1. Plant communication via airborne volatile organic compounds is a widespread phenomenon by which volatile organic compounds from damaged plants boost herbivore resistance in receiver plants. This phenomenon has been studied only in a handful of crop species.
2. We tested for communication between potato (Solanum tuberosum) plants in response to herbivory by the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata. For this, we performed a greenhouse experiment with 15 potato varieties for which we caged pairs of plants (i.e., emitters and receivers) of the same variety. Half of the emitter plants were subjected to leaf damage by beetle larvae and the other half remained intact. We collected volatile organic compounds from emitter plants and estimated L. decemlineata damage on receivers.
3. We found no evidence of quantitative (total production) or qualitative (compound composition) changes in volatile organic compound emissions due to beetle herbivory. In addition, the leaf damage treatment on emitters had no significant effect on receiver herbivore resistance, suggesting no communication between infested and non-infested potato plants in response to Colorado potato beetle damage.
4. Overall, this study provides baseline information on airborne signalling (or the lack of thereof) in potato plants which can inform subsequent work that identifies airborne volatiles with potentially strong effects on priming or defence induction.

中文翻译：

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科罗拉多马铃薯甲虫响应草食性马铃薯植物之间的交流测试

1. 通过空气传播的挥发性有机化合物进行植物交流是一种普遍现象，来自受损植物的挥发性有机化合物通过这种现象增强了受体植物的食草动物抗性。这种现象只在少数几种作物中进行了研究。
2. 我们测试了马铃薯 ( Solanum tuberosum ) 植物之间的交流，以响应科罗拉多马铃薯甲虫Leptinotarsa decemlineata的草食性。为此，我们对 15 个马铃薯品种进行了温室实验，我们将相同品种的成对植物（即发射器和接收器）关在笼子里。一半的发射器植物受到甲虫幼虫的叶片损伤，另一半保持完好。我们从发射器植物中收集了挥发性有机化合物，并估计了L. decemlineata对接收器的损害。
3. 我们没有发现甲虫食草导致挥发性有机化合物排放量发生定量（总产量）或定性（化合物组成）变化的证据。此外，对发射器的叶片损伤处理对接收草食动物的抗性没有显着影响，表明受感染和未受感染的马铃薯植物之间没有交流响应科罗拉多马铃薯甲虫的损害。
4. 总体而言，这项研究提供了马铃薯植物中空气传播信号（或缺乏空气信号）的基线信息，这些信息可以为后续工作提供信息，以识别对引发或防御诱导具有潜在强烈影响的空气传播挥发物。