Peter Witzgall

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences | SLU · Department of Plant Protection Biology

1-‫رﻓﻴﻊ‬ ‫ﻧﺎﻇﻤﻲ‬ ‫ﺟﻮاد‬ 2 *-‫وﻳﺘﺰﮔﺎل‬ ‫ﭘﻴﺘﺮ‬ 3-‫ﺻﺎدﻗﻲ‬ ‫اﻣﻴﻦ‬ 4 ‫درﻳﺎﻓﺖ‬ ‫ﺗﺎرﻳﺦ‬ : 25 / 7 / 1391 ‫ﺗﺎرﻳ‬ ‫ﭘﺬﻳﺮش‬ ‫ﺦ‬ : 12 / 4 / 1392 ‫ﭼﻜﻴﺪه‬ ‫ﻣﻲ‬ ‫وارد‬ ‫ﻛﺮدﺳﺘﺎن‬ ‫اﺳﺘﺎن‬ ‫و‬ ‫اﻳﺮان‬ ‫در‬ ‫اﻧﮕﻮر‬ ‫درﺧﺘﺎن‬ ‫ﺑﻪ‬ ‫را‬ ‫زﻳﺎدي‬ ‫ﺧﺴﺎرت‬ ‫ﺳﺎﻟﻪ‬ ‫ﻫﺮ‬ ‫اﻧﮕﻮر‬ ‫ﺧﻮار‬ ‫ﺧﻮﺷﻪ‬ ‫ﻧﻤﺎﻳﺪ‬. ‫ﻣﺨﺘﻠـﻒ‬ ‫ارﻗـﺎم‬ ‫در‬ ‫آﻓﺖ‬ ‫اﻳﻦ‬ ‫ﺧﺴﺎرت‬ ‫دﻟﻴﻞ‬ ‫ﺑﻪ‬ ‫ﺗ‬ ‫ﺷﺪه‬ ‫ﻃﺮاﺣﻲ‬ ‫ﻓﺮﻣ...

Drosophila suzukii is a main pest of berries on all continents. Population control relies on insecticides and a current research challenge is to develop alternative strategies. Methods based on behavior-modifying semiochemicals are widely used against other horticultural insects, and the functional characterization of chemoreceptors facilitates the...

The spotted wing Drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, has emerged within the past decade as an invasive species on a global scale, and is one of the most economically important pests in fruit and berry production in Europe and North America. Insect ecology, to a strong degree, depends on the chemosensory modalities of smell and taste. Extensive research...

Transmission of foodborne pathogens by plants, especially shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, has become a public health concern for ready-to-eat products. Due to the patchy distribution of foodborne pathogens on commodities, random sampling before processing and following packaging cannot reliably exclude presence of pathogenic microbes. Robus...

All living things speak chemistry. The challenge is to reveal the vocabulary, the odorants that enable communication across phylogenies and to translate them to physiological, behavioural and ecological function. Olfactory receptors (ORs) interface animals with airborne odorants. Expression in heterologous cells makes it possible to interrogate sin...

Background Drosophila suzukii is among the main pests of berries, and to which control, primarily through application of insecticides is challenging and urges alternative strategies. Methods based on targeting chemical sensing and interfering with the behavior of this pest insect are promising, and are facilitated by the isolation and functional ch...

Since the early phase of the intercontinental dispersal of Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae), fermentation baits have been used for monitoring. Self-made lures and commercial products are often based on wine and vinegar. From an ecological perspective, the formulation of these baits is expected to target especially vinegar fli...

1.A goal in insect‐microbe ecology is to understand the mechanisms regulating species associations and mutualistic interactions. 2.The spotted wing drosophila Drosophila suzukii develops in ripening fruit, unlike other drosophilids that typically feed on overripe fruit, and is associated with the yeast Hanseniaspora uvarum. 3.We hypothesized that D...

Specific mate communication and recognition underlies reproduction and hence speciation. Our study provides new insights in Drosophila melanogaster premating olfactory communication. Mate communication evolves during adaptation to ecological niches and makes use of social signals and habitat cues. Female-produced, species-specific volatile pheromon...

Specific mate communication and recognition underlies reproduction and hence speciation. Mate communication evolves during adaptation to ecological niches and makes use of social signals and habitat cues. Our study provides new insights in Drosophila melanogaster premating olfactory communication, showing that female pheromone Z 4-11Al and male phe...

