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Peer-reviewedCC BY-NCScience Advances

A plant immune receptor mediates tritrophic interactions by linking caterpillar detection to predator recruitment

  • Natalia Guayazán Palacios1
  • Patrick Grof‐Tisza2,3,4,5
  • Brian Behnken1
  • Carla Marques Arce3,5
  • Di Wu1
  • Antonio F. Chaparro1,6,7
  • Benjamin D. Sheppard1,8
  • Eric A. Schmelz8,9,10
  • Ted C. J. Turlings11,12,13,9,10
  • Betty Benrey11,3,13,14
  • Adam D. Steinbrenner1
14 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
  2. 2Department of Natural Sciences, Converse University, Spartanburg, SC, USA
  3. 3Laboratory of Evolutionary Entomology, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, 2000 Switzerland
  4. 4Department of Natural Sciences, Converse University, Spartanburg, 2902 SC, USA
  5. 5Laboratory of Evolutionary Entomology, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, 000 Switzerland
  6. 6Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
  7. 7Department of Plant & Microbial Biology, University of California Berkeley. Berkeley, CA, USA
  8. 8Section of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
  9. 9Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
  10. 10State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Adaptation and Improvement, State Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, China
  11. 11Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
  12. 12Laboratory of Fundamental and Applied Research in Chemical Ecology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel 2000, Switzerland
  13. 13Laboratory of Plant-Insect Research for Sustainable Agriculture (PIRSA), State Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China
  14. 14Department of Biology, University of Washington. Seattle, WA, USA
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Abstract

Plants deploy direct and indirect defenses in response to insect herbivory. The specific antiherbivore responses involve cell surface immune receptors that recognize herbivore-associated molecular patterns (HAMPs), yet the ecological relevance of this molecular interplay in natural settings remains unexplored. Here, we demonstrate with laboratory and field experimentation in Mexico that the inceptin receptor (INR) in the leaves of common bean orchestrates a tritrophic interaction upon recognition of inceptin, a HAMP in caterpillar oral secretions. Near-isogenic lines with a naturally occurring null mutation in INR revealed that inceptin recognition does not only amplify the wound response but activates an herbivore-specific immune pathway to trigger the emission of a distinctive volatile blend that recruits predatory wasps to effectively remove caterpillars from the plants. These findings provide a definitive molecular-to-ecological link, revealing how a single immune receptor mediates ecologically relevant plant-insect-predator interactions in nature.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{palacios2026plant,
  title = {{A plant immune receptor mediates tritrophic interactions by linking caterpillar detection to predator recruitment}},
  author = {Natalia Guayazán Palacios and Patrick Grof‐Tisza and Brian Behnken and Carla Marques Arce and Di Wu and Antonio F. Chaparro and Benjamin D. Sheppard and Eric A. Schmelz and Ted C. J. Turlings and Betty Benrey and Adam D. Steinbrenner},
  journal = {Science Advances},
  year = {2026},
  month = may,
  doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aec3229},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aec3229},
  note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - A plant immune receptor mediates tritrophic interactions by linking caterpillar detection to predator recruitment
AU  - Natalia Guayazán Palacios
AU  - Patrick Grof‐Tisza
AU  - Brian Behnken
AU  - Carla Marques Arce
AU  - Di Wu
AU  - Antonio F. Chaparro
AU  - Benjamin D. Sheppard
AU  - Eric A. Schmelz
AU  - Ted C. J. Turlings
AU  - Betty Benrey
AU  - Adam D. Steinbrenner
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/27
JO  - Science Advances
DO  - 10.1126/sciadv.aec3229
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aec3229
AB  - Plants deploy direct and indirect defenses in response to insect herbivory. The specific antiherbivore responses involve cell surface immune receptors that recognize herbivore-associated molecular patterns (HAMPs), yet the ecological relevance of this molecular interplay in natural settings remains unexplored. Here, we demonstrate with laboratory and field experimentation in Mexico that the inceptin receptor (INR) in the leaves of common bean orchestrates a tritrophic interaction upon recognition of inceptin, a HAMP in caterpillar oral secretions. Near-isogenic lines with a naturally occurring null mutation in INR revealed that inceptin recognition does not only amplify the wound response but activates an herbivore-specific immune pathway to trigger the emission of a distinctive volatile blend that recruits predatory wasps to effectively remove caterpillars from the plants. These findings provide a definitive molecular-to-ecological link, revealing how a single immune receptor mediates ecologically relevant plant-insect-predator interactions in nature.
SN  - 2375-2548
ER  -