Mirids secrete a TOPLESS targeting protein to enhance JA-mediated defense and gossypol accumulation for antagonizing cotton bollworms on cotton plants.

Most coexisting insect species exhibit stunted growth compared to individual species on plants. This phenomenon reflects an interspecific antagonism drawing extensive attention, while the underlying mechanisms remain largely uncharacterized. Mirids (Apolygus lucorum) and cotton bollworms (Helicoverpa armigera) are two common cotton pests.

The proteomic landscape of fall armyworm oral secretion reveals its role in plant adaptation.

Background: The fall armyworm (FAW, Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith)) is a polyphagous agricultural pest with rapidly evolving adaptations to host plants.

A highly accumulated secretory protein from cotton bollworm interacts with basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors to dampen plant defense.

Caterpillar oral secretion (OS) contains active molecules that modulate plant defense signaling. We isolated an effector-like protein (Highly Accumulated Secretory Protein 1, HAS1) from cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) that is the most highly accumulated secretory protein of the nondigestive components in OS and belongs to venom R-like protein. Elimination of HAS1 by plant-mediated RNA interference reduced the suppression of OS on the defense response in plants.

Differential Transcription and Alternative Splicing in Cotton Underly Specialized Defense Responses Against Pests.

The green mirid bug () and the cotton bollworm () are both preferred to live on cotton but cause different symptoms, suggesting specialized responses of cotton to the two insects. In this study, we investigated differential molecular mechanisms underlying cotton plant defenses against and transcriptomic analyses. At the transcription level, jasmonate (JA) signaling was dominated in defense against whereas salicylic acid (SA) signaling was more significant in defense against .