Delivery of promise of pheromones: Part II

Authors: MILLAR, JOCELYN - University Of California; BAKER, TOM - Pennsylvania State University; Zhu, Junwei - Jerry

Submitted to: Journal of Chemical Ecology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/19/2016
Publication Date: 10/20/2016
Citation: Millar, J., Baker, T., Zhu, J.J. 2016. Delivery of promise of pheromones: Part II. Journal of Chemical Ecology. 42:851-852.

Interpretive Summary: Semiochemical-based pest management has been widely used to monitor and control insect pests in agriculture, forestry, and public health sectors all over the world. This is the second part of the JCE special issue that has gathered recent focuses at the 8th Asia-Pacific Chemical Ecology Conference with applied semiochemical-based research presentations. We continue our efforts to this important topic, and edit the second part of the special issue about the development, regulation and applications of semiochemicals in other natures of chemical ecological aspects.

Technical Abstract: This issue contains the remainder of the reviews and research papers on the topic of using semiochemicals in pest management, but with different topics. It leads off with a review article that presents an overview of the prospects and technical details of using semiochemicals for detection and sampling of rare and endangered species for global biodiversity and conversation, a novel application of semiochemicals that has been largely overlooked. As a follow-on, Millar et al. describes the identification of the pheromone of the luna moth, an iconic saturniid moth that has become one of many unintended targets of egg parasitoids released for control of gypsy moth in North America. To finish up the theme of using semiochemical tools to detect insect populations at low densities, Bau and Cardé then present the results of in silico studies aimed at determining the effectiveness of widely spaced pheromone traps in detecting target species at low levels. Baker et al. then present a manuscript that is part review and part research paper, summarizing the evolution of ideas that have led to some unique designs using pheromone mega-dispenser designs for implementation as additions to commercial sex pheromone mating disruption systems. This cluster of papers then finishes with the description of a new pheromone structure for a cossid moth pest by Bergmann and coworkers. In addition to providing a useful tool with immediate application, the structure of the main component of the pheromone, (7Z,10Z)-7,10-hexadecadienal, and some of the other components in the pheromone gland, suggest that the pheromone might be a hybrid between the two main biosynthetic pathways used to produce lepidopteran pheromones. The remainder of the issue touches on a variety of topics. First, Clark and Ray delve into the details of the neurobiology and molecular biology underlying insect olfaction, and suggest how this detailed knowledge might be manipulated and exploited for insect control. Cunningham et al. then present what could be a fundamentally important insight into plant-insect interactions by suggesting that at least some fruit-feeding insects should be classified not according to the types of fruits that they attack, but by the stage of ripeness of those fruits. The plant-insect interaction theme is then continued with a paper from Lapointe et al., who identified a phagostimulant blend that might find use in controlling an extremely important invasive pest, the Asian citrus psyllid, the primary vector of a pathogen that could devastate citrus crops worldwide. Moving from insect-plant to insect-fungal interactions, Kandasamy et al. provide an overview of the relationships between bark beetles and their symbiotic or mutualistic fungi. This then suggests ways in which the volatile compounds produced by the fungi could be exploited for bark beetle management. Hansen et al. then finish up the issue by reviewing the literature on attempts to use plant secondary metabolites for rodent control. A take-home message from this review seems to be that the translation of laboratory bioassays into effective operational systems has been problematic, with the result that relatively few products based on phytochemicals have been commercialized for management of pest rodents.