Maize plants prime anti-herbivore responses by the memorizing and recalling of airborne information in their genome.

Intact maize plants prime for defensive action against herbivory in response to herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HI PVs) emitted from caterpillar-infested conspecific plants. The recent research showed that the primed defense in receiver plants that had been exposed to HI PVs was maintained for at least 5 d after exposure. Herbivory triggered the receiver plants to enhance the expression of a defense gene for trypsin inhibitor (TI ). At the upstream sequence of a TI gene, non-methylated cytosine residues were observed in the genome of HI PV-exposed plants more frequently than in that of healthy plant volatile-exposed plants. These findings provide an innovative mechanism for the memory of HI PV-mediated habituation for plant defense. This mechanism and further innovations for priming of defenses via plant communications will contribute to the development of plant volatile-based pest management methods in agriculture and horticulture.