Abstract
Endophytic fungi in cool-season grass species produce herbivore-toxic alkaloids, which are assumed to harm higher trophic levels along food chains. Previous studies have shown fitness disadvantages for higher trophic levels that feed on aphids that were exclusively reared on perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) infected with the endophytic fungus Neotyphodium lolii. However, it is unknown whether the alkaloids produced by the fungus-grass association can be assimilated by plant sap-sucking insects like aphids. Using an ultra high performance liquid chromatography method combined with mass spectrometry, we provide the first evidence that the alkaloids peramine and lolitrem B are present in aphids (Rhopalosiphum padi) and in aphid predators when the aphids are reared on endophyte-infected grass. We conclude that alkaloids can enter the plant sap of the grass and are responsible for longer pupal stages of the ladybird Harmonia axyridis and for fitness disadvantages of aphids and their predators as shown in previous studies.
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Acknowledgments
We thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript, Jutta Winkler and Matthias Jäger for plant and insect rearing, and the DFG project “Insect timing” SFB 1047 for funding. We thank all the members of the Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology at the University of Würzburg for advice on our manuscript.
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Fuchs, B., Krischke, M., Mueller, M.J. et al. Peramine and Lolitrem B from Endophyte-Grass Associations Cascade Up the Food Chain. J Chem Ecol 39, 1385–1389 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-013-0364-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-013-0364-2