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Insect Sci

Title:		"Revisiting the trail pheromone components of the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren"
Author(s):		Xu T; Zhang N; Xu M; Glauser G; Turlings TCJ; Chen L;
Address:		"State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. School of Life Sciences, Institute of Life Science and Green Development, Hebei University, Baoding, Hebei Province, China. College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China. School of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China. Neuchatel Platform of Analytical Chemistry, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland. Laboratory of Fundamental and Applied Research in Chemical Ecology, University of Neuchatel, Switzerland"
Journal Title:		Insect Sci
Year:		2023
Volume:		20220516
Issue:		1
Page Number:		161 - 172
DOI:		10.1111/1744-7917.13047
ISSN/ISBN:		1744-7917 (Electronic) 1672-9609 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Ants use species-specific trail pheromones to coordinate their sophisticated foraging behavior. During the past decades, many trail pheromone components with various structures have been identified in ants, including the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, a notorious invasive species worldwide. Four compounds, Z,E- (ZEF) and E,E-alpha-farnesene (EEF), Z,E- (ZEHF) and E,E-alpha-homofarnesene (EEHF), have been reported as components of S. invicta trail pheromone. However, another study reported an analog of alpha-farnesene, Z,Z,Z-allofarnesene, as a key trail pheromone component. These contrasting results caused some uncertainty about the trail pheromone composition in S. invicta. In this study, we synthesized ZEF and EEF, ZEHF and EEHF, and reanalyzed the chemicals in the Dufour gland extract and in the trail pheromone fraction of S. invicta worker body extract. The reported isomers of farnesene and homofarnesene were detected and showed trail-following activity, with ZEF as the major compound, while no allofarnesene was found, neither in the Dufour gland extract nor in the whole-body extract. Our results confirm ZEF and EEF, ZEHF and EEHF as trail pheromone components of S. invicta"
Keywords:		"Animals *Ants Pheromones Behavior, Animal *Sesquiterpenes Dufour gland allofarnesene synthesis trail-following alpha-farnesene alpha-homofarnesene;"
Notes:		"MedlineXu, Tian Zhang, Nuo Xu, Meng Glauser, Gaetan Turlings, Ted C J Chen, Li eng Australia 2022/04/23 Insect Sci. 2023 Feb; 30(1):161-172. doi: 10.1111/1744-7917.13047. Epub 2022 May 16"