Ayako Wada-Katsumata

North Carolina State University | NCSU · Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology

Insects rely on olfaction to guide a wide range of adaptive behaviors, including mate and food localization, mate choice, oviposition site selection, kin recognition, and predator avoidance.1 In nocturnal insects, such as moths2 and cockroaches,3 mate finding is stimulated predominantly by long-range species-specific sex pheromones, typically emitt...

The cover image is based on the Research Article Nonanal, a new fall armyworm sex pheromone component, significantly increases the efficacy of pheromone lures by Ahmed M. Saveer et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.7460 . Image Credit: Matt Bertone. image

Human-imposed selection can lead to adaptive changes in sensory traits. However, rapid evolution of the sensory system can interfere with other behaviours, and animals must overcome such sensory conflicts. In response to intense selection by insecticide baits that contain glucose, German cockroaches evolved glucose-aversion (GA), which confers beha...

Background The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith), is a global pest that feeds on >350 plant species and severely limits production of cultivated grasses, vegetable crops and cotton. An efficient way to detect new invasions at early stages, and monitor and quantify the status of established infestations of this pest is to deplo...

Glucose aversion in the German cockroach, Blattella germanica (L.), results in behavioral resistance to insecticidal baits. Glucose-averse (GA) cockroaches reject foods containing glucose, even in relatively low concentrations, which protects the cockroaches from ingesting lethal amounts of toxic baits. Horizontal transfer of baits and the resultin...

Gel bait formulations of insecticides have been shown to be highly effective in managing German cockroach (Blattella germanica L. [Blattodea: Ectobiidae]) populations. Three potential reasons for this are high palatability of baits, the use of slow-acting insecticides, and their horizontal transfer within aggregations, a phenomenon known as 'second...

The importance of plant chemistry in the host specialization of phytophagous insects has been emphasized. However, only a few chemicals associated with host shifting have been characterized. Herein, we focus on the leaf-mining moth Acrocercops transecta (Gracillariidae) consisting of ancestral Juglans (Juglandaceae)- and derived Lyonia (Ericaceae)-...

An integral part of the courtship sequence of the German cockroach (Blattella germanica) involves the male raising his wings to expose tergal glands on his dorsum. When a female cockroach feeds on the secretion of these glands, she is optimally positioned for mating. Core chemical components have been identified, but the effect of male diet on the...

The evolution of adaptive behavior often requires changes in sensory systems. However, rapid adaptive changes in sensory traits can adversely affect other fitness-related behaviors. In the German cockroach, a gustatory polymorphism, ‘glucose-aversion (GA)’, supports greater survivorship under selection with glucose-containing insecticide baits and...

An association of food sources with odors prominently guides foraging behavior in animals. To understand the interaction of olfactory memory and food preferences, we used glucose-averse (GA) German cockroaches. Multiple populations of cockroaches evolved a gustatory polymorphism where glucose is perceived as a deterrent and enables GA cockroaches t...

An association of food sources with odors prominently guides foraging behavior in animals. To understand the interaction of olfactory memory and food preferences, we used glucose-averse (GA) German cockroaches. Multiple populations of cockroaches evolved a gustatory polymorphism where glucose is perceived as a deterrent and enables GA cockroaches t...

The German cockroach, Blattella germanica (L.) (Blattodea: Ectobiidae), is a common pest of human-built structures worldwide. German cockroaches are generalist omnivores able to survive on a wide variety of foods. A number of studies have concluded that laboratory-reared B. germanica self-select diets with an approximate 1P:3C (protein-to-carbohydr...

A Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile, non-spore-forming, aerobic bacterium, designated type strain SSI9 T , was isolated from sand fly ( Phlebotomus papatasi Scopoli; Diptera: Psychodidae ) rearing substrate and subjected to polyphasic taxonomic analysis. Strain SSI9 T contained phosphatidylethanolamine as a major polar lipid, MK-7 as the...

Saliva has diverse functions in feeding behavior of animals. However, the impact of salivary digestion of food on insect gustatory information processing is poorly documented. Glucose-aversion (GA) in the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, is a highly adaptive heritable behavioral resistance trait that protects the cockroach from ingesting gluc...

Saliva has diverse functions in feeding behavior of animals. However, the impact of salivary digestion of food on insect gustatory information processing is poorly documented. Glucose-aversion (GA) in the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, is a highly adaptive heritable behavioral resistance trait that protects the cockroach from ingesting gluc...

BACKGROUND Insect growth regulators disrupt insect development and reproduction. Chitin synthesis inhibitors (CSIs) allow the insect to grow normally, but because chitin is an essential component of the cuticle, formation of a new cuticle and ecdysis are prevented and the insect dies. CSIs can also kill embryos by disrupting their normal developmen...

