Animal-Insects

Interactions

1
 CHEMICAL DEFENCE MECHANISMS OF PLANTS

The toxicity of a chemical: dependent on the dose & time period; age
& state of health of the animal; the mechanism of absorption; mode of
excretion.
Toxins often have the role of feeding repellents: warning signal
Visual signal: glandular hairs on leaves and stems secrete toxic
quinone
Olfactory signal: secrete pungent acrid smell, toxic to most insects.
Striggering signal: Some toxic compounds are synthesized only when
the plant is damaged. HCN (bitter almond odor) is released in
cyanophoric plants only when the leaf is damaged.
Most alkaloid & saponin are bitter, and warning signal is only receive
after the animal has started feeding. Ex: quinine in cinchona bark
 Phytotoxin
• Toxic chemicals produced by plants
(Defensive agents against predators)
• Various classes of defensive agents of secondary metabolites
(alkaloids, terpenes, and phenolics)

Play an important role in plant defense

- Bacterial Inhibition, Bactericidal Activity, Anti-Germination Activity
- Defense against Herbivorous Animal and Pathogen Agents
- Lure (odor, taste, color): pollinators and seed dispersers
- Chemical Agents:
Competition between plants
Symbiosis between plants and animal

Inhibitory effect of marine green algal extracts on germination of Lactuca

sativa seeds
Synthesis of secondary metabolites in plants

methylerythritol 4-
phosphate (MEP)

4
 Alkaloids for defense against insects
Nicotine and derivatives are among
the earliest known and most potent Nicotine, a powerful
insecticides neurotoxin to insects

Steroidal alkaloid
solanine in potatoes

Apple seeds contain a small amount

of cyanide (CN).
Do not chew the seeds.
 DIFFERENT CLASSES OF PLANT TOXINS

A. NITROGEN - BASED TOXINS:

- Non – protein amino acids - Alkaloids
- Cyanogenic glycosides - Peptids
- Glucosinolates - Proteins

B. NON - NITROGENOUS TOXINS:

- Iridoids
- Isoflavonoids
- Sesquiterpene lactones
- Quinones
- Cardiac glycosides
- Polyacetylenes
- Saponins
- Aflatoxins
- Furanocoumarines
Aspergillus flavus
Aspergillus parasiticus
 Milkweed (Cỏ Mủ)
Interactions with Milkweed

Cardiac Glycoside Cardiac Cardenolide

Milkweed butterfly

Dogbane (Dừa cạn) Stinkbug eating

monarch 5th instar
The larvae sequester toxic steroids, known as
cardenolides, from milkweed, and use as a defense
against predators
Structure of
cardiac glycoside

Non-toxic portion

Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) copes well with cardiac glycosides

(inhibitors of animal Na+/K+-ATPases) from its milkweed host plants
There was evidence for relative selectivity of individual cardiac glycosides
reaching from 4- to 94-fold differences of inhibition between non-adapted
Na+/K+-ATPase and D. plexippus-Na+/K+-ATPase.

 A strong basis for pairwise coevolutionary interactions between

plants and herbivorous insects.
Petschenka G, Fei CS, Araya JJ, Schröder S, Timmermann BN and Agrawal AA (2018) Relative Selectivity of Plant Cardenolides for Na+/K+-ATPases
From the Monarch Butterfly and Non-resistant Insects.
 Interactions with Milkweed

Monarch larva executing

'trenching' behavior by chewing
a small circle

A 5th instar monarch larva cutting through

the mid-vein on a milkweed leaf, stopping
latex flow to the whole leaf
 CARDIAC GLYCOSIDES,
MILKWEEDS, MONARCH BUTTERFLIES & BLUE - JAYS

b
a c d

f h
e g

Warning color with the toxic compounds

(a) Milkweed Asclepias curassavica (orange-brown color and slow, lazy flight)
(b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g): the life cycle of monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus
(h) Blue - jays Cyanocitta cristata bromia
"The monarch (Danaus) is genuinely inedible, since it feeds on
milkweed, It advertises this fact (warning coloration) by distinctive
orange-brown color and slow, lazy flight.

