The whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a globally destructive pest of tomato. We elucidated the chemical and molecular basis of the key herbivore-induced volatile TMTT in mediating tomato-whitefly-parasitoid interactions and its potential for augmenting biological control. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry profiling identified 13 differentially emitted volatiles from whitefly infested plants, with four terpenoids─(Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, β-ocimene, 4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene (DMNT), and (E,E)-4,8,12-trimethyltrideca-1,3,7,11-tetraene (TMTT)─significantly upregulated. Behavioral assays revealed that DMNT and, more strongly, TMTT attracted Eretmocerus corni, a whitefly specific parasitoid. Transcriptome and RT-qPCR analyses identified SlTPS46 as the key terpene synthase for TMTT biosynthesis, showing a 9.9-fold induction upon herbivory. Overexpression of SlTPS46 significantly enhanced the TMTT emission. This elevated emission increased parasitoid recruitment by 40% and significantly boosted parasitism rates, without adversely affecting whitefly life-history traits. This study provides the first mechanistic link between a specific terpene synthase, HIPV emission, and parasitoid attraction in tomato, establishing TMTT as a pivotal semiochemical and demonstrating that targeted terpenoid pathway manipulation can enhance HIPV-mediated biological control in this system.
Bai et al. (Thu,) studied this question.