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Bark beetle use the volatile fungal metabolites of their symbiotic fungi as important chemical signals in their attack on trees.

Millions of conifers have been destroyed across Europe due to infestations of the Eurasian spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus), and fungi may be helping the tree-killing critters by manipulating the tree's natural defenses.

As fungi break down defensive chemicals in trees, some byproducts act as signals to bark beetle pests, telling them which trees are most vulnerable.

Chemical Signal In Plants Reduces Growth Processes In Favor Of Defense Beta-cyclocitral produced by plants after herbivore attack increases defense responses while inhibiting the production of metabolites for growth. In a new study in PNAS, an international team of researchers including scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology has shown that Arabidopsis thaliana plants produce beta-cyclocitral when attacked by herbivores and that this volatile signal inhibits the methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway. The MEP pathway is instrumental in plant growth processes, such as...

Scientific American In Guyanese savannas, a fungus infects grasslike plants, sterilizes them and produces bizarre all-fungal “flower” doppelgängers Print Two orange-yellow “blooms” at right are fungal mimics of flowers produced by yellow-eyed grasses, such as the one at left. Credit: K. Wurdack Smithsonian Institution Advertisement On a collection trip to Guyana in 2006, botanist Kenneth Wurdack was strolling along an airstrip at Kaieteur National Park when he noticed something unusual about the flowers on two species of yellow-eyed grasses. Unlike the species’ typical blooms, the...