The idea of using species-specific behavior-modifying chemicals for the management of noxious insects in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, stored products, and for insect vectors of diseases has been a driving ambition through five decades of pheromone research. Hundreds of pheromones and other semiochemicals have been discovered that are used to monitor the presence and abundance of insects and to protect plants and animals against insects. The estimated annual production of lures for monitoring and mass trapping is on the order of tens of millions, covering at least 10 million hectares. Insect populations are controlled by air permeation and attract-and-kill techniques on at least 1 million hectares. Here, we review the most important and widespread practical applications. Pheromones are increasingly efficient at low population densities, they do not adversely affect natural enemies, and they can, therefore, bring about a long-term reduction in insect populations that cannot be accomplished with conventional insecticides. A changing climate with higher growing season temperatures and altered rainfall patterns makes control of native and invasive insects an increasingly urgent challenge. Intensified insecticide use will not provide a solution, but pheromones and other semiochemicals instead can be implemented for sustainable area-wide management and will thus improve food security for a growing population. Given the scale of the challenges we face to mitigate the impacts of climate change, the time is right to intensify goal-oriented interdisciplinary research on semiochemicals, involving chemists, entomologists, and plant protection experts, in order to provide the urgently needed, and cost-effective technical solutions for sustainable insect management worldwide.

Recording of electroantennographic (EAG) responses from tsetse, Glossina pallidipes and G. morsitans morsitans (Diptera: Glossinidae) has been used to detect olfactory stimulants in volatiles from cattle. The most potent stimulant in cattle odours collected on Porapak resin has been identified as 1-octen-3-ol by gas chromatographic retention data and mass spectrometry. The rate of production of l-octen-3-ol by a normal ox was estimated to be 0.043 mghr" 1 , and the natural material was shown to be predominantly the (/?)-( -)enantiomer. No l-octen-3-ol was collected under the conditions used in the absence of an ox. EAG dose-response curves to l-octen-3-ol showed it to be about 10 6 times more potent than acetone, a known attractant for tsetse, with the maximum response of about 1 mV occurring to approx. 1 ng at source. l-Octen-3-ol caused increased upwind flight by tsetse in a wind tunnel bioassay, and in the field it was attractive to tsetse by itself and also increased the attractiveness of both ox odour and of mixtures of carbon dioxide and acetone.Resume-Les reponses electroantennographique (EAG) des mouches tse-tse, Glossina pallidipes et G. morsitans morsitans (Diptera: Glossinidae), ont ete notees afin de decouvrir les stimulants olfactifs parmi les composes volatils emanant du betail. Le stimulant le plus puissant dans l'odeur de betail, recueillie sur la resine Porapak, a ete identifie comme l-octen-3-ol en utilisant des donnees de retention chromatographique en phase gazeuse et spectrometrie de mass. On a estime le taux de production de l-octen-3-ol par un boeuf normal a 0,043 mghr" 1 et la matiere naturelle s'est revelee comme composee en majeure partie de l'enantiomere (R)- (-). Dans les conditions utilisees, on n'a recueillie de l-octen-3-ol qu'en presence d'un boeuf. Les courbes de dosage-reponse EAG pour l-octen-3-ol l'a revele a peu pres 10 6 fois plus puissant que l'acetone, un attractant connu pour les mouches tse-tse, la reponse maximum d'environ 1 mV etant enregistree pour environ 1 ng a la source. l-Octen-3-ol a occasionne un accroissement de vol des mouches tse-tse contre le vent dans un tunnel aerodynamique. Sur le terrain l-octen-3-ol s'est reveje attractif tout seul et a augmente la puissance attractive de l'odeur de boeuf et aussi des melanges de bioxyde de carbone et d'acetone.

Human sweat samples were chemically fractionated into acid and non-acid components. The most abundant volatile compounds present in the fractions were identified by linked gas chromatography mass spectrometry. The acid fractions were found to be composed of a range of twenty aliphatic and three aromatic carboxylic acids ranging, on average, from 0.02 to 20 micrograms per ml of sweat sampled. Non-acid fractions were found to contain: 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, 1-octen-3-ol, decanal, benzyl alcohol, dimethylsulphone, phenylethanol, phenol and 4-methylphenol, collectively amounting to 0.1 and 3 micrograms per ml of sweat. The major component of sweat was found to be L-lactic acid which constituted from 1 to 5 mg/ml. Using the intact antennae of the anthropophilic malaria vector mosquito Anopheles gambiae Giles, the peripheral olfactory activities of compounds identified in the sweat fractions were investigated by electroantennography (EAG). Short-chain saturated carboxylic acids, methanoic, ethanoic, propanoic, butanoic, pentanoic and hexanoic acids were found to elicit significantly larger EAG responses than longer chain saturated carboxylic acids from female An.gambiae. For a given dose the largest amplitude EAG response was elicited by methanoic acid. Pentanoic acid elicited larger EAG responses than either butanoic or hexanoic acids. Two non-acidic compounds, 1-octen-3-ol and 4-methylphenol, were found to elicit significant dose-dependent EAG responses from female An.gambiae. 1-Octen-3-ol elicited larger EAG responses than 4-methylphenol for a given dose, but both compounds elicited smaller EAG responses than the same dose of C1-C6 straight-chain aliphatic carboxylic acids. The possible behavioural significance of the EAG-active compounds identified in human sweat samples is discussed.

