Figure 5.

VIGS of Naggpps dramatically reduces HGL-DTG contents and increases hornworm larvae performance to a greater degree than the silencing of TPI and nicotine. A, hornworm larval mass (milligrams; mean ± se; n = 27 in the beginning of the assay) from N. attenuata plants inoculated with A. tumefaciens GV3101 carrying pTV00, pTVGGPPS, pTVFPPS, pTVTPI, and pTVPMT. B, Relative area percentage of HGL-DTGs (mean ± se; n = 6; RP-HPLC-UV peak area at 22–27 min/area of thymols' peak × 100, λ = 210 nm), nicotine (mean ± se; n = 6; μg g⁻¹ leaf FW; C), and TPI activity (mean ± se; n = 5; nmol mg⁻¹ protein; D). Nicotine and DTGs were measured in 40% methanolic extracts of the leaves of VIGS plants. *, Significantly different values from pTV00 with P < 0.05.