Impact of generalist predators on tomato induced defenses

Plant wound-induced defense mechanisms have been extensively studied, but little is known about the plant's ability to detect and react early to various multitrophic cues associated with destructive herbivores. We tested the effect of two Hemipteran facultative predators, the minute pirate bug Orius insidiosus, the spined soldier bug Podisus maculiventris, and of a Coleoptera generalist predator, the convergent lady beetle Hippodamia convergens, on the induction of tomato defenses. The relative expression of selected inducible defense genes associated with the jasmonic acid and salicylic acid pathways were assayed by quantitative, real-time PCR. We investigated the influence of factors such as facultative feeding and oviposition on the possible induction of plant anti-herbivory defenses, and we hypothesized on the possible ecological significance of our findings.