Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Sep;34(9):1149-52.
doi: 10.1007/s10886-008-9527-y. Epub 2008 Aug 14.

Do aphid colonies amplify their emission of alarm pheromone?

Eduardo Hatano  1 , Grit Kunert, Stefan Bartram, Wilhelm Boland, Jonathan Gershenzon, Wolfgang W Weisser
Affiliations

Do aphid colonies amplify their emission of alarm pheromone?

Eduardo Hatano et al. J Chem Ecol. 2008 Sep.

Abstract

When aphids are attacked by natural enemies, they emit alarm pheromone to alert conspecifics. For most aphids tested, (E)-beta-farnesene (EBF) is the main, or only, constituent of the alarm pheromone. In response to alarm pheromone, alerted aphids drop off the plant, walk away, or attempt to elude predators. However, under natural conditions, EBF concentration might be low due to the low amounts emitted, to rapid air movement, or to oxidative degradation. To ensure that conspecifics are warned, aphids might conceivably amplify the alarm signal by emitting EBF in response to EBF emitted by other aphids. To examine whether such amplification occurs, we synthesized deuterated EBF (DEBF), which allowed us to differentiate between applied and aphid-derived chemical. Colonies of Acyrthosiphon pisum were treated with DEBF, and headspace volatiles were collected and analyzed for evidence of aphid-derived EBF. No aphid-derived EBF was detected, suggesting that amplification of the alarm signal does not occur. We discuss the disadvantages of alarm signal reinforcement.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Synthesis of [12,12,12,13,13,13]-2H6-(E)-β-farnesene
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Percentage of winged offspring produced by adult pea aphids and number of pea aphid mothers walking after exposure to hexane, (E)-β-farnesene (EBF) or deuterated (E)-β-farnesene (DEBF). The bars show the mean value ± SE
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Acar E. B., Medina J. C., Lee M. L., Booth G. M. Olfactory behavior of convergent lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) to alarm pheromone of green peach aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Can. Entomol. 2001;133(3):389–397.
    1. Beale M. H., Birkett M. A., Bruce T. J. A., Chamberlain K., Field L. M., Huttly A. K., Martin J. L., Parker R., Phillips A. L., Pickett J. A., Prosser I. M., Shewry P. R., Smart L. E., Wadhams L. J., Woodcock C. M., Zhang Y. H. Aphid alarm pheromone produced by transgenic plants affects aphid and parasitoid behavior. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2006;103:10509–10513. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0603998103. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cravotto G., Balliano G., Robaldo B., Oliaro-Bosso S., Chimichi S., Boccalini M. Farnesyloxycoumarins, a new class of squalene-hopene cyclase inhibitors. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2004;14:1931–1934. doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2004.01.085. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Crawley M. J. The R Book. Chichester, England: Wiley; 2007. p. 950.
    1. Fielder S., Rowan D. D. The synthesis of d(6)-alpha-farnesene. J. Labelled Comp. Rad. 1994;34:1075–1085. doi: 10.1002/jlcr.2580341111. - DOI

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources