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BBC News - Plants send SOS signal to insects
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11101536
 27 August 2010 Last updated at 05:31 ET
Plants send SOS signal to insects
By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News

Tobacco plant with Geocoris insect, its tobacco hornworm caterpillar and 
two caterpillar eggs (Image: Max Planck Insitute for Chemical Ecology) 
When the plant releases its chemical signal Geocoris insects (bottom, 
left) come to the rescue

Plants can summon insects to their aid to avoid being munched to death 
by caterpillars, scientists have found.

Leafy tobacco plants have evolved a "chemical SOS" that attracts 
predatory insects that eat the attackers.

In the journal Science, researchers revealed that the caterpillars' 
saliva activates this signal.

The modified signal causes Geocoris insects, which feed on the 
caterpillar larvae and eggs, to swoop in - rescuing the plant and 
gaining a meal.

The work was carried out by Silke Allmann of the Swammerdam Institute 
for Life Sciences in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Ian Baldwin of the Max 
Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Germany.