ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2021
Herbivore feeding preference corroborates optimal defense theory for specialized metabolites within plants.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
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28 citing papers in PubMed.
- Larval antibiosis to cabbage stem flea beetle (Psylliodes chrysocephala) is absent within oilseed rape (Brassica napus).Pest management science · 2026Article
- Denatonium inFood chemistry: X · 2026Article
- Testing optimal defense theory: Root resistance selection in chicory (Cichorium intybus) reduces foliar defense and alters aphid performance and feeding behavior.Pest management science · 2026Article
- Leaf beetles employ tryptophan to detoxify the chemical defenses of poplar trees.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Transport of secondary metabolites in plants: Mechanistic insights and transporter engineering for crop improvement.Plant communications · 2025Review
- Guns in rosettes: The Arabidopsis chemical weapons arsenal.Plant physiology · 2025Review
- Distribution of glucosinolates and antioxidants in different leaf-layers of Kale (Physiology and molecular biology of plants : an international journal of functional plant biology · 2025Article
- Leaf Size Determines Damage- and Herbivore-Induced Volatile Emissions in Maize.Plant, cell & environment · 2025Article
- Integrative multi-omics data provide insights into the biosynthesis of furanocoumarins and mechanisms regulating their accumulation in Angelica dahurica.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Food as Medicine: A Review of Plant Secondary Metabolites from Pollen, Nectar, and Resin with Health Benefits for Bees.Insects · 2025Review
- Article
- Sleeping but not defenceless: seed dormancy and protection.Journal of experimental botany · 2024Review
- Persistent inner tepals and wings protect developing seeds ofEcology and evolution · 2024Article
- Convergent evolution of fern nectaries facilitated independent recruitment of ant-bodyguards from flowering plants.Nature communications · 2024Article
- A century of studying plant secondary metabolism-From "what?" to "where, how, and why?"Plant physiology · 2024Review
- Transcriptional and metabolic profiling of sulfur starvation response in two monocots.BMC plant biology · 2024Article
- Blocking then stinging as a case of two-step evolution of defensive cage architectures in herbivore-driven ecosystems.Nature plants · 2024Article
- Adaptation ofFrontiers in plant science · 2024Article
- Developing multifunctional crops by engineering Brassicaceae glucosinolate pathways.Plant communications · 2023Review
- The Accumulation of Health-Promoting Nutrients from Representative Organs across Multiple Developmental Stages in Orange Chinese Cabbage.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
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6 authors.
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Abstract
Numerous plants protect themselves from attackers by using specialized metabolites. The biosynthesis of these deterrent, often toxic metabolites is costly, as their synthesis diverts energy and resources on account of growth and development. How plants diversify investments into growth and defense is explained by the optimal defense theory. The central prediction of the optimal defense theory is that plants maximize growth and defense by concentrating specialized metabolites in tissues that are decisive for fitness. To date, supporting physiological evidence relies on the correlation between plant metabolite presence and animal feeding preference. Here, we use glucosinolates as a model to examine the effect of changes in chemical defense distribution on feeding preference. Taking advantage of the uniform glucosinolate distribution in transporter mutants, we show that high glucosinolate accumulation in tissues important to fitness protects them by guiding larvae of a generalist herbivore to feed on other tissues. Moreover, we show that the mature leaves of
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