Thrips advisor: exploiting thrips-induced defences to combat pests on crops

Abstract

Plants have developed diverse defence mechanisms to ward off herbivorous pests. However, agriculture still faces estimatedcrop yield losses ranging from 25% to 40% annually. These losses arise not only because of direct feeding damage,but also because many pests serve as vectors of plant viruses. Herbivorous thrips (Thysanoptera) are important pests ofvegetable and ornamental crops worldwide, and encompass virtually all general problems of pests: they are highly polyphagous,hard to control because of their complex lifestyle, and they are vectors of destructive viruses. Currently, controlmanagement of thrips mainly relies on the use of chemical pesticides. However, thrips rapidly develop resistance tothese pesticides. With the rising demand for more sustainable, safer, and healthier food production systems, we urgentlyneed to pinpoint the gaps in knowledge of plant defences against thrips to enable the future development of novel controlmethods. In this review, we summarize the current, rather scarce, knowledge of thrips-induced plant responses andthe role of phytohormonal signalling and chemical defences in these responses. We describe concrete opportunities forbreeding resistance against pests such as thrips as a prototype approach for next-generation resistance breeding.