Plants and insects
Lavender (L. angustifolia ) plants were harvested at different developmental stages from a field belonging to the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. The three distinct stages were as follows: B, bud stage: the petals were completely closed and green; I, blossom stage: the 60% of flowers had opened and petals turned purple; II, fade stage: the petals had shrunk and were ready to fall. Four-week-old tobacco (N icotiana benthamiana ) andA. thaliana were grown in a green-house at 25°C under a 16/8h light and dark photoperiod (200 μmol m−2s−1).
Aphids (Myzus persicae ) and ladybugs (Harmonia axyridis ) were kindly provided by Prof. Su Wang (Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences) and maintained in a growth chamber (30×30×25 cm) at 25°C with a L16:D8 photoperiod feeding on tobacco plant.