Dataset Information

Variations on a Theme: Two Structural Motifs Create Species-Specific Pheromone Channels for Multiple Species of South American Cerambycid Beetles.

ABSTRACT: We describe the identification, synthesis, and field-testing of aggregation-sex pheromones, or likely pheromone candidates, of seven species of South American cerambycid beetles in the subfamily Cerambycinae, of the tribes Eburiini and Neoibidionini. Analyses of extracts of volatiles released by adult males revealed that Eburodacrys dubitata White produce 11-methyltridecanal, whereas the males of Eburodacrys assimilis Gounelle, Eburodacrys flexuosa Gounelle, and Eburodacrys lenkoi Napp and Martins produce blends of this compound, along with its analog 10-methyldodecanal. In contrast, males of Compsibidion graphicum (Thomson) and Compsibidion sommeri (Thomson) produce blends of 10-methyldodecanal and its corresponding alcohol 10-methyldodecanol. The results from field bioassays with synthetic compounds showed that each species was specifically attracted to traps containing their reconstructed pheromone blend. However, E. assimilis was not trapped, possibly due to inhibition by non-natural enantiomers in the racemic test compounds. During the trials for the Compsibidion species, adults of another cerambycid species, Tetraopidion mucoriferum (Thomson), were captured in significant numbers in traps baited with 10-methyldodecanol, suggesting that this compound is a pheromone component for this species. This study demonstrates another case of conservation of pheromone structures within South American cerambycid species. It also highlights how blends of closely related structures, differing only in chain length or functional group, make the evolution of species-specific pheromone channels possible.

SUBMITTER: Silva WD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7240461 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Variations on a Theme: Two Structural Motifs Create Species-Specific Pheromone Channels for Multiple Species of South American Cerambycid Beetles.

Silva Weliton D WD Hanks Lawrence M LM Alvarez Jean Carlos S JCS Madalon Fernando Z FZ Bento José Maurício S JMS Bello Jan E JE Millar Jocelyn G JG

Insects 20200402 4

We describe the identification, synthesis, and field-testing of aggregation-sex pheromones, or likely pheromone candidates, of seven species of South American cerambycid beetles in the subfamily Cerambycinae, of the tribes Eburiini and Neoibidionini. Analyses of extracts of volatiles released by adult males revealed that Eburodacrys dubitata White produce 11-methyltridecanal, whereas the males of Eburodacrys assimilis Gounelle, Eburodacrys flexuosa Gounelle, and Eburodacr ...[more]

PMID: 32252447

Similar Datasets

Project description:The diversity of a highly variable RNA plant virus was considered to determine the range of virulence substitutions, the evolutionary pathways to virulence, and whether intraspecific diversity modulates virulence pathways and propensity. In all, 114 isolates representative of the genetic and geographic diversity of Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) in Africa were inoculated to several cultivars with eIF(iso)4G-mediated Rymv1-2 resistance. Altogether, 41 virulent variants generated from ten wild isolates were analyzed. Nonconservative amino acid replacements at five positions located within a stretch of 15 codons in the central region of the 79-aa-long protein VPg were associated with virulence. Virulence substitutions were fixed predominantly at codon 48 in most strains, whatever the host genetic background or the experimental conditions. There were one major and two isolate-specific mutational pathways conferring virulence at codon 48. In the prevalent mutational pathway I, arginine (AGA) was successively displaced by glycine (GGA) and glutamic acid (GAA). Substitutions in the other virulence codons were displaced when E48 was fixed. In the isolate-specific mutational pathway II, isoleucine (ATA) emerged and often later coexisted with valine (GTA). In mutational pathway III, arginine, with the specific S2/S3 strain codon usage AGG, was displaced by tryptophane (TGG). Mutational pathway I never arose in the widely spread West African S2/S3 strain because G48 was not infectious in the S2/S3 genetic context. Strain S2/S3 least frequently overcame resistance, whereas two geographically localized variants of the strain S4 had a high propensity to virulence. Codons 49 and 26 of the VPg, under diversifying selection, are candidate positions in modulating the genetic barriers to virulence. The theme and variations in the evolutionary pathways to virulence of RYMV illustrates the extent of parallel evolution within a highly variable RNA plant virus species.

