Control of systemically induced herbivore resistance by plant vascular architecture

Patterns of systemically induced resistance (SIR) in Eastern Cottonwood, Populus deltoides, measured by reduced feeding of the leaf-chewing beetle, Plagiodera versicolora, were shown to be directly related to the distribution of the plant vasculature. Mechanical damage to single leaves resulted in SIR in non-adjacent, orthostichous leaves (vertically aligned on the stem) with direct vascular connections, both up and down the shoot; but no SIR in adjacent, non-orthostichous leaves with less direct vascular connections. The control that the plant vasculature exerts over signal distribution following wounding can therefore be used to predict SIR patterns, explain variation in the distribution of SIR, and relate this ecologically important phenomenon to biochemical processes of systemic gene expression and biochemical resistance mechanisms.