A new method for direct detection of methyl salicylate, a key volatile chemical marker for biotic stresses in plants is described. The approach involves a 4-reaction cascade that converts methyl salicylate into 1,2-benzoquinone using esterase, salicylate hydroxylase and tyrosinase, where 1,2-benzoquinone is electrochemically reduced to catechol resulting in an amperometric signal. The approach vastly simplifies the procedure for amperometric detection of methyl salicylate described earlier by eliminating the need for cumbersome pretreatment procedures for the analyte. Initial data suggested that the tri-enzyme based detection is promising over the previously reported bi-enzyme based methods. (C) 2018 The Electrochemical Society.