Example of butterfly Mimicry

The viceroy (Limenitis archippus) which feeds on willow leaves and

popular is perfectly good bird food, but it has the colors and habits of the
monarch.
 Seed of Morning
Glory contains
d-lysergic acid.
A deterrent to keep herbivores, insects,
and other predators away
(cây bìm bìm hoa tía)

d-lysergic acid Ergoline derivatives

(Alkaloid)
The Fungal Community: Its Organization and Role in the Ecosystem, Third Edition
edited by John Dighton, James F. White Jr., James White, Peter Oudemans
 Terpenoid

Limonene
Menthol

Clary Sage

Phytol Gibberellin14
Retinol (vitamin A)
Monoterpenoids interfere with basic metabolic, biochemical,
physiological, and behavioural functions of insects

Molecular Host Plant

Resistance to Pests

15
Secretory Structures of Aromatic and Medicinal Plants

Glandular hair of young

leaf of spring sunflower

16
 Biochemical Biopesticides
(Botanical Insect Growth Regulators)
Neem Tree (Azadirachta indica), Africa, Asia
Triterpenes

Fern (Polypodium vulgare)

Insect Prematue Death Ecdysteroids
Steroid skeleton

phytophagous insect
Cholesterol
deterrency
The possible role of phytoecdysteroids as defense compounds 17
 Phytoecdysteroid (secondary metabolite)
A part of the plant's defences against phytophagous insects
and soil nematode

+ Produced by many plants

+ Analogues of insect steroid hormones (ecdysteroids) that
control insect growth, development, and reproduction.

+ Application of phytoecdysteroids in market: growth and

developmental disruption of a number of species:
Spodoptera frugiperda , Bombyx mori, Lobesia botrana,
Bradysia impatiens, Inachis io and Aglais urticae
+ Inhibition of growth, induction of supernumerary larval
instars, death without moulting, and death during or after
induced moulting.

Rharrabe K, Sayah F, Lafont R. Dietary effects of four phytoecdysteroids on growth and development of the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella. Journal of Insect Science. 2010 Jan
1;10(1):13.
Role of Phytoecdysteroids in Insect Pest Management

Phytoecdysteroids:
+ Analogues of insect moulting steroid hormone, ecdysteroid.
+ Found in different plant groups and provide protection by deterring
insects.
+ Synthesized in at least 27 families of Pteridophyta, 10 families
of Gymnospermae and 74 families of Angiospermae.
+ Triterpenoids, the group of compounds that includes triterpene saponins,
phytosterols and phytoecdysteroids.
+ Polar steroids with sugar-like solubility properties.
+ Over 300 phytoecdysteroids analogues have been identified so far and it
has been speculated that there are over 1,000 possible structures in
nature.
+ Synthesized from mevalonic acid and cholesterol.
+ Occur in relatively high concentration in many plants and comprise 0.001-
3% of the dry weight.
+ Isolated from all parts of plants in much higher amounts than those present
in insects.
Chaubey MK. Role of phytoecdysteroids in insect pest management: a review. Journal of
Agronomy. 2018;17(1):1-0.
Role of Phytoecdysteroids in Insect Pest Management

Thus, plants are far better sources of ecdysteroids than insects.

Different plant parts contain different amounts of ecdysteroids and that
ecdysteroid concentration varies with season and geographical
distribution of the plant.
Ecdysteroids control insect development at all stages of the life cycle.
Disruption of normal ecdysteroid level severely impairs insect
development.
Phytoecdysteroids mimic the insect ecdysteroid by binding to its receptors and
eliciting a cascade of effects in insects.
Phytoecdysteroids provide protection to plants by altering the normal levels of
ecdysteroid hormone in adults and larvae in insects.
Therefore, phytoecdysteroids can be an excellent replacement of synthetic
insecticides in insect pest management program.

Chaubey MK. Role of phytoecdysteroids in insect pest management: a review. Journal of

Agronomy. 2018;17(1):1-0.
 A message for purpose of communication
Warning Signals Semiochemicals
Semion = Signal

Terpenoids
An increase of volatile compounds
released by plants in response to
insect feeding triggered by an
interaction of elicitors with damaged
plant tissue.

