Trichome-derived <i>O</i> -acyl sugars are a first meal for caterpillars that tags them for predation

Abstract

Plant glandular trichomes exude secondary metabolites with defensive functions, but these epidermal protuberances are surprisingly the first meal of Lepidopteran herbivores on Nicotiana attenuata. O-acyl sugars, the most abundant metabolite of glandular trichomes, impart a distinct volatile profile to the body and frass of larvae that feed on them. The headspace composition of Manduca sexta larvae is dominated by the branched chain aliphatic acids hydrolyzed from ingested O-acyl sugars, which waxes and wanes rapidly with trichome ingestion. In native habitats a ground-hunting predator, the omnivorous ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus, but not the big-eyed bug Geocoris spp., use these volatile aliphatic acids to locate their prey.