Herbivore-damaged plants release complex mixtures of volatiles that attract natural enemies of the herbivore. To study the relevance of individual components of these mixtures for predator attraction, we manipulated herbivory-induced volatiles through genetic engineering. Metabolic engineering of terpenoids, which dominate the composition of many induced plant volatile bouquets, holds particular promise. By switching the subcellular localization of the introduced sesquiterpene synthase to the mitochondria, we obtained transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants emitting two new isoprenoids. These altered plants attracted carnivorous predatory mites (Phytoseiulus persimilis) that aid the plants' defense mechanisms.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1116232DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

genetic engineering
8
engineering terpenoid
4
terpenoid metabolism
4
metabolism attracts
4
attracts bodyguards
4
bodyguards arabidopsis
4
arabidopsis herbivore-damaged
4
herbivore-damaged plants
4
plants release
4
release complex
4

Similar Publications

A cross-species inducible system for enhanced protein expression and multiplexed metabolic pathway fine-tuning in bacteria.

Nucleic Acids Res

January 2025

Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Jiangnan University, NO.1800, Lihu avenue, Wuxi 214122, China.

Inducible systems are crucial to metabolic engineering and synthetic biology, enabling organisms that function as biosensors and produce valuable compounds. However, almost all inducible systems are strain-specific, limiting comparative analyses and applications across strains rapidly. This study designed and presented a robust workflow for developing the cross-species inducible system.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

GDBr: genomic signature interpretation tool for DNA double-strand break repair mechanisms.

Nucleic Acids Res

January 2025

Department of Convergent Bioscience and Informatics, College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chungnam National University, 99, Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea.

Large genetic variants can be generated via homologous recombination (HR), such as polymerase theta-mediated end joining (TMEJ) or single-strand annealing (SSA). Given that these HR-based mechanisms leave specific genomic signatures, we developed GDBr, a genomic signature interpretation tool for DNA double-strand break repair mechanisms using high-quality genome assemblies. We applied GDBr to a draft human pangenome reference.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Synthetic rational design of live-attenuated Zika viruses based on a computational model.

Nucleic Acids Res

January 2025

SynVaccine Ltd, Ramat Hachayal, 3 Golda Meir Street, Science Park, Nes Ziona 7403648, Israel.

Many viruses of the Flaviviridae family, including the Zika virus (ZIKV), are human pathogens of significant public health concerns. Despite extensive research, there are currently no approved vaccines available for ZIKV and specifically no live-attenuated Zika vaccine. In this current study, we suggest a novel computational algorithm for generating live-attenuated vaccines via the introduction of silent mutation into regions that undergo selection for strong or weak local RNA folding or into regions that exhibit medium levels of sequence conservation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This work introduces a novel methodology for identifying critical sensor locations and detecting defects in structural components. Initially, a hybrid method is proposed to determine optimal sensor placements by integrating results from both the discrete empirical interpolation method (DEIM) and the random permutation features importance technique (PI). Subsequently, the identified sensors are utilized in a novel defect detection approach, leveraging a semi-intrusive reduced order modeling and genetic search algorithm for fast and reliable defect detection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In exploiting large propagation delays in underwater acoustic (UWA) networks, the time-domain interference alignment (TDIA) mechanism aligns interference signals through delay-aware slot scheduling, creating additional idle time for improved transmission at the medium access control (MAC) layer. However, perfect alignment remains challenging due to arbitrary delays. This study enhances TDIA by incorporating power allocation into its transmission scheduling framework across the physical and MAC layers, following the cross-layer design principle.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!