Elicitors: volicitin in the oral

secretions of insect herbivores

Volatile Semiochemicals: used by

natural enemies of herbivores such as
parasitoid wasps to locate their hosts.

Semiochemical is a pheromone or other chemical that conveys a signal from

one organism to another so as to modify the behavior of the recipient organism.
 Octadecanoid pathway

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/276/5314/912/F1

Lauchli R, Boland W. Indanoyl amino acid conjugates: tunable elicitors of plant secondary
metabolism. The Chemical Record. 2003 Jan 1;3(1):12-21.

 During herbivory, wounding activates the systemic expression of defense genes

through the octadecanoid signal pathway.
 In parallel, insect saliva containing chemical elicitors, such as volicitin, triggers
the plant to release a bouquet of volatile compounds that attract parasitic or
predatory insects to the herbivore.
 Volatile release stimulated by volicitin may also depend on the octadecanoid
pathway, raising the possibility of cross talk between this molecule and the
wound-induced expression of defense genes.
 Octadecanoid pathway

Systemin is a plant peptide

hormone involved in the wound
response in the Solanaceae
family.

Pathogen-induced elicitors

Phytoalexins are antimicrobial and

often antioxidative substances
synthesized de novo by plants that
accumulate rapidly at areas of
pathogen infection.

JIP, jasmonate- induced protein

Oxidant
Repel The attack
factors

Induces emission of VIPs

Attract natural enemies

Some insects have learnt to use VIPs

to locate the host plant (Co-evolution)

- Attract natural enemies of herbivorous insects

- Help the attacked plants communicate to
neighbors the presence of risk

Different roles of volatile isoprenoids (VIPs) in

protecting plants from abiotic and biotic stress factors
Some natural enemies of herbivorous insects
Biocontrol

Trichopria drosophilae (Diapriidae) Cotesia congregata, larvae spinning

attacks the pupae of drosophilid fruit flies. A on Ceratomia catalpae host
female probes a pupa with her ovipositor.

Aphidius ervi - biocontrol wasp

attacking Acyrthosiphon pisum pea aphids.
Cotesia congregata, cocoons
on Xylophanes tersa
 Biocontrol

Biological control
The method of controlling insects, mites, weeds and
plant diseases using other organisms.
Based on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other
natural mechanisms
Involves active management of human activities:
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs.
 Encarsia pergandiella wasps

Encarsia pergandiella - biocontrol wasps

for Bemisia tabaci whitefly.

Bemisia tabaci whitefly

Ex: Plants’ defence mechanisms
Continuous Direct Defense
Thorns, spines, and micro-needles
(vật lý)
Barriers: Cuticle, Bark, and Resins
Continuous Poisons (hóa học)

Defenses Triggered by Attack

Plants Send for Symbiote Help: Indirect Defense(Gián tiếp)
Pine Sawflies & Who is Called to Help
Nectar to Keep Helpers Nearby
A Gallery of Extra-Floral Nectar

Egg Mimicry Defense

Virus Defense: Programmed Cell Death

 Pine Sawflies and Who Comes to Help

A pine sawfly laying her Pine sawfly eggs

eggs inside a pine needle in pine needles

The pine then produces a volatile signal-chemical cocktail

Attracting both parasitoid tachinid flies and parasitoid wasps

Pine sawfly caterpillars A parasitoid tachinid fly

Quickly defoliate the host tree emerging from a sawfly cocoon
Nectar to Keep Helpers Nearby
Plants can be subtle defenders.
Many kinds of plants keep potential helpers in the neighborhood out-of-season,
before they are needed, by offering them nectar before and after flowering.
Commonly, the nectar is offered in special little nipple-like organs called nectaries,
but some plants offer nectar directly on their leaves. This out-of-season nectar
insures the plant of protection by ants and parasitoid wasps.
Ants will vigorously attack any leaf-eater that shows up on their nectar source. In
season, when a nectar-offering plant sends for winged help, the wasps will already
be in the neiborhood.

