Stevenson, Philip ORCID: 0000-0002-0736-3619 (2019) For antagonists and mutualists: the paradox of insect toxic secondary metabolites in nectar and pollen. Phytochemistry Reviews, 19 (3). pp. 603-614. ISSN 1568-7767 (Print), 1572-980X (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11101-019-09642-y)

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Abstract

The plant kingdom produces an extraordinary diversity of secondary metabolites and the majority of the literature supports a defensive ecological role for them, particularly against invertebrate herbivores (antagonists). Plants also produce secondary compounds in floral nectar and pollen and these are often similar to those produced for defense against invertebrates elsewhere in the plant. This is largely because the chemical armoury within a single plant species is typically restricted to a few biochemical pathways and limited chemical products but how their occurrence in floral rewards is regulated to mediate both defence and enhanced pollination is not well understood. Several phytochemicals are reviewed here comparing the defensive function alongside their benefit to flower visiting mutualists. These include caffeine, aconitine, nicotine, thymol, linalool, lupanine and grayanotoxins comparing the evidence for their defensive function with their impacts on pollinators, their behaviour and well-being. Drivers of adaptation and the evolution of floral traits are discussed in the context of recent studies. Ultimately more research is required that helps determine the impacts of floral chemicals in free flying bees, and how compounds are metabolized, sequestered or excreted by flower feeding insects to understand how they may then affect the pollinators or their parasites. More work is also required on how plants regulate nectar and pollen chemistry to better understand how secondary metabolites and their defensive and pollinator supporting functions are controlled, evolve and adapt.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Bombus, nectar chemicals, bee pathogens, Crithidia bombi, caffeine, nicotine, pollinator specialization
Subjects:	Q Science > QD Chemistry Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Engineering & Science Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Agriculture, Health & Environment Department Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Chemical Ecology Research Group
Last Modified:	02 Jul 2020 11:27
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/25027

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