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. 2011 Apr 25;108(19):7855–7859. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1101306108

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1.

Trichomes and their exudates are commonly the first meal of neonate larvae of the three main Lepidopteran species that feed on N. attenuata. (A) HPLC-ToFMS analysis of an N. attenuata leaf surface wash. Inset shows a single trichome with the O-acyl sugars stained by Rhodamine B dye. (B) Structures of the two classes of O-acyl sugars (ASII, III; ref. 10) found in N. attenuata trichomes and the four most abundant BCAA substituents. (C) Feeding choices of neonate larvae of the three most abundant Lepidopteran herbivores of N. attenuata in nature: M. sexta, S. littoralis, and S. exigua. Choice is expressed as the mean (±SE) percent of feeding choices of larvae in four (M. sexta, n = 55), three (S. littoralis, n = 43), and one (S. exigua, n = 20) experiments. Asterisks indicate significant differences by χ2 analysis: *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. (D) Headspace of N. attenuata-fed M. sexta larvae trapped on Super-Q traps (Inset) is dominated by the four BCAAs esterified to the sucrose moiety within AS-2 and AS-3. Dashed line represents ion-trace m/z 74 and the solid line m/z 60 (Fig. S3).