Essential oil components and volatile organic compounds as pheromones

Marianne Müller
2010 unpublished
Studies (2000-2010) regarding (pest) insect and arachnid released pheromones, consisting of essential oil components of various plants or other volatile organic compounds, were compiled. Consequently, verbenol and verbenone were found to be an essential part of the bark beetle's aggregation pheromone, released with the intent to round up its conspecifics. Concerning plant lice, aphids use (E)-β-farnesene as an alarm pheromone to warn the other lice due to predators or enemies. Additionally,
more » ... talactol and nepetalactone, two essential oil components of the cat mint (Lamiaceae), occur as an aphid released sex pheromone, emitted to induce mating behavior. On the other side, coccids, another family of plant lice, produce and recognize lavandulyl esters as their sex pheromone. Fruit flies or bees for example, have developed special mechanisms in pheromone production. Fruit flies incorporate phenylpropanoids of Bulbophyllum vinaceum (Orchidaceae) flowers to further produce their sex pheromone components out of the collected methyl eugenol. On the other hand, some bees imitate a linalool-containing orchid odor as their sex pheromone and thus allure their mating partners. Studies about termites reveal a large amount of different presumable pheromone compounds that also appear as essential oil components: neocembrene as a part of the trail pheromone of several Prorhinotermes species, (E,E)-α-farnesene as an alarm pheromone of P. canalifrons or several terpenes like γ-cadinene as primer pheromones of a certain Reticulitermes species, enforcing the effect of the juvenile hormone and therefore determining about caste development. A similar variety can be seen in stink bugs, where (4S)-cis-(Z)-bisabolene epoxide, (+)-α-curcumene, (-)-zingiberene, (-)-β-sesquiphellandrene and zingiberenol play a role among the different species. Furthermore, (E,E)-8,10-dodecadien-1-ol (codlemone) is released by a serious pest, the codling moth, as a sex pheromone. The vector of the American visceral leishmaniasis, the sand fly, consists of s [...]
doi:10.25365/thesis.10092 fatcat:ot5d7bs3pfcajd4hoaxty5zchy