Hypersensitive reaction is an important type of
induced defense by which the plant elicits a
defense response to pathogens and insects.
Hypersensitive reaction has been argued to be
the most common plant resistance mechanism
against insect herbivores that have intimate
associations with their host plants. This study
attempted to establish how important and
widespread hypersensitive reaction might be
against gall-forming species across host taxa.
Hypersensitive reaction was the most important
mortality factor against gall formation across
host plant taxa in seven out of eight cases. The
number of insect galls correlated with the size
of the leaves but module (leaf) size was a weak
factor influencing the incidence of plant
hypersensitive reaction to galling. Insect galls
and hypersensitive reactions occurred in
genetically distant as well as geographically
widespread host plant taxa.
Index terms:
Hypersensitivity, Insect galls, Plant defenses,
Plant induced defenses.
Copyright:
The copyrights of this original work belong
to the authors (see right-most box in title
table). This abstract appeared in Session 4
– INSECT PHISIOLOGY, NEUROSCIENCES, IMMUNITY
AND CELL BIOLOGY Symposium and Poster
Session, ABSTRACT BOOK I – XXI-International
Congress of Entomology, Brazil, August
20-26, 2000.