Background All living things speak chemical. The challenge is to discover the vocabulary, the volatile odorant chemicals that enable communication across phylogenies and to translate them to physiological, behavioural and ecological function. Olfactory receptors (ORs) interface animals with airborne odorants. Expression of single ORs in human embry...

The search for mates and food is mediated by volatile chemicals. Insects sense food odorants and sex pheromones through odorant receptors (ORs) and pheromone receptors (PRs), which are expressed in olfactory sensory neurons. Molecular phylogenetics of ORs, informed by behavioral and functional data, generates sound hypotheses for the identification...

Yeasts interface insect herbivores with their food plants. Communication depends on volatile metabolites, and decoding this chemical dialogue is key to understanding the ecology of insect-yeast interactions. This study explores the volatomes of eight yeast species which have been isolated from foliage, from flowers or fruit, and from plant-feeding...

Yeasts form mutualistic interactions with insects. Hallmarks of this interaction include provision of essential nutrients, while insects facilitate yeast dispersal and growth on plant substrates. A phylogenetically ancient, chemical dialogue coordinates this interaction, where the vocabulary, the volatile chemicals that mediate the insect response,...

Cydia pomonella (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) is a major pest of apple, pear and walnuts. For its control, alternative strategies targeting the olfactory system, such as mating disruption, have been combined with insecticide applications. The efficacy of these strategies guided the direction of efforts for the functional characterization of codling mo...

Single host plant volatiles Main pheromone component (MPC) + single host plant volatiles 4 component pheromone (4CP) + single host plant volatiles Main pheromone component (MPC) + plant blends 4 component pheromone (4CP) + plant blends S. littoralis females S. litura females

Olfaction plays a dominant role in the mate-finding and host selection behaviors of the codling moth (Cydia pomonella), an important pest of apple, pear and walnut orchards. Antennal transcriptome analysis (Bengtsson et al. 2012, Walker et al. 2016) revealed a number of abundantly expressed genes related to the moth olfactory system, including thos...

The chemical ecology of codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.), has been the subject of a worldwide research effort spanning five decades. The initial focus of this work was the characterization of codling moth sexual behavior and the identification of its sex pheromone, followed by the development of effective monitoring and management programs. Subse...

Specific mate recognition relies on the chemical senses in most animals, and especially in nocturnal insects. Two signal types mediate premating olfactory communication in terrestrial habitats: sex pheromones, which blend into an atmosphere of plant odorants. We show that host plant volatiles affect the perception of sex pheromone in males of the A...

(Z)-4-undecenal (Z4-11Al) is the volatile pheromone produced by females of the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster. Female flies emit Z4-11Al for species-specific communication and mate-finding. A sensory panel finds that synthetic Z4-11Al has a characteristic flavour, which can be perceived even at the small amounts produced by a single female fly...

Specific mate recognition strongly relies on the chemical senses in many animals, and especially in nocturnal insects. Two signal types lend to premating olfactory communication in terrestrial habitats: sex signals blend into an atmosphere of habitat odorants, where plant volatiles prevail. We show for the first time that males of the African cotto...

( Z )-4-undecenal ( Z 4-11Al) is the volatile pheromone produced by females of the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster . Female flies emit Z 4-11Al for species-specific communication and mate-finding. A sensory panel finds that synthetic Z 4-11Al has a characteristic flavour, which we perceive even at the small amounts produced by one female fly. S...

Yeast volatiles attract insects, which apparently is of mutual benefit, for both yeasts and insects. However, it is unknown whether biosynthesis of metabolites that attract insects is a basic and general trait, or if it is specific for yeasts that live in close association with insects. Our goal was to study chemical insect attractants produced by...

Background Mate finding and recognition in animals evolves during niche adaptation and involves social signals and habitat cues. Drosophila melanogaster and related species are known to be attracted to fermenting fruit for feeding and egg-laying, which poses the question of whether species-specific fly odours contribute to long-range premating comm...

Many animals adjust their reproductive behaviour according to nutritional state and food availability. Drosophila females for instance decrease their sexual receptivity following starvation. Insulin signalling, which regulates many aspects of insect physiology and behaviour, also affects reproduction in females. We show that insulin signalling is i...

Plants produce chemical defense compounds to resist herbivore attack either by repelling the herbivores or attracting natural enemies of the herbivores. We have previously shown that volatile compounds from cotton released in response to herbivory by conspecifics reduce oviposition in cotton leafworm moth Spodoptera littoralis. It remained, however...