Spontaneous grooming behavior is a component of insect fitness. We quantified spontaneous grooming behavior in 201 sequenced lines of the Drosophila melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel and observed significant genetic variation in spontaneous grooming, with broad-sense heritabilities of 0.25 and 0.24 in females and males, respectively. Although gr...

Once emitted, semiochemicals are exposed to reactive environmental factors that may alter them, thus disrupting chemical communication. Some species, however, might have adapted to detect environmentally mediated breakdown products of their natural chemicals as semiochemicals. We demonstrate that air, water vapour and ultraviolet (UV) radiation bre...

Once emitted, semiochemicals are exposed to reactive environmental factors that may alter them, thus disrupting chemical communication. Some species, however, might have adapted to detect environmentally mediated breakdown products of their natural chemicals as semiochemicals. We demonstrate that air, water vapor, and ultraviolet (UV) radiation bre...

Insects are the only known animals in which sexual differentiation is controlled by sex-specific splicing. The doublesex transcription factor produces distinct male and female isoforms, which are both essential for sex-specific development. dsx splicing depends on transformer, which is also alternatively spliced such that functional Tra is only pre...

Aggregation can be adaptive by providing protection from predators, facilitating thermoregulation, and expediting the location of food, shelter, and mates. German cockroaches Blattella germanica L. (Blattodea: Ectobiidae), are obligatory commensals in human-built structures, where they aggregate in crevices during the day. The source of the aggrega...

Insects are the only animals in which sexual differentiation is controlled by sex-specific RNA splicing. The doublesex (dsx) transcription factor produces distinct male and female protein isoforms (DsxM and DsxF) under the control of the RNA splicing factor transformer (tra). tra itself is also alternatively spliced so that a functional Tra protein...

The antennae of adult male German cockroaches detect a contact sex pheromone embedded in the female’s cuticular lipids. The female pheromone stimulates courtship behavior in males, notably a wing-raising (WR) display. Within aggregations, however, cuticular lipids are disseminated by contact among group members, including nymphs and adults of both...

Boric acid has been used as an insecticide in the successful control of agricultural, public health and urban pests long before the advent of synthetic organic pesticides. Boric acid products, formulated as dusts, sprays, granular baits, pastes, gels, and liquids, are widely available to consumers and pest management professionals, especially to co...

A key challenge in understanding the evolution of animal behaviors is to identify cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the evolution of adaptive traits and behaviors in polymorphic populations under local selection pressures. Despite recent advances in fish, mice, and insects, there are still only a few compelling examples of major genes...

Phylogenetic relationships of the IR family. The Ir8a and 25a lineages were declared the outgroup as these two proteins are most similar to the ionotropic glutamate receptors (Croset et al., 2010; Terrapon et al., 2014). Major conserved lineages are highlighted in colors, and their names indicated on the outside of the circle (the asterisk on Ir40a...

Phylogenetic relationships of the GR family. The sugar and carbon dioxide receptor subfamilies together rooted the tree, based on their basal location together in analyses with GRLs of other animals (Robertson, 2015). Major subfamilies are highlighted in colors, and the branch leading to the mostly intronless clade is indicated inside the circle. N...

The acquisition of genome sequences from a wide range of insects and other arthropods has revealed a broad positive correlation between the complexity of their chemical ecology and the size of their chemosensory gene repertoire. The German cockroach Blattella germanica is an extreme omnivore and has the largest chemosensory gene repertoire known fo...

Around 150 million years ago, eusocial termites evolved from within the cockroaches, 50 million years before eusocial Hymenoptera, such as bees and ants, appeared. Here, we report the 2-Gb genome of the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, and the 1.3-Gb genome of the drywood termite Cryptotermes secundus. We show evolutionary signatures of termi...

Around 150 million years ago, eusocial termites evolved from within the cockroaches, 50 million years before eusocial Hymenoptera, such as bees and ants, appeared. Here, we report the first, 2GB genome of a cockroach, Blattella germanica , and the 1.3GB genome of the drywood termite, Cryptotermes secundus . We show evolutionary signatures of termit...

Glucose-aversion is a heritable trait that evolved in a number of German cockroach (Blattella germanica L.) populations in response to strong selection with glucose-containing insecticide baits. However, in the absence of glucose-containing bait, glucose-averse (GA) cockroaches have lower performance than wild-type (WT) cockroaches in several fitne...

Significance There is great interest in elucidating the diverse roles of microbes in biology, in general and, specifically, in mediating animal communication. We demonstrate that the gut bacterial community plays a pivotal role in production of aggregation pheromones in the German cockroach. The feces of normal and gut bacteria-inoculated cockroach...

In response to the anthropogenic assault of toxic baits, populations of the German cockroach have rapidly evolved a novel adaptive behavior—a behavioral aversion of glucose, a phagostimulant component of baits, that lets cockroaches avoid the bait. To understand the mechanism of glucose aversion, we compared electrophysiological responses of gustat...

