Erdei Anna Laura, Sousa Maria, Gonzalez Francisco, Bengtsson Marie, Witzgall Peter
Department Plant Protection Biology, SLU Alnarp, Lomma, Sweden.
SLU, Kemisk Ekologi, Box 190, Lomma, SE-234 22, Sweden.
J Chem Ecol. 2025 Jan 27;51(1):13. doi: 10.1007/s10886-025-01568-4.
The great diversity of specialist plant-feeding insects suggests that host plant shifts may initiate speciation, even without geographic barriers. Pheromones and kairomones mediate sexual communication and host choice, and the response to these behaviour-modifying chemicals is under sexual and natural selection, respectively. The concept that the interaction of mate signals and habitat cues facilitates reproductive isolation and ecological speciation is well established, while the traits and the underlying sensory mechanisms remain unknown. The larva of codling moth feeds in apple and other rosaceous fruits. We show for the first time that the response of male moths to female sex pheromone codlemone relies upon presence of pear ester, a kairomone emitted by host fruit. In the non-host tree birch, attraction to pheromone alone is very strongly reduced, but is fully rescued by blending pheromone with kairomone. This affords a mechanism how host plant shifts shape new mate-finding signals that can give rise to assortative mating and reproductive isolation.
以植物为食的专门化昆虫种类繁多，这表明宿主植物的转变可能会引发物种形成，即使没有地理隔离。信息素和利它素介导着性别交流和宿主选择，而对这些行为调节化学物质的反应分别受到性选择和自然选择的影响。配偶信号和栖息地线索的相互作用促进生殖隔离和生态物种形成这一概念已得到充分确立，但其特征和潜在的感官机制仍不清楚。苹果蠹蛾的幼虫以苹果和其他蔷薇科果实为食。我们首次表明，雄蛾对雌蛾性信息素苹果蠹蛾性诱剂的反应依赖于梨酯的存在，梨酯是宿主果实释放的一种利它素。在非宿主植物桦树中，仅对信息素的吸引力会大大降低，但通过将信息素与利它素混合，吸引力能完全恢复。这提供了一种机制，说明宿主植物的转变如何塑造新的寻找配偶信号，从而导致选型交配和生殖隔离。