nectary offering sweets beneath

a guardian ant about to feed
cactus spines
on an Acacia tree nectary
an ant feeds from a Cholla Cherry tree nectaries on
cactus nectary a leaf stem

cây lạc tiên

cây cơm cháy Passionflower nectaries

Elderberry nectaries can occur on every part
on the young stem of the vine
the nectary on this wild ginger stem
Pitcher plants recruit ants
in Costa Rica
with large nectaries
looks like a yellow stripe.
an ant drinks nectar exuded directly An ant struggles with sticky nectar
from a leaf, without a nectary exuded from a sunflower leaf,
without a nectary

Ants attack a katydid feeding on Ant attacking swallowtail caterpillar

cholla cactus on a leaf
Các hợp chất phenolic đơn giản
Caffeic acid
& ferulic acid
implicated in
allelopathy.

Psoralen is one
of several
phototoxic
furanocoumarins,
(UV activated)
Furanocoumarins (phenolic):
– Activated by light UV-A range (320-380 nm): blocks the
transcription and repair of DNA (pyrimidine).
– In Apiaceae, Celery (Apium graveolens, cây cần tây), high
concentration in spring and the summer, especially under
stress and pathogen infection
– Urushiol ở cây thường xuân độc (poison ivy) là một hợp
chất phenolic đơn giản có các gốc bên

Lignin, tanin (phenolic)

 (b)
Apium graveolens
Cây cần
tây
nhựa gây bỏng
nặng khi da
tiếp xúc với
ánh sáng mặt
trời

Heracleum mantegazzianum (giant cow parsley) Psoralen

Angelicin
 Folivore: A leaf eater
Leaf Folding Insects Folivory
Frugivore: A fruit eater
Frugivory

• Insects fold the leaf

to eat inside and stay
away their predators.
• Also prevent
furanocoumarin from
light activation

Liu X, Chen J, Yang Z. Characterization and induction of two

cytochrome P450 genes, CYP6AE28 and CYP6AE30, in
Cnaphalocrocis medinalis: possible involvement in metabolism of
rice allelochemicals. Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C. 2010 Dec
1;65(11-12):719-25.

DEFECATION BEHAVIOR AND ECOLOGY OF INSECTS

The Cabbage Family
40
 Economically Important Insect Pests
Rệp xanh (Myzus persicae) Sâu đo bắp cải (Trichoplusia ni)
trên bắp cải tấn công nhiều loài cây họ Thập tự

41
 Myrosinase-Glucosinolate System
Defense for the plant against grazing
animal & insects

Myrosinase Glucosinolates

thiocyanate, isothiocyanate (mustard oil) or nitrile

42
 Myrosinase-Glucosinolate System
Myrosinase
(-thioglucoside Glucosinolates in “S-cells”
glucohydrolase) R = Met, Trp, Phe
In myrosin cell
Herbivory R S─Glc
N─OSO3¯

Myrosinase
H20
R S
+ Glucose
N─OSO3¯

R-N=C=S R-C≡N R-S-C≡N

Isothiocyanate Nitrile Thiocyanate 43
Ex: Plants’ defence mechanisms
Continuous Direct Defense
Thorns, spines, and micro-needles
(vật lý)
Barriers: Cuticle, Bark, and Resins
Continuous Poisons (hóa học)

Defenses Triggered by Attack

Plants Send for Symbiote Help: Indirect Defense(Gián tiếp)
Pine Sawflies & Who is Called to Help
Nectar to Keep Helpers Nearby
A Gallery of Extra-Floral Nectar

Egg Mimicry Defense

Virus Defense: Programmed Cell Death

Egg Mimicry Defense
One of the most startling plant defenses is mimicry.
Some plants mimic the presence of insect eggs on their leaves, dissuading insect
species from laying their eggs there. Because female butterflies are less likely to
lay their eggs on plants that already have butterfly eggs.
Some passion flower vines grow physical structures on their leaves that mimic the
yellow eggs of Heliconius butterflies.

Cây lạc tiên

Cây chanh dây

Yellow faux "butterfly eggs" grown by a Passion Flower vine to

dissuade egg laying by Heliconius butterflies
 Virus Defense: Programmed Cell Death
Many plants, when invaded by viruses, fungi,and other microbes, kill their own
cells that surround the infected cell. Programmed cell death is also known as
hypersensitivity response. The attacker is cut off from the nutrients it needs to
survive, so it cannot spread the infection. Programmed cell death is used by the
immune system of many animals as well.

