The Impact of Greenhouse Tomato (Solanales: Solanaceae) Floral Volatiles on Bumble Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Pollination

Morse, A. D.; Kevan, Peter G.; Shipp, Les; Khosla, S.; McGarvey, Brian D.

doi:10.1603/en11234

Cited by 32 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The importance of floral odors for pollination is increasingly appreciated (e.g. Kessler et al, 2008;Raguso, 2008a,b;Morse et al, 2012;Riffell et al, 2013), yet how they structure plant-pollinator interactions, particularly in the context of climate change, is relatively poorly studied. Given their crucial roles in directing other plant-insect interactions (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drought and leaf herbivory influence floral volatiles and pollinator attraction

Burkle

Runyon

2016

Global Change Biology

112

147

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The effects of climate change on species interactions are poorly understood. Investigating the mechanisms by which species interactions may shift under altered environmental conditions will help form a more predictive understanding of such shifts. In particular, components of climate change have the potential to strongly influence floral volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and, in turn, plant-pollinator interactions. In this study, we experimentally manipulated drought and herbivory for four forb species to determine effects of these treatments and their interactions on (1) visual plant traits traditionally associated with pollinator attraction, (2) floral VOCs, and (3) the visitation rates and community composition of pollinators. For all forbs tested, experimental drought universally reduced flower size and floral display, but there were species-specific effects of drought on volatile emissions per flower, the composition of compounds produced, and subsequent pollinator visitation rates. Moreover, the community of pollinating visitors was influenced by drought across forb species (i.e. some pollinator species were deterred by drought while others were attracted). Together, these results indicate that VOCs may provide more nuanced information to potential floral visitors and may be relatively more important than visual traits for pollinator attraction, particularly under shifting environmental conditions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drought and leaf herbivory influence floral volatiles and pollinator attraction

Burkle

Runyon

2016

Global Change Biology

112

147

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“…Sesquiterpenes are synthesized by sesquiterpene synthases and play a variety of ecological roles in higher plants. Many sesquiterpenes are volatile compounds that are commonly emitted from flowers serving as attractants to pollinators (Morse et al, 2012 ), but also as repellents against nectar thieves (Junker and Bluethgen, 2008 ). In addition, sesquiterpene emissions from leaves of several plant species play important roles in direct and indirect chemical defense against pathogens and herbivores (Schnee et al, 2002 ; Cheng et al, 2007 ; Chappell and Coates, 2010 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Germacrene A synthase in yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is an enzyme with mixed substrate specificity: gene cloning, functional characterization and expression analysis

et al. 2015

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Terpenoid synthases constitute a highly diverse gene family producing a wide range of cyclic and acyclic molecules consisting of isoprene (C5) residues. Often a single terpene synthase produces a spectrum of molecules of given chain length, but some terpene synthases can use multiple substrates, producing products of different chain length. Only a few such enzymes has been characterized, but the capacity for multiple-substrate use can be more widespread than previously thought. Here we focused on germacrene A synthase (GAS) that is a key cytosolic enzyme in the sesquiterpene lactone biosynthesis pathway in the important medicinal plant Achillea millefolium (AmGAS). The full length encoding gene was heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3), functionally characterized, and its in vivo expression was analyzed. The recombinant protein catalyzed formation of germacrene A with the C15 substrate farnesyl diphosphate (FDP), while acyclic monoterpenes were formed with the C10 substrate geranyl diphosphate (GDP) and cyclic monoterpenes with the C10 substrate neryl diphosphate (NDP). Although monoterpene synthesis has been assumed to be confined exclusively to plastids, AmGAS can potentially synthesize monoterpenes in cytosol when GDP or NDP become available. AmGAS enzyme had high homology with GAS sequences from other Asteraceae species, suggesting that multi-substrate use can be more widespread among germacrene A synthases than previously thought. Expression studies indicated that AmGAS was expressed in both autotrophic and heterotrophic plant compartments with the highest expression levels in leaves and flowers. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the cloning and characterization of germacrene A synthase coding gene in A. millefolium, and multi-substrate use of GAS enzymes.

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“…The characteristics of lulo, for example its pollen chemistry (Buchmann 1983), pollen availability, floral scent and flower morphology, may influence the preference and behaviour of bumblebees (see e.g. Lefebvre and Pierre 2006;Morse et al 2012;Nunes-Silva et al 2013). Although it could be essential for profitable production of this new crop, it is not known how effective B. terrestris would be as a lulo pollinator.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Successful pollination of the Neotropical crop Solanum quitoense by Bombus terrestris: behaviour, efficiency and yield

Messinger

Martini

Rossi

et al. 2015

J Applied Entomology

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The South American lulo (Solanum quitoense Lam.) is a crop plant of the Andes of Ecuador and Colombia, pollinated by South American bumblebees, such as, Bombus atratus Franklin. The cultivation of lulo outside of its native range, for example in European glasshouses, requires the presence of efficient pollinators to enable high fruit set and yield. Until now, the suitability of Bombus terrestris L., native to Europe and commonly used in agriculture, has been untested for this purpose. In this study, the pollencollecting behaviour of B. terrestris when visiting lulo flowers was investigated. It was shown that B. terrestris adopted the lulo as a pollen source, and on average visited three flowers per minute, had five buzzing events per stay and foraged for 15 s on a single flower, independently of the previous number of visits and level of bruising to the anthers. The pollination efficiency of five different treatments was evaluated: (i) exclusion of bees, (ii) single and (iii) multiple visits of B. terrestris, (iv) self-and (v) cross-pollination by hand. The results clearly demonstrated that, for fruit set, pollination is crucial. It was also found that lulo flowers can be successfully self-pollinated, but give 25% fewer fruit set compared with pollination via multiple bumblebee visits, or cross-pollination by hand. Fruit set, seed set and fruit size were as high with pollination by B. terrestris as with crosspollination by hand, indicating that this bumblebee is an appropriate pollinator for lulo. However, B. terrestris was conspicuously less effective when a flower was visited only once. Therefore, when growing lulos commercially, multiple bumblebee visits should be encouraged, but it is likely that the behaviour of B. terrestris would ensure this anyway. Our results indicate that B. terrestris is a suitable and efficient pollinator for the production of lulo fruits.

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The Impact of Greenhouse Tomato (Solanales: Solanaceae) Floral Volatiles on Bumble Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Pollination

Cited by 32 publications

References 47 publications

Drought and leaf herbivory influence floral volatiles and pollinator attraction

Drought and leaf herbivory influence floral volatiles and pollinator attraction

Germacrene A synthase in yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is an enzyme with mixed substrate specificity: gene cloning, functional characterization and expression analysis

Successful pollination of the Neotropical crop Solanum quitoense by Bombus terrestris: behaviour, efficiency and yield

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