Complex environments interact with plant development to shape glucosinolate profiles

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Facing complex environments, plants answer with equally complex metabolic outputs to optimize the use of their resources despite ecological and metabolic trade-offs. These metabolic outputs include dynamic changes in levels and composition of the constitutive glucosinolate defence compounds in response to biotic and abiotic environmental changes. Glucosinolate responses to insects, pathogens, drought, heat and irradiation involve distinct quantitative fluctuations of individual, few or all glucosinolate structures in a given tissue. Changes in glucosinolate profiles do not seem to be strongly determined by specific environmental factors. Instead, they are driven by the plant's genotype, physiology and development, which determine the metabolic constraints for glucosinolate biosynthesis. Fine-tuning of the glucosinolate defence compounds relies on regulatory feedback loops linking the pathway to networks controlling primary metabolism, hormone signalling, growth and the onset of flowering. Recent findings on the dynamics of glucosinolate profiles have brought us closer to understanding how plants optimize the use of resources for defensive metabolites.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHow plants communicate with their biotic environment
EditorsGuillaume Becard
Number of pages16
PublisherElsevier
Publication date2016
Pages15-30
Chapter2
ISBN (Print)978-0-12-801431-8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016
SeriesAdvances in Botanical Research
Volume82
ISSN0065-2296

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