Resistance
Tolerance

Susceptibility

Dead cells surround a virus that is isolated through programmed cell death.

The dead cells will appear on the leaf as a tiny brown leaf spot.
 Carnivorous Plants
• Sống ở vùng đầm lầy ẩm ướt và nơi đất chua
• Bẫy thực phẩm bằng các lá đặc biệt, là sự thích nghi của
cây sống trong những điều kiện môi trường khắc nghiệt

Pitcher Plants
Sundew

Venus’ Flytrap

Butterwort
Pitcher Plants
 Carnivorous Plants
Dionaea muscipula, Cây bắt ruồi
Tiếp xúc một chiếc lông không kích thích cơ chế đóng
bẫy. Chỉ khi một chiếc lông bị chạm hai lần hay hai
chiếc lông bị chạm liên tiếp nhau thì lá mới khép lại.

stuff:http://waynesword.palomar.edu/carnivor.htm
 Carnivorous Plants
Cỏ lá kèn: Darlingtonia californica
(California Pitcher plant or Cobra Lily)

Darlingtonia's translucent leaves confuse insects trying to escape.

Not produce any digestive enzymes

Rely on symbiotic bacteria and protozoa to break down the captured
insects into easily absorbed nutrients
 Carnivorous Plants
Parasitic protozoa
Nepenthes (pitcher plants) Malaria parasite
Plasmodium falciparum

Models for the binding of RII

to the glycophorin A
receptor on red blood cells
Nepenthes alata (erythrocytes).

The decomposing enzyme from Nepenthes alata against glycophorin

of human red blood cells
Các loài cây ăn thịt: cây bắt mồi, cây nắp bình
Có nhiều mối tương tác với động vật.

 Do sống ở các môi trường nghèo dinh dưỡng nên chúng thường có cấu
trúc đặc biệt tiết ra các chất dẫn dụ có mùi ngọt ... để dụ con mồi đến và
bắt mồi, nhất là côn trùng.
 Để tiêu hóa được thức ăn chúng phải tiết ra nhiều loại enzyme phân hủy,
nhất là protease ...
 Một số loài khác tương tác với vi khuẩn, và một số vi sinh vật khác để
giúp tiêu hóa thức ăn.
 Một số loài cây có nắp bình lớn hơn, ngoài chức năng bắt mồi, còn có thể
tương tác với loài dơi. Nhờ vào khả năng phản xạ lại sóng âm của dơi phát
ra, giúp cho dơi nhận diện ra chiết bình một cách dễ dàng.
Mỗi chiết bình như là cái tổ nhỏ cho mỗi con dơi có thể ngủ và ngược lại
dơi cung cấp phân là nguồn đạm dồi dào cho cây tăng trưởng.
 Ngoài ra, ở một số loài chiết bình có thể tiết ra các chất dinh dưỡng cho
loài chuột chũi, ngược lại phân chuột chũi là nguồn dinh dưỡng cho cây.
 Triggers of key calcium signals during erythrocyte invasion
by Plasmodium falciparum

EBA: Erythrocyte binding antigen 175

P. falciparum reticulocyte binding protein homologue 1 (PfRH1)

glycophorin A (GPA)

rhoptry

Micronemes

The apical end interaction An increase of intracellular Ca2+ Tight junction formation
 Cây Drosera (Sundew, Gọng vó)
Leaves and Carnivory: Các xúc tu có các đầu dính
- Các chất nhầy ngọt, dính thu hút và bẫy côn trùng
- Các enzyme tiêu hóa con mồi

Drosera rotundifolia

Drosera capensis
Secrete esterase, peroxidase, phosphatase and
protease enzymes
 Pinguicula,
Butterworts

Pinguicula vulgaris

NORWEGIAN DAIRY PRODUCT

Use sticky, glandular leaves to lure, trap, tätmjölk

and digest insects
From leaves of Sundew and Butterwort