TY - JOUR

T1 - A glimmer of hope - ash genotypes with increased resistance to ash dieback pathogen show cross-resistance to emerald ash borer

AU - Gossner, Martin M.

AU - Perret-Gentil, Anouchka

AU - Britt, Elisabeth

AU - Queloz, Valentin

AU - Glauser, Gaétan

AU - Ladd, Tim

AU - Roe, Amanda D.

AU - Cleary, Michelle

AU - Liziniewicz, Mateusz

AU - Nielsen, Lene R.

AU - Ghosh, Soumya K.

AU - Bonello, Pierluigi

AU - Eisenring, Michael

N1 - © 2023 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2023 New Phytologist Foundation.

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Plants rely on cross-resistance traits to defend against multiple, phylogenetically distinct enemies. These traits are often the result of long co-evolutionary histories. Biological invasions can force naïve plants to cope with novel, coincident pests, and pathogens. For example, European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) is substantially threatened by the emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis, a wood-boring beetle, and the ash dieback (ADB) pathogen, Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. Yet, plant cross-resistance traits against novel enemies are poorly explored and it is unknown whether naïve ash trees can defend against novel enemy complexes via cross-resistance mechanisms. To gain mechanistic insights, we quantified EAB performance on grafted replicates of ash genotypes varying in ADB resistance and characterized ash phloem chemistry with targeted and untargeted metabolomics. Emerald ash borer performed better on ADB-susceptible than on ADB-resistant genotypes. Moreover, changes in EAB performance aligned with differences in phloem chemical profiles between ADB-susceptible and ADB-resistant genotypes. We show that intraspecific variation in phloem chemistry in European ash can confer increased cross-resistance to invasive antagonists from different taxonomic kingdoms. Our study suggests that promotion of ADB-resistant ash genotypes may simultaneously help to control the ADB disease and reduce EAB-caused ash losses, which may be critical for the long-term stability of this keystone tree species.

AB - Plants rely on cross-resistance traits to defend against multiple, phylogenetically distinct enemies. These traits are often the result of long co-evolutionary histories. Biological invasions can force naïve plants to cope with novel, coincident pests, and pathogens. For example, European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) is substantially threatened by the emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis, a wood-boring beetle, and the ash dieback (ADB) pathogen, Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. Yet, plant cross-resistance traits against novel enemies are poorly explored and it is unknown whether naïve ash trees can defend against novel enemy complexes via cross-resistance mechanisms. To gain mechanistic insights, we quantified EAB performance on grafted replicates of ash genotypes varying in ADB resistance and characterized ash phloem chemistry with targeted and untargeted metabolomics. Emerald ash borer performed better on ADB-susceptible than on ADB-resistant genotypes. Moreover, changes in EAB performance aligned with differences in phloem chemical profiles between ADB-susceptible and ADB-resistant genotypes. We show that intraspecific variation in phloem chemistry in European ash can confer increased cross-resistance to invasive antagonists from different taxonomic kingdoms. Our study suggests that promotion of ADB-resistant ash genotypes may simultaneously help to control the ADB disease and reduce EAB-caused ash losses, which may be critical for the long-term stability of this keystone tree species.

U2 - 10.1111/nph.19068

DO - 10.1111/nph.19068

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37345294

VL - 240

SP - 1219

EP - 1232

JO - New Phytologist

JF - New Phytologist

SN - 0028-646X

IS - 3

ER -