Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Apr 13;7(2):33.
doi: 10.3390/plants7020033.

Silicon and Mechanisms of Plant Resistance to Insect Pests

Fadi Alhousari  1 , Maria Greger  2
Affiliations
Review

Silicon and Mechanisms of Plant Resistance to Insect Pests

Fadi Alhousari et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

This paper reviews the most recent progress in exploring silicon-mediated resistance to herbivorous insects and the mechanisms involved. The aim is to determine whether any mechanism seems more common than the others as well as whether the mechanisms are more pronounced in silicon-accumulating than non-silicon-accumulating species or in monocots than eudicots. Two types of mechanisms counter insect pest attacks: physical or mechanical barriers and biochemical/molecular mechanisms (in which Si can upregulate and prime plant defence pathways against insects). Although most studies have examined high Si accumulators, both accumulators and non-accumulators of silicon as well as monocots and eudicots display similar Si defence mechanisms against insects.

Keywords: HIPVs; induced defence; insects; physical defence; plant resistance; silicon.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Silicon mediated mechanisms of plant resistance to insect pests. (PPO) polyphenol oxidase, (PAL) phenylalanine ammonia lyase, (HIPVs) herbivore-induced plant volatiles, (JA) jasmonate phytohormone.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scanning electron micrographs of maize (a); rice (b); and wheat (c) sheath surfaces showing silica cell form and deposition.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kogan M., Lattin J.D. Agricultural systems as ecosystems. In: Ruberson J., editor. Handbook of Pest Management. M. Dekker; New York, NY, USA: 1999. pp. 1–34.
    1. Karban R., Baldwin I.T. Induced Responses to Herbivory. University of Chicago Press; Chicago, IL, USA: 1997.
    1. Van Poecke R.M.P., Dicke M. Induced parasitoid attraction by Arabidopsis thaliana: Involvement of the octadecanoid and the salicylic acid pathway. J. Exp. Bot. 2002;53:1793–1799. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erf022. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Howe G.A., Jander G. Plant immunity to insect herbivores. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 2008;59:41–66. doi: 10.1146/annurev.arplant.59.032607.092825. - DOI - PubMed
    1. War A.R., Michael G.P., Tariq A., Abdul A.B., Barkat H., Savarimuthu I., Hari C.S. Mechanisms of plant defense against insect herbivores. Plant Signal. Behav. 2012;10:1306–1320. doi: 10.4161/psb.21663. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources