Coevolution: Plant-Herbivore Interactions
and Secondary Metabolites of Plants
3
Eunice Kariñho-Betancourt
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2 History of Vascular Plants, Their Secondary Metabolism and Interaction with Early
Arthropods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.1 Secondary Metabolites and the Origin of Plant-Insect Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3 Coevolution: Mechanism and Consequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4 The “Escape and Radiate” Model of Coevolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5 Phylogenetic Patterns: Diversification of Interactions and Molecules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.1 The Diversity of Associations and Their Specialization Degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.2 Host Shift and Speciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.3 Biochemical Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
6 Ecological Patterns: The Defensive Role of Secondary Metabolites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.1 Toxins and Digestibility Reducers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
6.2 Natural Selection and Herbivores’ Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Abstract
Plant-herbivore interaction has long been a central model to explain the evolutionary success of vascular plants and insects, and the extraordinary diversity of
secondary compounds produced by plants. Coevolutionary theory proposes that
herbivorism has spur diversification and speciation of host-plants and phytophagous animals through an arms race, which results in a general concordance on
their phylogenies, and the evolution of diverse (mostly defensive) chemical
compounds by plants and counter-defenses by herbivores. Main assumptions of
the micro- and macroevolutionary postulates of the coevolutionary model have
E. Kariñho-Betancourt (*)
Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico,
Mexico
e-mail: karinho.betancourt@gmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
J.-M. Mérillon, K. G. Ramawat (eds.), Co-Evolution of Secondary Metabolites,
Reference Series in Phytochemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96397-6_41
47
and Secondary Metabolites of Plants
3
Eunice Kariñho-Betancourt
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2 History of Vascular Plants, Their Secondary Metabolism and Interaction with Early
Arthropods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.1 Secondary Metabolites and the Origin of Plant-Insect Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3 Coevolution: Mechanism and Consequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4 The “Escape and Radiate” Model of Coevolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5 Phylogenetic Patterns: Diversification of Interactions and Molecules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.1 The Diversity of Associations and Their Specialization Degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.2 Host Shift and Speciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.3 Biochemical Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
6 Ecological Patterns: The Defensive Role of Secondary Metabolites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.1 Toxins and Digestibility Reducers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
6.2 Natural Selection and Herbivores’ Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Abstract
Plant-herbivore interaction has long been a central model to explain the evolutionary success of vascular plants and insects, and the extraordinary diversity of
secondary compounds produced by plants. Coevolutionary theory proposes that
herbivorism has spur diversification and speciation of host-plants and phytophagous animals through an arms race, which results in a general concordance on
their phylogenies, and the evolution of diverse (mostly defensive) chemical
compounds by plants and counter-defenses by herbivores. Main assumptions of
the micro- and macroevolutionary postulates of the coevolutionary model have
E. Kariñho-Betancourt (*)
Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico,
Mexico
e-mail: karinho.betancourt@gmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
J.-M. Mérillon, K. G. Ramawat (eds.), Co-Evolution of Secondary Metabolites,
Reference Series in Phytochemistry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96397-6_41
47