| Title: | Essential host plant cues in the grapevine moth |
| Author(s): | Tasin M; Backman AC; Bengtsson M; Ioriatti C; Witzgall P; |
| Address: | "Chemical Ecology Group, SLU, Box 44, 23053 Alnarp, Sweden" |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00114-005-0077-7 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 0028-1042 (Print) 0028-1042 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Host plant odours attract gravid insect females for oviposition. The identification of these plant volatile compounds is essential for our understanding of plant-insect relationships and contributes to plant breeding for improved resistance against insects. Chemical analysis of grape headspace and subsequent behavioural studies in the wind tunnel show that host finding in grapevine moth Lobesia botrana is encoded by a ratio-specific blend of three ubiquitous plant volatiles. The odour signal that attracts mated females to grape consists of the terpenoids (E)-beta-caryophyllene, (E)-beta-farnesene and (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene. These compounds represent only a fraction of the volatiles released by grapes, and they are widespread compounds known throughout the plant kingdom. Specificity may be achieved by the blend ratio, which was 100:78:9 in grape headspace. This blend elicited anemotactic behaviour in moths at remarkably small amounts. Females were attracted at release rates of only a few nanograms per minute, at levels nearly as low as those known for the attraction of male moths to the female sex pheromones" |
| Keywords: | Animals Cues Host-Parasite Interactions Moths/*physiology Odorants Smell Vitis/parasitology/*physiology; |
| Notes: | "MedlineTasin, Marco Backman, Anna-Carin Bengtsson, Marie Ioriatti, Claudio Witzgall, Peter eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Germany 2006/02/02 Naturwissenschaften. 2006 Mar; 93(3):141-4. doi: 10.1007/s00114-005-0077-7. Epub 2006 Feb 1" |
