Choi Man-Yeon, Ahn Seung-Joon, Park Kye-Chung, Meer Robert Vander, Cardé Ring T, Jurenka Russell
Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory, USDA-ARS, 3420 NW Orchard Avenue, Corvallis, OR, 97330, USA.
Department of Entomology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, 07745, Jena, Germany.
J Chem Ecol. 2016 May;42(5):425-32. doi: 10.1007/s10886-016-0701-3. Epub 2016 May 7.
The Noctuidae are one of the most speciose moth families and include the genera Helicoverpa and Heliothis. Females use (Z)-11-hexadecenal as the major component of their sex pheromones except for Helicoverpa assulta and Helicoverpa gelotopoeon, both of which utilize (Z)-9-hexadecenal. The minor compounds found in heliothine sex pheromone glands vary with species, but hexadecanal has been found in the pheromone gland of almost all heliothine females so far investigated. In this study, we found a large amount (0.5-1.5 μg) of hexadecanal and octadecanal on the legs of males of four heliothine species, Helicoverpa zea, Helicoverpa armigera, H. assulta, and Heliothis virescens. The hexadecanal was found on and released from the tarsi, and was in much lower levels or not detected on the remaining parts of the leg (tibia, femur, trochanter, and coxa). Lower amounts (0.05-0.5 μg) of hexadecanal were found on female tarsi. This is the first known sex pheromone compound to be identified from the legs of nocturnal moths. Large amounts of butyrate esters (about 16 μg) also were found on tarsi of males with lower amounts on female tarsi. Males deposited the butyrate esters while walking on a glass surface. Decapitation did not reduce the levels of hexadecanal on the tarsi of H. zea males, indicating that hexadecanal production is not under the same neuroendocrine regulation system as the production of female sex pheromone. Based on electroantennogram studies, female antennae had a relatively high response to hexadecanal compared to male antennae. We consider the possible role of aldehydes and butyrate esters as courtship signals in heliothine moths.
夜蛾科是种类最为繁多的蛾类家族之一，包括棉铃虫属和实夜蛾属。除了烟实夜蛾和海灰翅夜蛾利用（Z）-9-十六碳烯醛外，雌性夜蛾使用（Z）-11-十六碳烯醛作为其性信息素的主要成分。在实夜蛾亚科性信息素腺体中发现的次要化合物因物种而异，但到目前为止，在几乎所有已研究的实夜蛾亚科雌性个体的性信息素腺体中都发现了十六醛。在本研究中，我们在四种实夜蛾亚科物种，即美洲棉铃虫、棉铃虫、烟实夜蛾和绿实夜蛾的雄性个体腿部发现了大量（0.5 - 1.5微克）的十六醛和十八醛。十六醛在跗节上被发现并从跗节释放，在腿部的其余部分（胫节、股骨、转节和基节）含量低得多或未被检测到。在雌性跗节上发现的十六醛含量较低（0.05 - 0.5微克）。这是首次从夜行性蛾类腿部鉴定出的已知性信息素化合物。在雄性跗节上还发现了大量的丁酸酯（约16微克），雌性跗节上的含量较低。雄性在玻璃表面行走时会沉积丁酸酯。断头并没有降低美洲棉铃虫雄性跗节上十六醛的水平，这表明十六醛的产生与雌性性信息素的产生不受相同的神经内分泌调节系统控制。基于触角电位研究，与雄性触角相比，雌性触角对十六醛的反应相对较高。我们考虑了醛类和丁酸酯在实夜蛾亚科蛾类中作为求偶信号的可能作用。