The attractiveness of cattle urine to Glossina morsitans morsitans Westwood and G. pallidipes Austen was shown to be entirely attributable to the phenolic components which it contains. Four of the eight naturally occurring phenol derivatives (3- and 4-methylphenol, 3-ethylphenol and 3-n-propylphenol) were electroantennographically active, induced upwind flight in wind-tunnel bioassays and increased trap catches in field tests in Zimbabwe. One of the minor components, 2-methoxyphenol, had little antennographic activity but induced upwind flight in the wind-tunnel and appeared to be repellent in field tests.

Limburger cheese, previously shown to attract femaleAnopheles gambiaeGiles, was solvent extracted and chemically fractionated into acid and non-acid fractions. The extracts and aliquots of headspace odour of the cheese were analysed by gas chromatography and electron impact mass spectrometry. Nineteen saturated and unsaturated aliphatic fatty acids, ranging in carbon chain length from C2to C18, were detected. The most abundant acids (>1 mg/g of cheese) identified in the acid extract were ethanoic, propanoic, butanoic, hexadecanoic and 9-octadecenoic acid. The same compounds were identified in analyses of headspace samples but only trace quantities of the less volatile acids (C10to C16) were present, whilst C18acids were absent. Behavioural responses of femaleA. gambiaetowards a range of dilutions of the acid extract (in diethyl ether) were recorded in a windtunnel bioassay. The undiluted extract was found to be repellent, but became highly attractive (P«0.001) at lower doses, and was still significantly attractive (P<0.001) when diluted 106times. A synthetic mixture of 12 of the more abundant aliphatic acids identified in the acid extract was found to be significantly attractive (P<0.001) when diluted 108times. Electroantennographic (EAG) studies showed significant and reproducible responses to (saturated) Limburger cheese headspace. At doses higher than 0.1%, the synthetic mixture of 12 acids elicited significantly higher EAG amplitudes than the solvent control (paraffin oil). EAG responses were recorded from mosquitoes stimulated with C5to C8acids, that were characterized by significant dose-dependencies. Weaker, though significant EAG responses were obtained with the less volatile acids (C9to C14). Only hexadecanoic acid did not elicit a detectable response. The electrophysiological and behavioural responses obtained with fatty acids isolated from Limburger cheese suggests that together they could act as a kairomone for femaleA. gambiae. The implications of this are discussed together with the occurrence and bacterial production of these compounds on human skin.

Analysis of ovipositor washings from virgin femaleHelicoverpa assulta (Guenée) (Lepidoptere: Noctuidae) from Korea by gas chromatography (GC) linked to electroantennography and GC linked to mass spectrometry resulted in the identification of nine compounds, hexadecanal, (Z)-9-hexadecenal, (Z)-11-hexadecenal, hexadecyl acetate, (Z)-9-hexadecenyl acetate, (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate, hexadecan-l-ol, (Z)-9-hexadecen-l-ol, and (Z)-11-hexadecen-1-ol. However, ovipositor washings from females from Thailand contained mainly the 16-carbon aldehydes with very small amounts of (Z)-9-hexadecenyl acetate. Field tests conducted in Korea, China, and Thailand indicated that a binary blend of (Z)-9-hexadecenal and (Z)-11-hexadecenal was sufficient for attraction, although the most attractive ratio of compounds varied with location. In Korea a 20∶1 blend of compounds was the most attractive, while in Thailand a 7.5∶1 blend was most attractive. In China both blends of hexadecenal isomers were equally attractive. Addition of the hexadecenyl acetates to the 20∶1 blend of hexadecenals in the ratio of 1∶3.3 increased the trap catch of maleH. assulta compared to lures containing the aldehydes alone in Korea but reduced trap catch in China. Addition of the hexadecenyl acetates to the 7.5∶1 blend of hexadecenals had no significant effect on trap catch in Thailand or China compared to the aldehydes alone. The addition of the 16-carbon alcohols to the aldehydes had a significantly inhibitory effect in all three countries, suggesting they are not pheromone components. Taken together these results indicate thatH. assulta is polymorphic with at least two populations responding to different sex pheromones.

Abstract. A wind tunnel bioassay and video system were used to observe Anopheles gambiae Giles sensu stricto (Diptera: Culicidae) landing on glass cylinders, heated to human skin temperature (34 C) and treated with aqueous solutions of oxocarboxylic acids. Six of nine compounds tested: 2-oxobutanoic, 2-oxo-3-methylbutanoic, 2-oxopentanoic, 2-oxo-3-methylpentanoic, 2-oxo-4-methylpentanoic and 2-oxohexanoic elicited significant landing responses in comparison to a water control. Landing responses appeared to be restricted to C4±C6, 2-oxocarboxylic acids. A solution of 1 mg=mL of 2-oxopentanoic acid elicited the highest level of response that was temperature dependent: significant numbers of landings occurred only within AE2 C of human skin temperature. Chemical analysis by linked gas-liquid chromatography=mass spectrometry of methyl-oxime, trimethylsilyl derivatized samples of human sweat extracts revealed the presence of 2-oxopropanoic (pyruvic) acid and three behaviourally active, branched chain acids: 2-oxo-3-methylbutanoic, 2-oxo-3-methylpentanoic and 2-oxo-4-methylpentanoic.

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