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Polyhydroxy Acids as Fabaceous Plant Components Induce Oviposition of the Common Grass Yellow Butterfly, Eurema Mandarina

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A Correction to this article was published on 13 November 2023

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Abstract

The common grass yellow butterfly, Eurema mandarina is a Fabaceae-feeding species, the females of which readily oviposit on Albizia julibrissin and Lespedeza cuneata in mainland Japan. We previously demonstrated that the methanolic leaf extracts of these plants, and their highly polar aqueous fractions strongly elicit female oviposition. Furthermore, the three subfractions obtained by ion-exchange chromatographic separation of the aqueous fraction have been found to be less effective alone, but synergistically stimulate female oviposition when combined. This indicates that female butterflies respond to multiple compounds with different acidity. We have previously identified d-pinitol from the neutral/amphoteric subfractions and glycine betaine from the basic subfractions as oviposition stimulants of E. mandarina. The present study aimed to identify active compounds in the remaining acidic subfractions of A. julibrissin and L. cuneata leaf extracts. GC-MS analyses of trimethylsilyl-derivatized samples revealed the presence of six compounds in the acidic subfractions. In bioassays using these authentic chemicals, erythronic acid (EA) and threonic acid (TA) were moderately active in eliciting oviposition responses in E. mandarina, with their d-isomers showing slightly higher activity than their l-isomers. Female responsiveness differed between d-EA and l-TA, the major isomers of these compounds in plants, with the response to d-EA reaching a plateau at concentrations above 0.005% and that to l-TA peaking at a concentration of 0.01%. The natural concentrations of d-EA and l-TA in fresh A. julibrissin and L. cuneata leaves were sufficient to stimulate oviposition. Furthermore, mixing 0.001% d-EA or 0.001% l-TA, to which females are mostly unresponsive, with 0.1% d-pinitol resulted in a synergistic enhancement of the oviposition response. These findings demonstrate that E. mandarina females utilize both polyhydroxy acids, EA and TA, as chemical cues for oviposition.

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Data Availability

All data used in the present genetic analyses are included in this published article and its supplementary information.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to Dr Tomoko Amimoto, at the Natural Science Center for Basic Research and Development (N-BARD), Hiroshima University, for the measurements of HR–ESI–MS.

Funding

This study was partially supported by the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) to HO (No. 19K06074).

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Author notes

  1. Chisato Matsunaga and Naoki Kanazawa have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University, 739- 8528, Higashihiroshima, Japan

    Chisato Matsunaga, Naoki Kanazawa, Yuta Takatsuka, Shinji Ohta & Hisashi Ômura

  2. Faculty of Agriculture, Setsunan University, 573-0101, Hirakata, Osaka, Japan

    Takeshi Fujii

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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and chemical analyses were performed by C.M., N.K., and H.Ô. Bioassays were performed by C.M., N.K., and Y.T. Statistical analyses were performed by H.Ô. The first draft of the manuscript was written by C.M. and N.K. and revised by H.Ô. with editorial inputs from T.F. and S.O. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hisashi Ômura.

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“In the originally published version of the article “Polyhydroxy acids as fabaceous plant components induce oviposition of the common grass yellow butterfly, Eurema mandarina” published in Journal of Chemical Ecology 49, 67–76 (2023), the manuscript contains an error in the concentration of d-pinitol, with some text and Figure 3 giving it as 0.01%, whereas the correct concentration is 0.1%. Figure 3 caption has been edited to ensure the correct display of information.” The original article has been corrected.

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Matsunaga, C., Kanazawa, N., Takatsuka, Y. et al. Polyhydroxy Acids as Fabaceous Plant Components Induce Oviposition of the Common Grass Yellow Butterfly, Eurema Mandarina. J Chem Ecol 49, 67–76 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-022-01397-9

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