Fig. 1

Changes in transcriptome profiles and JA levels in dodders following CLW herbivory on dodders. a Illustration of the experimental setup. Dodders were grown on WT and AOC-RNAi tobacco plants. Empty clip cages and clip cages each containing two CLW larvae were fixed to the dodders (one clip cage for each dodder) to form the control and treatment groups, respectively. After 12 h, dodders from both the control and treatment groups were collected for RNA-seq analysis or quantification of JA. Red boxes indicate the sampling sites. b The numbers of DEGs in dodders grown on WT and AOC-RNAi tobacco. c Heatmap and dendrogram analysis of transcriptomes of dodders (Con = control; Tre = treatment). d GO and Venn diagram analysis on the DEGs in dodders. e JA content in dodders after being treated with simulated herbivory. Dodder stems were severed with a scalpel. Leaving segments of dodder stems attached to the hosts (base end of dodder), and immediately CLW OS were pipetted to the fresh wounds; OS were also immediately applied to the wounds of the detached dodder stems (far end of dodder). The dodder stems were harvested 1 h after the treatment. Untreated dodder stem segments were also harvested at the same time to serve as controls. Data are given as means ± SE. Different letters indicate statistically significant differences (P < 0.05, one-way ANOVA followed by Duncan’s test, n ≥ 4)