期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:1991
卷号:88
期号:5
页码:1869-1872
DOI:10.1073/pnas.88.5.1869
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:The diabroticite rootworm beetles coevolved with plants of the family Cucurbitaceae as demonstrated by their feeding dependence on the tetracyclic triterpenoid cucurbitacins. These beetles also exhibit strong attraction to phenylpropanoid volatile components of Cucurbita blossoms. A mixture of 1,2,4-trimethoxybenzene, indole, and (E)-cinnamaldehyde, all blossom components, is highly attractive to the several species of diabroticite cucumber beetles and corn rootworms and is considered a simplified Cucurbita blossom kairomone odor. The evolutionary divergence in antennal receptor complementarity is best understood by comparing the species-specific responses of several Diabrotica to structural analogues of (E)-cinnamaldehyde, the major attractant for Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi. Cinnamyl alcohol is a strong attractant for Diabrotica barberi, and 4-methoxycinnamaldehyde is an exceptional attractant for Diabrotica virgifera. The very closely related species D. barberi and Diabrotica cristata are most strongly attracted to 4-methoxyphenethanol, which is unattractive to the other species studied.