Evaluation of the Activity of the Essential Oil from an Ornamental Flower against Aedes aegypti: Electrophysiology, Molecular Dynamics and Behavioral Assays

Abstract

Dengue fever has spread worldwide and affects millions of people every year in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, Europe and America. Since there is no effective vaccine against the dengue virus, prevention of disease transmission depends entirely on regulating the vector (Aedes aegypti) or interrupting human-vector contact. The aim of this study was to assess the oviposition deterrent activity of essential oils of three cultivars of torch ginger (Etlingera elatior, Zingiberaceae) against the dengue mosquito. Analysis of the oils by gas chromatography (GC)—mass spectrometry revealed the presence of 43 constituents, of which α-pinene, dodecanal and n-dodecanol were the major components in all cultivars. Solutions containing 100 ppm of the oils exhibited oviposition deterrent activities against gravid Ae. aegypti females. GC analysis with electroantennographic detection indicated that the oil constituents n-decanol, 2-undecanone, undecanal, dodecanal, trans-caryophyllene, (E)-β-farnesene, α-humulene, n-dodecanol, isodaucene and dodecanoic acid were able to trigger antennal depolarization in Ae. aegypti females. Bioassays confirmed that solutions containing 50 ppm of n-dodecanol or dodecanal exhibited oviposition deterrent activities, while a solution containing the alcohol and aldehyde in admixture at concentrations representative of the oil presented an activity similar to that of the 100 ppm oil solution. Docking and molecular dynamics simulations verified that the interaction energies of the long-chain oil components and Ae. aegypti odorant binding protein 1 were quite favorable, indicating that the protein is a possible oviposition deterrent receptor in the antenna of Ae. aegypti.

Exploring the Potentiality of Natural Products from Essential Oils as Inhibitors of Odorant-Binding Proteins: A Structure- and Ligand-Based Virtual Screening Approach To Find Novel Mosquito Repellents

“…Several studies have reported the specific inhibitory activity of some NPs from essential oil against insect OBPs with satisfactory binding affinity, such as sesquiterpenes (e.g., benzaldehyde, β-myrcene, and α-copaene) 13 and alcohols (e.g., n -decanol and n -dodecanol). 12 In the present study, we identified that predominantly monoterpenoids, such as p -cymen-8-yl, thymol acetate, and carvacryl acetate, mimic the binding mode of DEET, exhibiting similar pharmacophoric groups and intermolecular interactions with the protein pocket, which sheds light on the molecular mechanism of action of these compounds against olfactory recognition of insects, reinforcing the previous experimental repellency studies for this chemical class. 40,41,48,50…”

“…The 3D structure of OBP1 is well-conserved across different mosquito species that are vectors of human diseases, such as Aedes aegypti (Protein Data Bank ID: 3K1E), 9 Anopheles gambiae (3V2L and 3R1O), 10 and Culex quinquefasciatus (3OGN), 11 and its structure has been widely investigated for structure-oriented development of novel repellents. 12−14 DEET ( N , N -diethyl- meta -toluamide) is one of the most effective, commercially available Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved repellents, providing good residual protection against a broad spectrum of insects. 15,16 Its action against OBPs has been extensively investigated as an attractive approach to developing novel bio-inspired repellent compounds by combining ligand- and structure-based approaches.…”

Effects of Zanthoxylum caribaeum essential oil against cotton bug Dysdercus peruvianus

“…The major terpene in Z. caribeum EO, sylvestrene, was previoulsly described in EO of Schinus terebinthifolia (Anacardiaceae) fruits, an EO able to kill mosquitos' vectors of Malaria (Kweka et al 2011). and 5-trans-diene are a bicyclic sesquiterpenes present in EO of Haplopappus foliosus (Asteraceae) which shown insecticidal activity against Musca domestica (Linnaeus, 1758), (Diptera: Muscidae) (Urzua et al 2010) and Isodaucene obtained from EO of Etlingera elatior (Zingiberaceae)is able to trigger antennal depolarization in A. aegypti females followed by Development, v. 9, n. 9, e197997152, 2020 (CC BY 4.0) | ISSN 2525-3409 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v9i9.7152 inhibition of oviposition (Bezerra-Silva et al 2016). The enantiomers α-Pinene and β-Pinene have been associated with several bioactivities as antiviral, antifungal, antimicrobial and used as a natural insecticide, although studies show low insecticide effect against S. zeamais (Wang et al 2011, Yildirim et al 2013).…”

Collective behavior quantification on human odor effects against female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes—Open source development

“…Manual counting of Ae . aegypti mosquito eggs on a paper filter are also still used in a recent study on investigating the deterrent effect of essential oils from torch ginger ( Etlingera elatior , Zingiberaceae) against oviposition [ 14 ].…”