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Variation in Attraction to Host Plant Odors in an Invasive Moth Has a Genetic Basis and is Genetically Negatively Correlated with Fecundity

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Abstract

Lepidopteran insects are major pests of agricultural crops, and mated female moths exploit plant volatiles to locate suitable hosts for oviposition. We investigated the heritability of odor-guided host location behavior and fecundity in the cosmopolitan oriental fruit moth Grapholita (Cydia) molesta, an oligophagous herbivore that attacks fruit trees. We used a full-sib/half-sib approach to estimate the heritability and the genetic correlation between these two traits. Results document a considerable genetic basis for olfactory attraction of females (h 2 = 0.37 ± 0.17) and their fecundity (h 2 = 0.32 ± 0.13), as well as a genetic trade-off between female attraction and fecundity (r g  = −0.85 ± 0.21). These estimations were empirically corroborated by comparing two strains maintained in the laboratory for different numbers of generations. The long-term reared strain lost its olfactory discrimination ability but achieved significantly higher fecundity compared with the short-term reared strain. Our results highlight that genetic studies are relevant for understanding the evolution of odor-guided behavior in herbivore insects and for judging the promise of pest management strategies involving behavioral manipulation with plant volatiles.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Edison Pasqualini (University of Bologna) and Massimiliano Melandri (Terremerse) for support with field sampling of insects, Christian Stauffer (BOKU Vienna) and Peter Voegeli (ETH Zurich) for useful discussions, and Heather Kirk (ETH Zurich) and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Agricultural Sciences/Applied Entomology, ETH Zurich, Schmelzbergstrasse 9/LFO, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    A. Najar-Rodriguez, N. Bellutti & S. Dorn

  2. Institute of Agricultural Sciences/Animal Genetics, ETH Zurich, Tannenstrasse 1, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    M. Schneeberger

  3. Institute of Forest Entomology, Forest Pathology and Forest Protection, BOKU, University of Natural Resources and Applied Sciences, Hasenauerstrasse 38, 1190, Vienna, Austria

    N. Bellutti

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  1. A. Najar-Rodriguez
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  2. M. Schneeberger
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  3. N. Bellutti
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  4. S. Dorn
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Correspondence to S. Dorn.

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Edited by Yong Kyu Kim.

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Najar-Rodriguez, A., Schneeberger, M., Bellutti, N. et al. Variation in Attraction to Host Plant Odors in an Invasive Moth Has a Genetic Basis and is Genetically Negatively Correlated with Fecundity. Behav Genet 42, 687–697 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-012-9539-9

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