Catechol - an Oviposition Stimulant for Cigarette Beetle in Roasted Coffee Beans

Abstract

The cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne, is a serious global pest that preys on stored food products. Larvae of the beetle cannot grow on roasted coffee beans or dried black or green tea leaves, although they oviposit on such products. We investigated oviposition by the beetles on MeOH extracts of the above products. The number of eggs laid increased with an increase in dose of each extract, indicating that chemical factors stimulate oviposition by the beetles. This was especially true for \ coffee bean extracts, which elicited high numbers of eggs even at a low dose (0.1 g bean equivalent/ml) compared to other extracts. Coffee beans were extracted in hexane, chloroform, 1-butanol, MeOH, and 20% MeOH in water. The number of eggs laid was higher on filter papers treated with chloroform, 1-butanol, MeOH, and 20% MeOH in water extracts than on control (solvent alone) papers. The chloroform extract was fractionated by silica-gel column chromatography. Nine compounds were identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry from an active fraction. Of these compounds, only a significant ovipositional response to catechol was observed.

Trichobaris weevils distinguish amongst toxic host plants by sensing volatiles that do not affect larval performance

“…); catechol in roasted coffee bean is an oviposition stimulant for cigarette beetles (Nagasawa et al . ), while volatile monoterpenes are deterrents for Christmas beetles (Matsuki et al . ).…”

“…For instance, high levels of glucosinolates in Arabidopsis thaliana negatively affect the oviposition behaviour of the phloem-feeding insect, Bemisia tabaci, and also the performance of both adults and nymphs in laboratory assays (Markovich et al 2013), but some glucosinolates produced by Brassicaceae plants stimulate the oviposition behaviour of leaf herbivores, for example Plutella xylostella and Delia radicum (Marazzi & St€ adler 2004;Renwick et al 2006;Sarfraz et al 2006). In other examples, tobacco hornworms prefer to feed on indioside D-producing solanaceous plants (del Campo et al 2001), while alder leaf beetles prefer to feed on Salix plants producing high levels of phenolic compounds (Ikonen et al 2002); catechol in roasted coffee bean is an oviposition stimulant for cigarette beetles (Nagasawa et al 2014), while volatile monoterpenes are deterrents for Christmas beetles (Matsuki et al 2011).…”

Catechol acetylglucose: A newly identified benzoxazinoid-regulated defensive metabolite in maize

“…Although the presence of catechol has been reported in many plant families [26][27][28][29] , enzymes catalyzing its biosynthesis have only recently been characterized in tomato 30 . Plant catechol is associated with aluminum tolerance 31,32 , affects root development when found in smoke 33 , acts as an oviposition stimulant for Lasioderma serricorne (tobacco beetle) 34 , and protects rice against Xanthomonas oryzae 35 . In addition to the many functions attributed to catechol in plants, it serves as a precursor for volatile compounds, such as the flavor compound guaiacol in tomato 28 , which can then be further modified to produce veratrole 36 , as well as serving as a precursor for other phenolic compounds such as O-quinones 37 .…”

Sampling Lasioderma serricorne (Coleoptera: Anobiidae) in 2 coffee bean warehouses in New Jersey

“…Lasioderma serricorne may be the most common stored-product pest just behind red flour beetle ( Tribolium castaneum (Herbst)) (Hagstrum et al 2013), however, there are very few reports on L. serricorne occurrence in coffee bean warehouses. Adult L. serricorne could oviposit on roasted coffee beans, but L. serricorne larvae cannot grow on them (Hori et al 2011, Nagasawa et al 2014).…”