Sequestration of host plant glucosinolates in the defensive hemolymph of the sawfly Athalia rosae

Interactions between insects and glucosinolate-containing plant species have been investigated for a long time. Although the glucosinolate-myrosinase system is believed to act as a defense mechanism against generalist herbivores and fungi, several specialist insects use these secondary metabolites for host plant finding and acceptance and can handle them physiologically. However, sequestration of glucosinolates in specialist herbivores has been less well studied. Larvae of the turnip sawfly Athalia rosae feed on several glucosinolate-containing plant species. When larvae are disturbed by antagonists, they release one or more small droplets of hemolymph from their integument. This "reflex bleeding" is used as a defense mechanism. Specific glucosinolate analysis, by conversion to desulfoglucosinolates and analysis of these by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to diode array UV spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, revealed that larvae incorporate and concentrate the plant's characteristic glucosinolates from their hosts. Extracts of larvae that were reared on Sinapis alba contained sinalbin, even when the larvae were first starved for 22 hr and, thus, had empty guts. Hemolymph was analyzed from larvae that were reared on either S. alba, Brassica nigra, or Barbarea stricta. Leaves were analyzed from the same plants the larvae had fed on. Sinalbin (from S. alba), sinigrin (B. nigra), or glucobarbarin and glucobrassicin (B. stricta) were present in leaves in concentrations less than 1 micromol/g fresh weight, while the same glucosinolates could be detected in the larvae's hemolymph in concentrations between 10 and 31 micromol/g fresh weight, except that glucobrassicin was present only as a trace. In larval feces, only trace amounts of glucosinolates (sinalbin and sinigrin) could be detected. The glucosinolates were likewise found in freshly emerged adults, showing that the sequestered phytochemicals were transferred through the pupal stage.