Allelic differences of clustered terpene synthases contribute to correlated intra-specific variation of floral and herbivory-induced volatiles in a wild tobacco

This dataset contains raw data from a manuscript entitled: Allelic differences of clustered terpene synthases contribute to correlated intra-specific variation of floral and herbivory-induced volatiles in a wild tobacco by Xu et al.In this study, we characterized intra-specific variation of herbivory-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs), the key components of indirect defence against herbivores, and floral volatiles in the wild tobacco <i>Nicotiana attenuata</i>. We found that variation of (<i>E</i>)-β-ocimene and (<i>E</i>)-α-bergamotene contributed to the correlated changes in HIPVs and floral volatiles among <i>N. attenuata</i> natural accessions. Intra-specific variations of (<i>E</i>)-α-bergamotene and of (<i>E</i>)-β-ocimene emission resulted from allelic variation of two genetically co-localized terpene synthase genes, <i>NaTPS38</i> and <i>NaTPS25</i>, respectively. Analyzing haplotypes of <i>NaTPS38 </i>and<i> NaTPS25</i> revealed that allelic variations of <i>NaTPS25</i> and <i>NaTPS38</i> resulted in correlated changes of (<i>E</i>)-β-ocimene and (<i>E</i>)-α-bergamotene emission in HIPVs and floral volatiles in <i>N. attenuata</i>. Together, these results provide evidence that pleiotropy and genetic linkage can result in correlated changes in floral signals and defences in natural populations.