A behavioral modulation mechanism involving the phytopathogen Fusarium verticillioides and the stem borer Diatraea saccharalis is conserved in maize.

Understanding how plants integrate signals from herbivores and pathogens is essential for improving crop resilience and agricultural sustainability. In maize (Zea mays), the stem borer Diatraea saccharalis and the fungal pathogen Fusarium verticillioides form a multitrophic complex of major agronomic relevance. Here, we investigated whether interactions in this system are structured by shared response patterns across grasses. By integrating molecular, physiological, and ecological analyses, we identified an early-stage interaction module shared between maize and the borer-rot complex, characterized by a reproducible behavioral modulation mechanism (BMM) and associated volatile profiles conserved among compatible hosts. This regulatory signature was retained in some, but not all, Poaceae species, indicating partial conservation of multitrophic response architecture across related grasses (Zea, Saccharum, Oryza, and Triticum). In parallel, we found that the two F. verticillioides isolates tested produced a common suite of volatile organic compounds, suggesting shared chemical outputs that may contribute to cross-kingdom signaling and BMM in the borer. Together, these findings show that maize multitrophic interactions are not solely species-specific events, but are shaped by conserved regulatory and chemical frameworks. Our results highlight shared response modules across crop species as targets for understanding plant defense integration and advancing sustainable crop protection.