Damage-induced alkaloids in tobacco: Pot-bound plants are not inducible

Field-grown wild tobacco plants (Nicotiana sylvestris) were subjected to a defoliation regime designed to mimic the rate and amount of leaf mass removed by one tobacco hornworm per plant. Undamaged leaves on these plants undergo a dramatic (457% for leaf position 5, 410% for leaf position 8) increase in total leaf alkaloids compared to same-age and positioned control leaves on undamaged control plants. However, potted greenhouse-grown plants fail to exhibit the same damage-induced increase in alkaloid content. The greenhouse environment differs from the field environment in factors known to influence leaf alkaloid content, particularly soil N, P, K, near-UV radiation, and relative humidity. However, altering these environmental factors does not make potted plants able to increase their leaf alkaloid levels in response to defoliation. Transplanting plants into larger pots with more soil does allow the plants to respond to defoliation. Thirty days after transplanting, the plants are again unresponsive to damage, probably as a result of becoming pot-bound. This result suggests a mechanism for the induction response, specifically that leaf damage triggers synthesis of these alkaloids in the roots, and offers a potentially valuable experimental tool for the study of induced-plant defenses in tobacco and other plants that synthesize alkaloids in their root tissues.