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Predator vibrations trigger plant chemical defences

July 1, 2014 - As the cabbage butterfly caterpillar takes one crescent-shaped bite at a time from the edge of a leaf, it doesn't go unnoticed.

This tiny Arabidopsis mustard plant hears its predator loud and clear as chewing vibrations reverberate through leaves and stems, and it reacts with chemical defences. Plants have long been known to detect sound, but why they have this ability has remained a mystery.

University of Missouri experiments mark the first time scientists have shown that a plant responds to an ecologically relevant sound in its environment.

"What is surprising and cool is that these plants only create defence responses to feeding vibrations and not to wind or other vibrations in the same frequency as the chewing caterpillar," said Heidi Appel, an investigator at MU's Bond Life Sciences Center and senior research scientist in the Division of Plant Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.

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July 7, 2014  By University of Missouri


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