The Biosynthesis of Unusual Floral Volatiles and Blends Involved in Orchid Pollination by Deception: Current Progress and Future Prospects
Flowers have evolved diverse strategies to attract animal pollinators, with visual and olfactory floral cues often crucial for pollinator attraction. While most plants provide reward (e.g., nectar, pollen) in return for the service of pollination, 1000s of plant species, particularly in the orchid f...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2017-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Plant Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpls.2017.01955/full |
| _version_ | 1818535967548506112 |
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| author | Darren C. J. Wong Eran Pichersky Rod Peakall |
| author_facet | Darren C. J. Wong Eran Pichersky Rod Peakall |
| author_sort | Darren C. J. Wong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Flowers have evolved diverse strategies to attract animal pollinators, with visual and olfactory floral cues often crucial for pollinator attraction. While most plants provide reward (e.g., nectar, pollen) in return for the service of pollination, 1000s of plant species, particularly in the orchid family, offer no apparent reward. Instead, they exploit their often specific pollinators (one or few) by mimicking signals of female insects, food source, and oviposition sites, among others. A full understanding of how these deceptive pollination strategies evolve and persist remains an open question. Nonetheless, there is growing evidence that unique blends that often contain unusual compounds in floral volatile constituents are often employed to secure pollination by deception. Thus, the ability of plants to rapidly evolve new pathways for synthesizing floral volatiles may hold the key to the widespread evolution of deceptive pollination. Yet, until now the biosynthesis of these volatile compounds has been largely neglected. While elucidating the biosynthesis in non-model systems is challenging, nonetheless, these cases may also offer untapped potential for biosynthetic breakthroughs given that some of the compounds can be exclusive or dominant components of the floral scent and production is often tissue-specific. In this perspective article, we first highlight the chemical diversity underpinning some of the more widespread deceptive orchid pollination strategies. Next, we explore the potential metabolic pathways and biosynthetic steps that might be involved. Finally, we offer recommendations to accelerate the discovery of the biochemical pathways in these challenging but intriguing systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T18:31:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bb05b393be7a4a7ca6919e108240c7fe |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-462X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T18:31:55Z |
| publishDate | 2017-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Plant Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-bb05b393be7a4a7ca6919e108240c7fe2022-12-22T00:54:53ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Plant Science1664-462X2017-11-01810.3389/fpls.2017.01955308442The Biosynthesis of Unusual Floral Volatiles and Blends Involved in Orchid Pollination by Deception: Current Progress and Future ProspectsDarren C. J. Wong0Eran Pichersky1Rod Peakall2Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaDepartment of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United StatesEcology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaFlowers have evolved diverse strategies to attract animal pollinators, with visual and olfactory floral cues often crucial for pollinator attraction. While most plants provide reward (e.g., nectar, pollen) in return for the service of pollination, 1000s of plant species, particularly in the orchid family, offer no apparent reward. Instead, they exploit their often specific pollinators (one or few) by mimicking signals of female insects, food source, and oviposition sites, among others. A full understanding of how these deceptive pollination strategies evolve and persist remains an open question. Nonetheless, there is growing evidence that unique blends that often contain unusual compounds in floral volatile constituents are often employed to secure pollination by deception. Thus, the ability of plants to rapidly evolve new pathways for synthesizing floral volatiles may hold the key to the widespread evolution of deceptive pollination. Yet, until now the biosynthesis of these volatile compounds has been largely neglected. While elucidating the biosynthesis in non-model systems is challenging, nonetheless, these cases may also offer untapped potential for biosynthetic breakthroughs given that some of the compounds can be exclusive or dominant components of the floral scent and production is often tissue-specific. In this perspective article, we first highlight the chemical diversity underpinning some of the more widespread deceptive orchid pollination strategies. Next, we explore the potential metabolic pathways and biosynthetic steps that might be involved. Finally, we offer recommendations to accelerate the discovery of the biochemical pathways in these challenging but intriguing systems.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpls.2017.01955/fullOrchidaceaepollinationfloral volatilebiosynthesissemiochemicaldeception |
| spellingShingle | Darren C. J. Wong Eran Pichersky Rod Peakall The Biosynthesis of Unusual Floral Volatiles and Blends Involved in Orchid Pollination by Deception: Current Progress and Future Prospects Frontiers in Plant Science Orchidaceae pollination floral volatile biosynthesis semiochemical deception |
| title | The Biosynthesis of Unusual Floral Volatiles and Blends Involved in Orchid Pollination by Deception: Current Progress and Future Prospects |
| title_full | The Biosynthesis of Unusual Floral Volatiles and Blends Involved in Orchid Pollination by Deception: Current Progress and Future Prospects |
| title_fullStr | The Biosynthesis of Unusual Floral Volatiles and Blends Involved in Orchid Pollination by Deception: Current Progress and Future Prospects |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Biosynthesis of Unusual Floral Volatiles and Blends Involved in Orchid Pollination by Deception: Current Progress and Future Prospects |
| title_short | The Biosynthesis of Unusual Floral Volatiles and Blends Involved in Orchid Pollination by Deception: Current Progress and Future Prospects |
| title_sort | biosynthesis of unusual floral volatiles and blends involved in orchid pollination by deception current progress and future prospects |
| topic | Orchidaceae pollination floral volatile biosynthesis semiochemical deception |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpls.2017.01955/full |
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