Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2013
Exploring the Nitrogen Ingestion of Aphids — A New Method Using Electrical Penetration Graph and 15N Labelling
Kuhlmann, Franziska; Opitz, Sebastian E. W.; Inselsbacher, Erich; Näsholm, Torgny; Ninkovic, VelemirAbstract
Studying plant-aphid interactions is challenging as aphid feeding is a complex process hidden in the plant tissue. Here we propose a combination of two well established methods to study nutrient acquisition by aphids focusing on the uptake of isotopically labelled nitrogen (15N). We combined the Electrical Penetration Graph (EPG) technique that allows detailed recording of aphid feeding behaviour and stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) to precisely measure the uptake of nitrogen. Bird cherry-oat aphids Rhopalosiphum padi L. (Hemiptera, Aphididae) fed for 24 h on barley plants (Hordeum vulgare L., cultivar Lina, Poaceae) that were cultivated with a 15N enriched nutrient solution. The time aphids fed in the phloem was strongly positive correlated with their 15N uptake. All other single behavioural phases were not correlated with 15N enrichment in the aphids, which corroborates their classification as non-feeding EPG phases. In addition, phloem-feeding and 15N enrichment of aphids was divided into two groups. One group spent only short time in the phloem phase and was unsuccessful in nitrogen acquisition, while the other group displayed longer phloem-feeding phases and was successful in nitrogen acquisition. This suggests that several factors such as the right feeding site, time span of feeding and individual conditions play a role for the aphids to acquire nutrients successfully. The power of this combination of methods for studying plant-aphid interactions is discussed.Published in
PLoS ONE2013, volume: 8, number: 12, article number: e83085
Publisher: Public Library of Science
Authors' information
Kuhlmann, Franziska
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology
Opitz, Sebastian E. W.
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology
Inselsbacher, Erich
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Ecology and Management
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Ecology and Management
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Ecology
UKÄ Subject classification
Ecology
Zoology
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0083085
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/51367