Abstract
Heavy metals are important pollutants that can severely impact ecological foodwebs. In addition to direct toxic effects, these contaminants have been suggested to disrupt chemical communication channels between plants and insects that rely on volatile organic compounds (VOCs). We investigated how different concentrations of copper (Cu) and cadmium (Cd) stress affect the capacity of Zea mays to synthesize VOCs in the presence and absence of herbivorous insects. Hydroponically grown maize exposed to a high and low concentration of either Cu or Cd showed stunted growth and lower photosynthetic capacities. Herbivores feeding on stressed plants also had attenuated growth rates. Heavy metal treatment alone did not induce VOC emission in maize plants; however, the higher Cu dose was found to prime for enhanced volatile production that can be triggered by caterpillar feeding. Cu stress correlated with increased levels of reactive oxygen species in roots and priming of herbivore-induced jasmonic acid in leaves. Plants challenged with Cd and herbivory did not differ in responses compared with herbivore-damaged controls with no heavy metals added to the substrate. For Cu stress, our results support the 'single biochemical mechanism for multiple stressors' model which predicts overlapping signalling and responses to abiotic and biotic stress factors.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Hydroponically grown maize exposed to high or low Cu or Cd concentrations showed stunted growth and lower photosynthetic capacities.
- Treatment
- a high and low concentration of either Cu or Cde0
- Outcome
- stunted growth and lower photosynthetic capacitiese0
- Direction
- lowere0
- Setting
- Hydroponically growne0
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Hydroponically grown maize exposed to a high and low concentration of either Cu or Cd showed stunted growth and lower photosynthetic capacities”
Claim · model-written summary
Herbivores feeding on heavy-metal-stressed maize had attenuated growth rates.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Herbivores feeding on stressed plants also had attenuated growth rates”
e1“Zea mays”
Claim · model-written summary
Heavy metal treatment alone did not induce VOC emission in maize plants.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Heavy metal treatment alone did not induce VOC emission in maize plants”
Claim · model-written summary
The higher Cu dose primed maize for enhanced volatile production triggered by caterpillar feeding.
- Treatment
- the higher Cu dosee0
- Interactor
- caterpillare0herbivore
- Outcome
- volatile productione0
- Direction
- enhancede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the higher Cu dose was found to prime for enhanced volatile production that can be triggered by caterpillar feeding”
e1“Zea mays”
Claim · model-written summary
Cu stress correlated with increased levels of reactive oxygen species in roots of maize.
- Organ / stage
- rootse0
- Treatment
- Cu stresse0
- Outcome
- levels of reactive oxygen speciese0
- Direction
- increasede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Cu stress correlated with increased levels of reactive oxygen species in roots”
e1“Zea mays”
Claim · model-written summary
Cu stress correlated with priming of herbivore-induced jasmonic acid in maize leaves.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Cu stress correlated”
e2“jasmonic acid in leaves”
e1“Zea mays”
Claim · model-written summary
Maize plants challenged with Cd and herbivory did not differ in responses from herbivore-damaged controls without added heavy metals.
- Treatment
- Cd and herbivorye0
- Outcome
- responsese0
- Direction
- did not differe0
- Comparator
- herbivore-damaged controlse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Plants challenged with Cd and herbivory did not differ in responses compared with herbivore-damaged controls”
e1“Zea mays”
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