Sweet Potatoes Alert Their Buddies to Pest Attacks
We know plants have defenses. But do they share?
We’re always here for a study of how plants dynamically adapt to changes in their environment.
Sometimes this is referred to (though not by scientists, really) as plant intelligence, but really we just love to find out more about all the amazing ways plants have of surviving. The added benefit is that learning more about plant survival tactics might help us survive new climate conditions. Recently, a group of researchers from around the world took a closer look at the sweet potato.
These researchers, from both the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology and National Taiwan University examined one very particular and very charming tactic of the sweet potato plant. When a sweet potato plant is attacked by, for example, a beetle or other insect pest, it lets loose with a barrage of protections. It emits what the researchers classify as a “bouquet of odors,” and also triggers the production of a particular protein in the parts of the plant that aren’t being attacked.
That protein, called sporamin, works to essentially erase the appetite of attacking pests, so the rest of the plant can remain safe. But here’s the thing: when one plant emits that bouquet of odors, neighboring plants sense it too, and trigger their own production of sporamin.
Interestingly, there’s apparently one specific chemical within that bouquet, called DMNT, that’s responsible for all of this signaling. The researchers say that it actually smells quite nice, like an herbal balm.
In any case, this is all really fun stuff, but it could turn out to be useful. The researchers found that one particular varietal of sweet potato was particularly sensitive to DMNT, and also produced a large quantity of it when attacked. This could, theoretically, lead to the creation of more naturally pest-resistant plants. You don’t have to spray with pesticides if a plant is bred to create its own.
Follow us
Republish!
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Republish this article
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Want to republish a Modern Farmer story?
We are happy for Modern Farmer stories to be shared, and encourage you to republish our articles for your audience. When doing so, we ask that you follow these guidelines:
Please credit us and our writers
For the author byline, please use “Author Name, Modern Farmer.” At the top of our stories, if on the web, please include this text and link: “This story was originally published by Modern Farmer.”
Please make sure to include a link back to either our home page or the article URL.
At the bottom of the story, please include the following text:
“Modern Farmer is a nonprofit initiative dedicated to raising awareness and catalyzing action at the intersection of food, agriculture, and society. Read more at <link>Modern Farmer</link>.”
Use our widget
We’d like to be able to track our stories, so we ask that if you republish our content, you do so using our widget (located on the left hand side of the article). The HTML code has a built-in tracker that tells us the data and domain where the story was published, as well as view counts.
Check the image requirements
It’s your responsibility to confirm you're licensed to republish images in our articles. Some images, such as those from commercial providers, don't allow their images to be republished without permission or payment. Copyright terms are generally listed in the image caption and attribution. You are welcome to omit our images or substitute with your own. Charts and interactive graphics follow the same rules.
Don’t change too much. Or, ask us first.
Articles must be republished in their entirety. It’s okay to change references to time (“today” to “yesterday”) or location (“Iowa City, IA” to “here”). But please keep everything else the same.
If you feel strongly that a more material edit needs to be made, get in touch with us at [email protected]. We’re happy to discuss it with the original author, but we must have prior approval for changes before publication.
Special cases
-
Extracts. You may run the first few lines or paragraphs of the article and then say: “Read the full article at Modern Farmer” with a link back to the original article.
-
Quotes. You may quote authors provided you include a link back to the article URL.
-
Translations. These require writer approval. To inquire about translation of a Modern Farmer article, contact us at [email protected]
-
Signed consent / copyright release forms. These are not required, provided you are following these guidelines.
-
Print. Articles can be republished in print under these same rules, with the exception that you do not need to include the links.
Tag us
When sharing the story on social media, please tag us using the following: - Twitter (@ModFarm) - Facebook (@ModernFarmerMedia) - Instagram (@modfarm)
Use our content respectfully
Modern Farmer is a nonprofit and as such we share our content for free and in good faith in order to reach new audiences. Respectfully,
-
No selling ads against our stories. It’s okay to put our stories on pages with ads.
-
Don’t republish our material wholesale, or automatically; you need to select stories to be republished individually.
-
You have no rights to sell, license, syndicate, or otherwise represent yourself as the authorized owner of our material to any third parties. This means that you cannot actively publish or submit our work for syndication to third party platforms or apps like Apple News or Google News. We understand that publishers cannot fully control when certain third parties automatically summarize or crawl content from publishers’ own sites.
Keep in touch
We want to hear from you if you love Modern Farmer content, have a collaboration idea, or anything else to share. As a nonprofit outlet, we work in service of our community and are always open to comments, feedback, and ideas. Contact us at [email protected].Sweet Potatoes Alert Their Buddies to Pest Attacks
by Dan Nosowitz, Modern Farmer
December 9, 2019
Modern Farmer Weekly
Solutions Hub
Innovations, ideas and inspiration. Actionable solutions for a resilient food system.
ExploreShare With Us
We want to hear from Modern Farmer readers who have thoughtful commentary, actionable solutions, or helpful ideas to share.
Submit
What is the variety of sweet potato that releases a lot of DMNT?