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Marchantia polymorpha Defense Against Snail Herbivory.
Fabian Schweizer1, Isabel Monte2, Roberto Solano2
1Department of Plant Molecular Biology University of Lausanne Lausanne Switzerland.
Plant-Environment Interactions (Hoboken, N.J.)
|April 16, 2025
Summary
Liverworts use the jasmonic acid (JA) pathway for defense against snail herbivory. This ancient plant defense mechanism protected early land plants from gastropod feeders.
Area of Science:
- Plant biology
- Evolutionary biology
- Ecology
Background:
- Higher plants utilize the jasmonic acid (JA) signaling pathway to defend against arthropod herbivores.
- The liverwort *Marchantia polymorpha* possesses a functional JA pathway effective against insect feeding.
- Insects evolved after bryophytes, suggesting JA-dependent defenses in liverworts may predate insect herbivory.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of the JA pathway in liverwort defense against gastropod herbivory.
- To test the hypothesis that JA-dependent defenses in *Marchantia polymorpha* target contemporaneous gastropod feeders.
Main Methods:
- Challenging *Marchantia polymorpha* wild-type and *Mpcoi1* mutant plants with the land snail *Helix aspersa*.
- Measuring the growth of snail neonates on different plant genotypes.
Main Results:
- Snail neonates grew significantly larger on *Mpcoi1* mutant liverworts compared to wild-type plants.
- This indicates that JA-dependent defenses in *M. polymorpha* are effective against gastropod herbivory.
Conclusions:
- The jasmonic acid (JA) pathway in liverworts provides effective defense against gastropod herbivory.
- Gastropod feeding pressure may have been a significant factor in the early evolution of plant defenses.
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