response of the ant-plant Tococa quadrialata to herbivory

Ant-plants and their associated ants are classic examples of defensive mutualism. The ants protect their hosts against herbivores, whereas the plants provide them with nesting sites and food. While the importance of ants as plant defenders has been investigated thoroughly, information about how the plants themselves respond to herbivory and how the presence/abscence of ants influences the metabolism of the ant-plant is still scarce. Here, we studied the plant Tococa quadrialata, colonized by Azteca cf. tonduzi ants in the Peruvian rainforest. An ant-exclusion experiment helped us to understand how the plants adapt to their symbionts and how they respond to herbivore damage via targeted and untargeted metabolomics as well as transcriptome analysis.