Abstract
As a first line of defense against insect herbivores many plants store high concentrations of toxic and deterrent secondary metabolites in glandular trichomes. Plant Pleiotropic Drug Resistance (PDR)‐type ABC transporters are known secondary metabolite transporters, and several have been implicated in pathogen or herbivore defense. Here, we report on Petunia hybrida PhPDR2 as a major contributor to trichome‐related chemical defense. PhPDR2 was found to localize to the plasma membrane and be predominantly expressed in multicellular glandular trichomes of leaves and stems. Down‐regulation of PhPDR2 via RNA interference (pdr2) resulted in a markedly higher susceptibility of the transgenic plants to the generalist foliage feeder Spodoptera littoralis. Untargeted screening of pdr2 trichome metabolite contents showed a significant decrease in petuniasterone and petuniolide content, compounds, which had previously been shown to act as potent toxins against various insects. Our findings suggest that PhPDR2 plays a leading role in controlling petuniasterone levels in leaves and trichomes of petunia, thus contributing to herbivory resistance.
Plants fight against insect herbivory by producing deterrent and toxic compounds. Most of these compounds are stored at exposed sites such as leaf borders and trichomes. Here, we show that the Petunia ABC transporter PDR2 plays an important role in deposition of petuniolides and petuniasterones, natural insecticides produced by this plant and that plants with impaired PDR2 function are preferentially attacked by insects.