Molecular Aspects of Gall Formation Induced by Mites and Insects

Abstract

Recent publications on gall formation induced on the leaves of dicotyledonous flowering plants by eriophyoid mites (Eriophyoidea) and representatives of four insect orders (Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera) are analyzed. Cellular and molecular level data on the stimuli that induce and sustain the development of both mite and insect galls, the expression of host plant genes during gallogenesis, and the effects of these galling arthropods on photosynthesis are considered. A hypothesis is proposed for the relationship between the size of galls and the volume of secretions injected by a parasite. Multistep, varying patterns of plant gene expression and accompanying histo-morphological changes in the transformed gall tissues are apparent. The main obstacle to better elucidating the nature of the induction of gallogenesis is the impossibility of collecting a sufficient amount of saliva for analysis, which is especially important in the case of microscopic eriophyoids. The use of modern omics technologies at the organismal level has revealed a spectrum of genetic mechanisms of gall formation at the molecular level but has not yet answered the questions regarding the nature of gall-inducing agents and the features of events occurring in plant cells at the very beginning of gall growth.

Polymorphic Plant Architectures: A Pathological Approach to Growing a Building

“…As a founding organism of the biotechnological age, it is fitting these bacteria are considered as potential chassis for morphogenesis. Bacterial morphogens identified and or designed by synthetic biological processes to produce a next generation biotech under the name Engineered Living Materials are already proving useful in the growth of building components (Desnitskiy et al 2023;Korgaonkar et al 2021). While the concept of synthetic living machines (SLMs) (Ebrahimkhani and Levin 2021) is not far from this application of collective intelligence, the bacterium is a disruptive system to the material properties of a host's wood.…”

“…Producing the most beautiful and exotic forms, the gall-wasp induced the morphogenesis of their host plants cells mostly by mechanisms still unknown. Only recently, have these insects received the research attention needed to identify the mechanisms by which they grow their shelters to protect themselves from the environment and predation (Cambier et al 2019;Desnitskiy et al 2023;Korgaonkar et al 2021;Martinson et al 2022). Additionally, the gall wasp larvae induce the growth of their food stuff just as with the bacteria above within the interior of the species-specific galls (Martinson et al 2022).…”

New species and records of gall mites of the genus Aceria (Eriophyoidea, Eriophyidae) associated with Tamarix in Egypt and South Africa

“…Eriophyoid mites usually feed on the plant epidermis often causing various growth abnormalities such as galls, russeting of leaves and shortening of shoots (Kiefer 1982; de Lillo et al 2018. These abnormalities are initiated by unknown chemical compounds of the mite saliva injected within plant cells and used by mites for manipulating normal plant cell development processes and initiating gallogenesis (Desnitskiy et al 2023). It is typically accompanied by a change of the cell's pH, suppression of photosynthesis, and changes in the expression levels of meristem-specific genes, and the genes determining adaxial-abaxial polarity and signalling of phytohormones (Petanović and Kielkiewicz 2010, Ivanova et al 2022, Paponova et al 2018, Klimov et al 2022.…”

Atypically Shaped Setae in Gall Mites (Acariformes, Eriophyoidea) and Mitogenomics of the Genus Leipothrix Keifer (Eriophyidae)

“…are vagrant, typically living on the lower leaf surface. A few of them have been reported as causing rust, discoloration, slight deformation, wrinkling of leaves and witches’ broom, e.g., L. dipsacivagus (Petanović and Rector 2007) [ 29 ], but never causing true galls with a gall chamber (like a finger or pouch gall), erinea or bud galls that are characteristic of gall-forming Eriophyoidea [ 30 , 31 ]. Most species (~98%) are known from the Palearctic and predominantly inhabit herbaceous plants.…”