Plant volatiles as cues and signals in plant communication

Abstract

Volatile organic compounds are important mediators of mutualistic interactions between plants and their physical and biological surroundings. Volatiles rapidly indicate competition or potential threat before these can take place, and they regulate and coordinate adaptation responses in neighbouring plants, fine-tuning them to match the exact stress encountered. Ecological specificity and context-dependency of plant-plant communication mediated by volatiles represent important factors that determine plant performance in specific environments. In this review, we synthesise the recent progress made in understanding the role of plant volatiles as mediators of plant interactions at the individual and community levels, highlighting the complexity of the plant receiver response to diverse volatile cues and signals and addressing how specific responses shape plant growth and survival. Finally, we outline the knowledge gaps and provide directions for future research. The complex dialogue between the emitter and receiver based on either volatile cues or signals determines the outcome of information exchange, which shapes the communication pattern between individuals at the community level and determines their ecological implications at other trophic levels.

Wheat plants sense substrate volume and root density to proactively modulate shoot growth

“…If plants use chemical signals to detect substrate volume, they may also be able to detect each other through the same system. There is certainly abundant evidence that plants can detect their neighbours through both shoot and root systems (Huber, Nieuwendijk, Pantazopoulou, & Pierik, 2020; Ninkovic, Markovic, & Rensing, 2020; Wang, Kong, Wang, & Meiners, 2020), but the relative contribution of root and shoot‐based detection is unclear, as is the mechanism of root‐based detection (Wang et al, 2020). Our data support the importance of root‐based signalling in neighbour detection, and we show that the majority of the effects of neighbour detection on shoot growth are mediated through the root system.…”

Plant–plant interactions

“…My personal route into the field of plant–plant interactions has been from a signalling perspective; trying to understand how signals from neighbouring plants modulate shoot architecture. The importance of plant–plant signalling mechanisms to the field is reflected in the focussed reviews on light signalling (Huber, Nieuwendijk, Pantazopoulou, & Pierik, 2020), and chemical signalling by volatiles (Ninkovic, Markovic, & Rensing, 2020) and root exudates (Wang, Kong, Wang, & Meiners, 2020). In addition, a less well understood aspect of plant–plant signalling, namely the ability of plants to distinguish between kin and non‐kin neighbours, is reviewed (Anten & Chen, 2021).…”

Friends, neighbours and enemies: an overview of the communal and social biology of plants

“…For instance, an indication of emitter plant proximity can be “deduced” by a receiver plant due to the fast rate of diffusion of highly volatile compounds relative to moderately volatile ones (Baldwin, 2010; Heil & Karban, 2010; Ninkovic et al, 2019). VOC detection and response are reviewed in detail elsewhere in this issue (Ninkovic, Markovic, & Rensing, 2020).…”