Plant-Based Natural Product Chemistry for Integrated Pest Management of Drosophila suzukii

Abstract

Since the first reports of damage by Drosophila suzukii , the spotted-wing Drosophila (SWD), over a decade ago in Europe, widespread efforts have been made to understand both the ecology and the evolution of this insect pest, especially due to its phylogenetic proximity to one of the original model organisms, D. melanogaster . In addition, researchers have sought to find economically viable solutions for the monitoring and management of this agricultural pest, which has now swept across much of Europe, North America and Asia. In a new direction of study, we present an investigation of plant-based chemistry, where we search for natural compounds that are structurally similar to known olfactory cues from parasitoid wasps that in turn are well-described ovipositional avoidance cues for many Drosophila species. Here we test 11 plant species across two plant genera, Nepeta and Actinidia , and while we find iridoid compounds in both, only those odorants from Actinidia are noted to be detected by the insect antenna, and in addition, found to be behaviorally active. Moreover, the Actinidia extracts resulted in oviposition avoidance when they were added to fruit samples in the laboratory. Thus we propose the possible efficacy of these plants or their extracted chemistry as a novel means for establishing a cost-effective integrated pest management strategy towards the control of this pest fly. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10886-019-01085-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Deterrent Effects of Essential Oils on Spotted-Wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii): Implications for Organic Management in Berry Crops

“…Our results that specific volatile essential oils can be aversive to SWDs are consistent with other laboratory and field studies [32,41]. Previous laboratory studies have also noted that certain essential oils have stronger effects than others [35,41], however, we did not observe any differences under laboratory conditions.…”

“…When presented with a choice of oviposition and feeding substrates, SWDs had a greater preference for the untreated diet vials compared to the lavender oil, Ecotrol, or Sporan treated vials (Figure 2). Keesey et al [35] also observed decreased oviposition on substrates treated with Actinidia spp. essential oils, but not for catnip treated substrates.…”

“…may be repellent against SWDs due to close resemblance to VOCs produced by the parasitoid wasp Leptopilina boulardi Nordlander; and oviposition avoidance was observed, particularly in extracts from Actinidia spp. [35]. Methyl anthranilate is a VOC that occurs naturally in woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca L.), and cultivars that produce high levels of methyl anthranilate resulting in decreased larval development and egg viability in SWDs, while simultaneously increasing female oviposition preference [42].…”

“…Essential oils have been investigated for the management of arthropod pests such as mosquitoes ( Anopheles spp.) [ 26 ], mites ( Tetranychus urticae Koch) [ 27 ], swede midge ( Contarinia nasturtii Keiffer) [ 28 ], and SWD [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ].…”

Evolution of a pest: towards the complete neuroethology of Drosophila suzukii and the subgenus Sophophora

“…The last ten years have also brought attention towards another novelty from this group, an agricultural pest species in the form of Drosophila suzukii, which has now invaded North and South America, Europe as well as Asia [5][6][7][8][9] . Furthermore, this pest insect has prompted both integrated pest management efforts as well as evolutionary neuroethology research, where the distinct ecological niche of attacking fresh or ripening fruit has afforded a unique opportunity for comparison among the other model species within this well-studied genus of flies, which usually target softened, fermented host resources [10][11][12][13] .…”