Insects use chemical signals to find mates, food and oviposition sites. The main chemoreceptor gene families comprise odorant receptors (ORs), ionotropic receptors (IRs) and gustatory receptors (GRs). Understanding the evolution of these receptors as well as their function will assist in advancing our knowledge of how chemical stimuli are perceived...

Olfaction plays a dominant role in the mate-finding and host selection behaviours of the codling moth (Cydia pomonella), an important pest of apple, pear and walnut orchards worldwide. Antennal transcriptome analysis revealed a number of abundantly expressed genes related to the moth olfactory system, including those encoding the olfactory receptor...

Mate recognition in animals evolves during niche adaptation and involves habitat and social olfactory signals. Drosophila melanogaster is attracted to fermenting fruit for feeding and egg-laying. We show that, in addition, female flies release a pheromone ( Z )-4-undecenal ( Z 4-11Al), that elicits flight attraction in both sexes. The biosynthetic...

Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are an ancient family of cation channels, working as metabotropic triggers, which respond to physical and chemical environmental cues. Perception of chemical signals mediate reproductive behaviors and is therefore an important target for sustainable management tactics against the codling moth Cydia pomone...

1.The highly invasive spotted wing Drosophila Drosophila suzukii is a key pest of soft fruit and berries in Europe and North America, and development of control techniques is an urgent research challenge. Drosophila suzukii is widely associated with the yeast Hanseniaspora uvarum. Yeasts are symbionts of drosophilid flies and communicate with insec...

Olfaction and gustation play critical roles in the life history of insects, mediating vital behaviors such as food, mate and host seeking. Chemosensory receptor proteins, including odorant receptors (ORs), gustatory receptors (GRs) and ionotropic receptors (IRs) function to interface the insect with its chemical environment. Codling moth, Cydia pom...

Insect olfactory receptors (ORs) are tuned to volatile chemicals, they are expressed in the membrane of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs), housed in sensilla on the antenna. The olfactory apparatus is under strong selection and ORs are tuned to vital chemical signals, mediating social communication, feeding and oviposition, and avoidance of predator...

Odorant receptors (ORs) interface animals with airborne chemical signals. They are under strong selection pressure and are therefore highly divergent in different taxa. Yet, some OR orthologs are highly conserved. These ORs may be tuned to odorants of broad importance, across species boundaries. Two widely distributed lepidopteran herbivores, codli...

Tortricid moths (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) include some of the world’s most devastating insect species for agricultural products. Among tortricids, we focused our research on two model species which are also two of the main organisms threatening agricultural economy in Trento Province: the codling moth Cydia pomonella, and the grapevine moth Lobesi...

Associations between yeasts and insect herbivores are widespread, and these inter-kingdom interactions play a crucial role in yeast and insect ecology and evolution. We report a survey of insect attraction to live yeast from a community ecology perspective. In the summer of 2013 we screened live yeast cultures of Metschnikowia pulcherrima, M. andau...

Background Plants under herbivore attack release volatiles that attract natural enemies, and herbivores in turn avoid such plants. Whilst herbivore-induced plant volatile blends appeared to reduce the attractiveness of host plants to herbivores, the volatiles that are key in this process and particularly the way in which deterrence is coded in the...

In Drosophila melanogaster, gender-specific behavioural responses to the male-produced sex pheromone cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA) rely on sexually dimorphic, third-order neural circuits. We show that nutritional state in female flies modulates cVA perception in first-order olfactory neurons. Starvation increases, and feeding reduces attraction to foo...

Olfaction plays a major role in host selection behavior in the Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella L.), one of the most notorious pest species threatening apple orchards worldwide. Functional expression of C. pomonella olfactory receptors (CpomORs) not only allows investigating mechanisms of insect OR functioning but also developing novel means to interv...

The insect olfactory system discriminates odor signals of different biological relevance, which drive innate behavior. Identification of stimuli that trigger upwind flight attraction towards host plants is a current challenge, and is essential in developing new, sustainable plant protection methods, and for furthering our understanding of plant-ins...

Olfaction plays a major role in host selection behavior in the Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella L.), one of the most notorious pest species threatening apple orchards worldwide. Functional expression of C. pomonella olfactory receptors (CpomORs) not only allows investigating mechanisms of insect OR functioning but also developing novel means to interv...

The Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella L.), is one of the most notorious pest species threatening apple, pear, walnuts and other fruit orchards worldwide. Olfaction plays a dominate role in the ‘host’-selection behavior of the Codling Moth. Earlier, based on antennal transcriptome analysis we identified a number of critical elements of the moth olfactor...

Studies were conducted with the codling moth granulosis virus (CpGV) to evaluate whether adding the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae Meyen ex E. C. Hansen with brown cane sugar could improve larval control of Cydia pomonella (L.). Larval mortalities in dipped-apple bioassays with S. cerevisiae or sugar alone were not significantly different from the...

A high reproductive potential is one reason for the rapid spread of Drosophila suzukii in Europe and in the United States. In order to identify mechanisms that mediate mating and reproduction in D. suzukii we studied the fly's reproductive behavior, diurnal mating activity and sexual maturation. Furthermore, we studied the change of female cuticula...

Mating has profound effects on animal physiology and behaviour, not only in females but also in males, which we here show for olfactory responses. In cotton leafworm moths Spodoptera littoralis, odour-mediated attraction to sex pheromone and plant volatiles is modulated after mating, producing a behavioural response that matches the physiological c...

Mating has profound effects on animal physiology and behaviour, not only in females but also in males, which we show here for olfactory responses. In cotton leafworm moths, Spodoptera littoralis, odour-mediated attraction to sex pheromone and plant volatiles are modulated after mating, producing a behavioural response that matches the physiological...

The adjustment of feeding behavior in response to hunger and satiety contributes to homeostatic regulation in animals. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster feeds on yeasts growing on overripe fruit, providing nutrients required for adult survival, reproduction and larval growth. Here, we present data on how the nutritional value of food affects su...

In Drosophila, the male sex pheromone cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA) elicits aggregation and courtship, through the odorant receptor Or67d. Long-lasting exposure to cVA suppresses male courtship, via a second channel, Or65a. In females, the role of Or65a has not been studied. We show that, shortly after mating, Drosophila females are no longer attracte...

Behavioral responses of Cydia pomonella and Spodoptera littoralis larvae to yeast volatiles Andreadis S.S.1,*, Knight A.L.2, Witzgall P.1 1Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Protection Biology, 23053 Alnarp, Sweden 2USDA-ARS Yakima, Wapato, WA 98951, USA *Present address: PennState University, Chemical Ecology...

Cydia pomonella is a major pest of apple orchards worldwide. In search of receptors with a possible role as targets for novel control strategies, we have identified five candidate Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) ion channels. TRPs are involved in a variety of sensory transduction pathways such as vision, chemosensation, mechano- and thermopercep...

Identification of the sex pheromone of Cydia splendana (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) by pheromone gland analysis followed by field trapping with synthetic compounds shows the occurrence of two pheromone races. Acorn moth females from Sweden, where oak Quercus robur is the only host plant, use a blend of the E,Z and E,E isomers of 8,10-dodecadien-1-yl...

Plant volatiles mediate host discrimination and host finding in phytophagous insects. Understanding how insects recognize these signals is a current challenge in chemical ecology research. Pear ester, ethyl (E,Z)-2,4-decadienoate, is a powerful, bisexual attractant of codling moth Cydia pomonella (Lepidoptera, Tortricidae) and strongly synergizes t...

The antennal responses of codling moth females, Cydia pomonella, to volatiles from apple branches with green fruits were recorded by electroantennography coupled to gas chromatography. The antennae strongly responded to 4,8-dimethyl-1,3(E),7-nonatriene, linalool, beta-caryophyllene, (E)-beta-farnesene, germacrene D, (Z,E)-alpha-farnesene, (E,E)-alp...

The female sex pheromone of Bonagota (=Phthteochroa) cranaodes (Meyrick) is a blend of (E,Z)-3,5-dodecadienyl acetate (E3,Z5-12:Ac) and (Z)-9-hexadecenyl acetate (Z9-16:Ac) according to analysis of pheromone - gland extracts and field trapping in apple orchards. This is the first time that E3,Z5-12:Ac has been identified as a lepidopteran sex phero...

The approach of male Lobesia botrana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in the wind tunnel to a source of sex pheromone was studied using two video cameras connected to image processing equipment. Three-dimensional records demonstrate that the flight to calling females is quite direct compared to the zigzag flight reported for other species. Convoluted pat...