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Homofarnesals: Female Sex Attractant Pheromone Components of the Southern Cowpea Weevil, Callosobruchus chinensis

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Abstract

The southern cowpea weevil, Callosobruchus chinensis (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), is a major pest of stored legumes in warm temperate and tropical climates. The female sex attractant pheromone was extracted from filter-paper shelters taken from containers that housed virgin females. The extracts were purified by various chromatographic techniques, and the biologically active components in the fractions were screened by gas chromatographic–electroantennographic detection analysis with male antennae. Two compounds that elicited electrophysiological responses were isolated, and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, and micro-chemical analyses suggested that the active compounds were homofarnesals, (2Z,6E)- and (2E,6E)-7-ethyl-3,11-dimethyl-2,6,10-dodecatrienals. Males of C. chinensis were significantly attracted to filter paper discs loaded with the synthetic compounds at 0.01–0.1 ng compared to solvent control in a Y-tube olfactometer assay. These pheromone components represent unique chemical structures within the genus Callosobruchus.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. Kaoru Tanaka for his early efforts in this project in our laboratory and valuable comments on the study. We thank Drs. Izuru Yamamoto and Hiroshi Honda for helpful advice. We also thank Drs. Goro Yabuta and Arata Yajima for help with the chemical synthesis. We also express our gratitude to Dr. Coby Schal for reviewing the manuscript. Finally, we are also thankful to two anonymous reviewers and an associate editor (Dr. Steven J. Seybold) for their help on the previous draft of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Applied Bioscience, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, 156-8502, Japan

    Kenji Shimomura, Shunsuke Yajima & Kanju Ohsawa

  2. Department of Entomology and W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Satoshi Nojima

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  1. Kenji Shimomura
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  2. Satoshi Nojima
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  3. Shunsuke Yajima
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Correspondence to Kenji Shimomura.

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Shimomura, K., Nojima, S., Yajima, S. et al. Homofarnesals: Female Sex Attractant Pheromone Components of the Southern Cowpea Weevil, Callosobruchus chinensis . J Chem Ecol 34, 467–477 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-008-9451-1

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