Data from: Enhanced competitive advantage of invasive plants by growth-defense trade-off: Evidence from phytohormone metabolism and transcriptomic analysis

Invasive plants often exhibit a competitive advantage over native species,
posing a serious threat to them. Phytohormone signaling can regulate the
entire process of invasive plant growth and defense in ways that have
largely unexplored for invaders in competitive conditions. Here, we
planted an invasive species, Flaveria bidentis L., and three native
species (Setaria viridis, Artemisia annua, and Xanthium sibiricum) as
monocultures (two seedlings each) or mixtures (one F. bidentis with one
native) in the greenhouse, then employed phytohormone metabolomics and
transcriptomics to investigate the changes in hormone content and their
gene expression patterns in F. bidentis during competitive processes with
native plants. Our results revealed that during competition processes with
three native species, the levels of growth-promoting hormones, auxin (IAA)
and gibberellins (GA3), significantly increased in F. bidentis. These
hormone increases were accompanied by the key up-regulation of genes in
the auxin and gibberellin signaling pathways (e.g., ARF and GID1), which
effectively spurred increases in plant height and biomass. Conversely, the
levels of defense-related hormones, jasmonic acid (JA) and salicylic acid
(SA), were significantly reduced, along with the down-regulation of genes
in their signaling pathways, including COI1 and TGA. These decreases in
defense-related hormones and gene expression alleviated the antagonistic
effects on growth-promoting hormones, enabling F. bidentis to grow more
rapidly and enhance its competitive advantage. Synthesis and applications.
Our findings reveal that trade-offs between growth and defense hormone
signaling pathways enhance the competitive advantage of invasive alien
species over native ones. This insight into the invasive success of exotic
species provides a foundation for developing targeted control strategies.
By specifically regulating hormone signaling pathways, the competitiveness
of invasive species could be dampened, thereby mitigating the threat to
native ecosystems.