Abstract
Maize is the most-produced cereal in the world, but its production faces constraints such as parasitic attacks from stemborers. We evaluated the resistance of a core-collection of 18 maize lines by measuring their palatability to European Corn Borer (ECB) larvae fed on maize leaf discs. Using an original consumption test device that takes into account the variability of larvae behaviour, we were able to phenotype the resistance of the 18 maize lines. We matched consumption data to existing enzymatic and metabolomic data that characterized the maize core-collection and identified some metabolites such as caffeoyl-lquinate, trocopherol, digalactosylglycerol and tyrosine that are positively or negatively correlated with the palatability to ECB larvae. Altogether, our results confirm the metabolic complexity involved in the establishment of plant defenses. Metabolic changes associated to leaf palatability mostly concern membrane and cell wall composition. Some of them, pointing-out to the phenylpropanoids pathway, were observed independently of plant developmental pace and plant earliness.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
The methods have been clarified and the figures revised. Maize lines names have been homogenized. Author affiliations updated. Raw data and R scripts available on the dataverse data.gouv.fr