Abstract:
Plants and phytophagous insects have developed intricate long-term co-evolution. To combat herbivorous insect, the plants evolved constitutive and inducible defense strategies. For the plant's defense, the herbivorous insects have also developed the sophisticated anti-defense mechanisms to exploit and adapt to host plants. These include the use of effector molecules saliva to interfere with or inhibit the host plant's defense response, reliance on detoxification enzymes to break down toxic substances from plants, indirect inhibition of plant anti-insect defenses by carrying symbiotic microorganisms, acquisition of functional genes from bacteria and other donors via horizontal gene transfer to enhance their own fitness, as well as utilization or manipulation of volatile compounds emitted by host plants for anti-defense purposes. Additionally, some herbivorous insects defense through escape behavior, storage tactics, and oviposition strategies. Analyzing the anti-defense mechanisms employed by phytophagous insects against plants is crucial for a deeper understanding of their co-evolutionary relationship with plants and provides novel insights for the development of pest control measures.