Project description:A fundamental question in comparative neuroethology is the extent to which synaptic wiring determines behavior vs. the extent to which it is constrained by phylogeny. We investigated this by examining the connectivity and activity of homologous neurons in different species. Melibe leonina and Dendronotus iris (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Nudibranchia) have homologous neurons and exhibit homologous swimming behaviors consisting of alternating left-right (LR) whole body flexions. Yet, a homologous interneuron (Si1) differs between the two species in its participation in the swim motor pattern (SMP) and synaptic connectivity. In this study we examined Si1 homologs in two additional nudibranchs: Flabellina iodinea, which evolved LR swimming independently of Melibe and Dendronotus, and Tritonia diomedea, which swims with dorsal-ventral (DV) body flexions. In Flabellina, the contralateral Si1s exhibit alternating rhythmic bursting activity during the SMP and are members of the swim central pattern generator (CPG), as in Melibe The Si1 homologs in Tritonia do not burst rhythmically during the DV SMP but are inhibited and receive bilaterally synchronous synaptic input. In both Flabellina and Tritonia, the Si1 homologs exhibit reciprocal inhibition, as in Melibe However, in Flabellina the inhibition is polysynaptic, whereas in Tritonia it is monosynaptic, as in Melibe In all species, the contralateral Si1s are electrically coupled. These results suggest that Flabellina and Melibe convergently evolved a swim CPG that contains Si1; however, they differ in monosynaptic connections. Connectivity is more similar between Tritonia and Melibe, which exhibit different swimming behaviors. Thus connectivity between homologous neurons varies independently of both behavior and phylogeny.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This research shows that the synaptic connectivity between homologous neurons exhibits species-specific variations on a basic theme. The neurons vary in the extent of electrical coupling and reciprocal inhibition. They also exhibit different patterns of activity during rhythmic motor behaviors that are not predicted by their circuitry. The circuitry does not map onto the phylogeny in a predictable fashion either. Thus neither neuronal homology nor species behavior is predictive of neural circuit connectivity.

Project description:BACKGROUND: The ability to perform de novo biosynthesis of purines is present in organisms in all three domains of life, reflecting the essentiality of these molecules to life. Although the pathway is quite similar in eukaryotes and bacteria, the archaeal pathway is more variable. A careful manual curation of genes in this pathway demonstrates the value of manual curation in archaea, even in pathways that have been well-studied in other domains. RESULTS: We searched the Integrated Microbial Genome system (IMG) for the 17 distinct genes involved in the 11 steps of de novo purine biosynthesis in 65 sequenced archaea, finding 738 predicted proteins with sequence similarity to known purine biosynthesis enzymes. Each sequence was manually inspected for the presence of active site residues and other residues known or suspected to be required for function.Many apparently purine-biosynthesizing archaea lack evidence for a single enzyme, either glycinamide ribonucleotide formyltransferase or inosine monophosphate cyclohydrolase, suggesting that there are at least two more gene variants in the purine biosynthetic pathway to discover. Variations in domain arrangement of formylglycinamidine ribonucleotide synthetase and substantial problems in aminoimidazole carboxamide ribonucleotide formyltransferase and inosine monophosphate cyclohydrolase assignments were also identified.Manual curation revealed some overly specific annotations in the IMG gene product name, with predicted proteins without essential active site residues assigned product names implying enzymatic activity (21 proteins, 2.8% of proteins inspected) or Enzyme Commission (E. C.) numbers (57 proteins, 7.7%). There were also 57 proteins (7.7%) assigned overly generic names and 78 proteins (10.6%) without E.C. numbers as part of the assigned name when a specific enzyme name and E. C. number were well-justified. CONCLUSIONS: The patchy distribution of purine biosynthetic genes in archaea is consistent with a pathway that has been shaped by horizontal gene transfer, duplication, and gene loss. Our results indicate that manual curation can improve upon automated annotation for a small number of automatically-annotated proteins and can reveal a need to identify further pathway components even in well-studied pathways.

Dataset Information

Variations on a Theme: Two Structural Motifs Create Species-Specific Pheromone Channels for Multiple Species of South American Cerambycid Beetles.

Publications

Variations on a Theme: Two Structural Motifs Create Species-Specific Pheromone Channels for Multiple Species of South American Cerambycid Beetles.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets