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Abstract

O-acyl sugars (O-AS) are abundant trichome-specific metabolites that function as indirect defenses against herbivores of the wild tobacco Nicotiana attenuata; whether they also function as generalized direct defenses against herbivores and pathogens remains unknown. We characterized natural variation in O-AS among 26 accessions and examined their influence on two native fungal pathogens, Fusarium brachygibbosum U4 and Alternaria sp. U10, and the specialist herbivore, Manduca sexta. At least 15 different O-AS structures belonging to three classes were found in N. attenuata leaves. A three-fold quantitative variation in total leaf O-AS was found among the natural accessions. Experiments with natural accessions and crosses between high- and low-O-AS accessions revealed that total O-AS levels were associated with resistance against herbivores and pathogens. Removing O-AS from the leaf surface increased M. sexta growth rate and plant fungal susceptibility. O-AS supplementation in artificial diets and germination medium reduced M. sexta growth and fungal spore germination, respectively. Finally, silencing the expression of a putative branched-chain alpha-ketoacid dehydrogenase E1 beta subunit encoding gene (NaBCKDE1B) in the trichomes reduced total leaf O-AS by 20-30% and increased susceptibility to Fusarium pathogens. We conclude that O-AS function as direct defenses to protect plants from attack from both native pathogenic fungi and a specialist herbivore, and infer that their diversification is likely shaped by the functional interactions among these biotic stresses.