge in the breeding for more durable crops. Plant tolerance is a singular type of resistance to insects, in that tolerant plants can compensate for nutrient removal by piercing-sucking insects by limiting the loss in plant yields without impacting insect health or behaviors. By minimizing the impact on insect pests, tolerant plants reduce the incidence of insects developing resistance to endogenous plant resistance factors and thereby enhance the value of other management procedures used to reduce yield losses due to insect herbivory. Because tolerance is a combination of plant traits, it is expected to be complex, but amenable to physiological, biochemical and molecular approaches to understand the mechanisms underlying this type of plant response to insects. In this review, results from previous studies on plant tolerance to piercing-sucking insects are summarized, and potential models to understand tolerance are presented.

Technical Abstract: Plant tolerance to insect pests has been indicated to be a unique category of resistance, however, very little information is available on the mechanism of tolerance against insect pests. Tolerance is distinctive in terms of the plant’s ability to withstand or recover from herbivore injury through growth and compensatory physiological processes. Because plant tolerance involves plant compensatory characteristics, the plant is able to harbor large numbers of herbivores without interfering with the insect pest’s physiology or behavior. Some studies have observed that tolerant plants can compensate photosynthetically by avoiding feedback inhibition and impaired electron flow through photosystem II that occurs as a result of insect feeding. Similarly, the up-regulation of peroxidases and other oxidative enzymes during insect feeding, in conjunction with elevated levels of phytohormones can play an important role in providing plant tolerance to insect pests. Hemipteran insects comprise some of the most economically important plant pests (e.g., aphids, whiteflies), due to their ability to achieve high population growth and their potential to transmit plant viruses. In this review, results from studies on plant tolerance to hemipterans are summarized, and potential models to understand tolerance are presented.