Dataset Information

Aromatized to find mates: ?-pinene aroma boosts the mating success of adult olive fruit flies.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Contrary to other Tephritidae, female but also male olive flies, Bactrocera oleae release pheromones during their sexual communication. Alpha-pinene, a common plant volatile found in high amounts in unripe olive fruit and leaves has been detected as one of the major components of the female pheromone. However, possible effects of ?-pinene and that of other host volatiles on the mating behavior of the olive fly have not been investigated.

Methodology

Using wild olive flies, reared on olive fruit for 3 generations in the laboratory, we explored whether exposure of male and female olive flies to ?-pinene affects their sexual performance.

Results

Exposure of sexually mature adult olive flies to the aroma of ?-pinene significantly increases the mating performance over non-exposed individuals. Interestingly, exposure to ?-pinene boosts the mating success of both males and female olive flies.

Conclusions

This is the first report of such an effect on the olive fly, and the first time that a single plant volatile has been reported to induce such a phenomenon on both sexes of a single species. We discuss the possible associated mechanism and provide some practical implications.

SUBMITTER: Gerofotis CD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3834339 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Aromatized to find mates: α-pinene aroma boosts the mating success of adult olive fruit flies.

Gerofotis Christos D CD Ioannou Charalampos S CS Papadopoulos Nikos T NT

PloS one 20131119 11

<h4>Background</h4>Contrary to other Tephritidae, female but also male olive flies, Bactrocera oleae release pheromones during their sexual communication. Alpha-pinene, a common plant volatile found in high amounts in unripe olive fruit and leaves has been detected as one of the major components of the female pheromone. However, possible effects of α-pinene and that of other host volatiles on the mating behavior of the olive fly have not been investigated.<h4>Methodology</h4>Using wild olive fli ...[more]

PMID: 24260571

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Project description:BackgroundThe olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae) is the most destructive pest of the olive cultivation worldwide causing significant production losses and olive fruit impoverishment, as its larvae feed exclusively on the olive fruit. Reproductive and sexual behavior, as well as host-plant recognition of the fly, are highly dependent on its chemosensory system. Therefore, exploring the role of genes that play a critical role in olfaction, could reveal potential molecular targets that determine species-specific features on chemical communication and could be used to impair sexual behavior.ResultsIn this study we identified the gene that encodes the conserved olfactory co-receptor Orco (Odorant receptor co-receptor), which interacts with all divergent insect odorant receptors, and investigated how disruption of its expression affects chemoreception. We initially searched the expression profile of Bo-Orco in both sexes during sexual maturation, as well as pre- and post-mating communication by relative quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis suggesting that Bo-Orco was abundantly expressed in sexually mature adults. We further investigated the functional role of Bo-Orco in mating and oviposition behavior via transient gene silencing that was performed through in vivo dsRNA hemolymph injections in sexually mature flies 7 days after eclosion. Orco-knockdown phenotypes in both sexes showed reduced copulation rates in mating competitiveness tests, possibly through impaired olfactory-mediated detection of sex pheromone. In addition, oviposition was significantly inhibited in dsRNA-Orco injected females in a post-mating behavior test.ConclusionsOur results demonstrate that Orco plays a crucial role in the reproductive behavior of the olive fruit fly, since pre- and post-mating processes were affected. This is the first report in the olive fruit fly that links the chemosensory pathway with the mating behavior and the reproductive potential at a molecular basis, rendering this gene a potential target for the improvement of the olive fruit fly population control techniques.

Project description:Elevated rates of mating and reproduction cause decreased female survival and lifetime reproductive success across a wide range of taxa from flies to humans. These costs are fundamentally important to the evolution of life histories. Here we investigate the potential mechanistic basis of this classic life history component. We conducted 4 independent replicated experiments in which female Drosophila melanogaster were subjected to 'high' and 'low' mating regimes, resulting in highly significant differences in lifespan. We sampled females for transcriptomic analysis at day 10 of life, before the visible onset of ageing, and used Tiling expression arrays to detect differential gene expression in two body parts (abdomen versus head+thorax). The divergent mating regimes were associated with significant differential expression in a network of genes showing evidence for interactions with ecdysone receptor. Preliminary experimental manipulation of two genes in that network with roles in post-transcriptional modification (CG11486, eyegone) tended to enhance sensitivity to mating costs. However, the subtle nature of those effects suggests substantial functional redundancy or parallelism in this gene network, which could buffer females against excessive responses. There was also evidence for differential expression in genes involved in germline maintenance, cell proliferation and in gustation / odorant reception. Interestingly, we detected differential expression in three specific genes (EcR, keap1, lbk1) and one class of genes (gustation / odorant receptors) with previously reported roles in determining lifespan. Our results suggest that high and low mating regimes that lead to divergence in lifespan are associated with changes in the expression of genes such as reproductive hormones, that influence resource allocation to the germ line, and that may modify post-translational gene expression. This predicts that the correct signalling of nutrient levels to the reproductive system is important for maintaining organismal integrity.