No smell, no sex in Japanese beetles

If a male bug of the Japanese beetle family cannot detect pheromone sex hormone produced by the female, it will not be able to determine the location of the female as well as reproduce.

Researchers at the University of California Davis have recently discovered how key enzymes interact with pheromon in the complex olfactory system of beetles. This finding could bring many important applications in controlling the pests of the aforementioned pests.

The results of a study by a group of chemical ecologists led by Professor Walter Leal of the University of California Davis are published in the June 16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers looked at how males distinguish the sexes' pheromones by using odor detection mechanisms on their antennae. Beetles have two olfactory organs on their particularly sensitive beards, one that recognizes the smell of pheromone secreted by the offspring of the species and the other adjusted to identify the pheromone odor from the offspring of the near species. close - Osaka beetle.

(Photo: cirrusimage.com)

Leal said: 'If the Japanese bug smells another species, it will stop like receiving a signal' stop 'so.'

Earlier studies were also conducted by Leal's team to show that Japanese beetles use an enzyme or protein in their antennae to eliminate pheromone by breaking its chemical structure.

In the newly published study, University of California Davis scientists isolated, identified, copied and activated enzymes called PjapPDE . They demonstrated that this enzyme interacts with pheromones from Japanese beetles and Osaka beetles . It quickly eliminates pheromones from Japanese female beetles and gradually weakens pheromones of other females.

Leal's goal is to find ways to gradually reduce the pheromone's decline process by blocking enzymes, thereby affecting the ability of Japanese male beetles to detect pheromones and locate females.

The Japanese beetle was first discovered in the United States in 1916 at a kindergarten in New Jersey. They are now present in 22 states east of the Mississippi River and are spreading west. Isolated development occurs in California, Wisconsin and Oregon. In the larval stage, beetles are considered the most widespread pests in the United States. Adult beetles feed on the leaves and fruits of several hundred species of fruit trees, ornamental plants, shrubs and cows as well as food plants or crops.