Translation of "Adventures among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions"

Insects that live in our homes (a.k.a., pests!) evolved incredible adaptations to deal with their enemies – you and I! We’ll discuss three of these adaptations: * The male German cockroach is exquisitely sensitive to a sex pheromone that the female produces when she is ready to mate. He navigates the complex landscape of the kitchen at night to f...

Sugar Aversion Several populations of the German cockroach have become averse to the glucose used as bait in toxic traps, which has severely reduced the traps' effectiveness. Wada-Katsumata et al. (p. 972 ) show that this aversion is a result of changes in the peripheral gustatory system, whereby glucose, as well as “sweet” receptors, stimulated an...

Grooming, a common behavior in animals, serves the important function of removing foreign materials from body surfaces. When antennal grooming was prevented in the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana, field emission gun scanning electron microscopy images revealed that an unstructured substance accumulated on nongroomed antennae, covering sen...

In ants, including Formica japonica, trophallaxis and grooming are typical social behaviors shared among nestmates. After depriving ants of either food or nestmates and then providing them with either food or nestmates, a behavioral change in type and frequency of social interactions was observed. We hypothesized that starvation and isolation affec...

Glucose is a universal phagostimulant in many animal species, including the cockroach Blattella germanica. However, some natural populations of B. germanica have been found that are behaviorally deterred from eating glucose. In dose-response studies, glucose was a powerful phagostimulant for wild-type cockroaches, but it strongly deterred feeding i...

Glucose is a universal phagostimulant in many animal species. However, some populations of the German cockroach are behaviorally deterred from eating glucose. It is thought that the glucose-aversion trait has evolved in response to toxic baits containing glucose. To understand the mechanisms that underlie glucose-aversion, we focused on 1) identify...

When humans communicate with each other, we rely on an arsenal of acoustic sounds and signals, as well as words and body language. Just as the simple words themselves tell only part of the story for humans, so, too, in the insect world, species-specific single- or few-component chemical messaging (i.e. sex pheromones) do not convey all the needed i...

Substrate vibratory information receptors are extensively studied in insects and spiders, however for water surface dwelling species little data is available. We studied the vibration receptive organs in tarsi of the water strider Aquarius paludum, using light, transmission and scanning electron microscopes, and recorded the neural activity of the...

Females of Blattella germanica feed compulsively on a nuptial secretion from the male's eighth tergal gland (TG-8) during courtship. Using TG-8 extract and its essential ingredients, maltotriose (MT) and 1,2-dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (PC), we investigated the perception of the secretion by gustatory sensilla in both sexes. Female-biased chemosens...

Here we show that larvae of the lycaenid butterfly Niphanda fusca secrete droplets containing trehalose and glycine. These droplets attract the larva's host ants Camponotus japonicus, which collect and protect the larvae. We comparatively investigated gustatory preference for trehalose, glycine or a mixture of the two between host (C. japonicus) an...

The exploitation of parental care is common in avian and insect 'cuckoos' and these species engage in a coevolutionary arms race. Caterpillars of the lycaenid butterfly Niphanda fusca develop as parasites inside the nests of host ants (Camponotus japonicus) where they grow by feeding on the worker trophallaxis. We hypothesized that N. fusca caterpi...

In animal societies, chemical communication plays an important role in conflict and cooperation. For ants, cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) blends produced by non-nestmates elicit overt aggression. We describe a sensory sensillum on the antennae of the carpenter ant Camponotus japonicus that functions in nestmate discrimination. This sensillum is multip...

The blowfly, Phormia regina, has sensilla with four contact-chemoreceptor cells and one mechanoreceptor cell on its labellum. Three of the four chemoreceptor cells are called the sugar, the salt and the water receptor cells, respectively. However, the specificity of the remaining chemoreceptor cell, traditionally called the "fifth cell", has not ye...

The lycaenid butterfly, Niphanda fusca, has a parasitic relationship with its host ant, Camponotus japonicus: the caterpillars may use chemical mimicry to enter the ant nest where they are fed mouth-to-mouth by the adult ants until pupation. Nevertheless, larvae offer their host ants a nutritious secretion that contains 160 mM glucose and 43 mM gly...

Translation of "Slave-Making Queens" in Scientific American (1999)

The galls on Ulmus leaves formed by Tetraneura fusiformis enlarged gradually from the 1st week of gall development to the 3rd week and rapidly from the 3rd to the 4th week, although no further enlargement was, thereafter, observed. Offspring began to be produced by the fundatrix from the 4th week and reached a maximum in number in the 5th week. The...

Oviposition site preference in Palomina angulosa MOTSCHULSKY (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) was investigated. The preference of females caught in the field was examined in laboratory cages and outdoor screen cages. Specific preference for plants on which parasitism has been demonstrated in the field was not observed and a lot of oviposition was found on...