Deciphering Plant-Insect-Microorganism Signals for Sustainable Crop Production
Gareth Thomas,
Quint Rusman,
William R. Morrison,
Diego M. Magalhães,
Jordan A. Dowell,
Esther Ngumbi,
Jonathan Osei-Owusu,
Jessica Kansman,
Alexander Gaffke,
Kamala Jayanthi Pagadala Damodaram,
Seong Jong Kim,
Nurhayat Tabanca
Affiliations
Gareth Thomas
Protecting Crops and the Environment, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, AL5 2JQ, UK
Quint Rusman
Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zürich, Zollikerstrasse 107, 8008 Zürich, Switzerland
William R. Morrison
United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), Center for Grain and Animal Health Research, 1515 College Ave., Manhattan, KS 66502, USA
Diego M. Magalhães
Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba 13418-900, SP, Brazil
Jordan A. Dowell
Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, USA
Esther Ngumbi
Department of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Jonathan Osei-Owusu
Department of Biological, Physical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Environment and Sustainable Development, Somanya EY0329-2478, Ghana
Jessica Kansman
Center for Chemical Ecology, Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Alexander Gaffke
United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, 6383 Mahan Dr., Tallahassee, FL 32308, USA
Kamala Jayanthi Pagadala Damodaram
Division of Crop Protection, ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hesseraghatta Lake PO, Bangalore 560089, India
Seong Jong Kim
United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), Natural Products Utilization Research Unit, University, MS 38677, USA
Nurhayat Tabanca
United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), Subtropical Horticulture Research Station, 13601 Old Cutler Rd., Miami, FL 33158, USA
Agricultural crop productivity relies on the application of chemical pesticides to reduce pest and pathogen damage. However, chemical pesticides also pose a range of ecological, environmental and economic penalties. This includes the development of pesticide resistance by insect pests and pathogens, rendering pesticides less effective. Alternative sustainable crop protection tools should therefore be considered. Semiochemicals are signalling molecules produced by organisms, including plants, microbes, and animals, which cause behavioural or developmental changes in receiving organisms. Manipulating semiochemicals could provide a more sustainable approach to the management of insect pests and pathogens across crops. Here, we review the role of semiochemicals in the interaction between plants, insects and microbes, including examples of how they have been applied to agricultural systems. We highlight future research priorities to be considered for semiochemicals to be credible alternatives to the application of chemical pesticides.
