High temperature affects plants' induced defense against herbivores. undefined

High temperature are associated with accelerated insect herbivores feeding activity. Although it is well acknowledged that high temperatures can directly affects insect development, plant growth and physiology, little is known about how climate change will alter this long-standing plant-herbivore interaction. In this study, we explored warming-induced defense responses changes in leaf of a cool-weather crop Solanum tuberosum induced by its specialist insect herbivore Phthorimaea operculella (potato tuber moth, PTM), and further examined how these changes in turn influenced the performance of herbivores, as conducted both on plants and detached leaves. Growth of PTM larvae on herbivory induced leaves were faster under high temperature, which were due to suppression of herbivory induced defensive metabolites including jasmonates, steroidal glycoalkaloids (SGAs) and trypsin proteinase inhibitor (TPI). In addition, high temperature primed herbivory induced primary metabolites such as soluble sugar but decreased their final concentration. Through transcriptional profiling, an evolutionary pattern between potato and PTM was altered from hourglass to vase under high temperature. Also, transcripts of genes in the biosynthesis pathways of above metabolites were consistent with compounds’ change. These results indicate that high temperature can affect plant-herbivore relationships through its influence on related gene expression and metabolite biosynthesis.