Sequestration of aristolochic acids from meridic diets by larvae of Battus polydamas archidamas (Papilionidae: Troidini)

Abstract

Abstract. Larvae of the butterfly, Battus polydamas archidamas (Papilionidae: Troidini) feed exclusively on aristolochic acid (AAs)-containing Aristolochia species (Aristolochiaceae). The distribution of sequestrated AAs in the tissues (body, integument and osmeterial secretions) of B. polydamas archidamas larvae during their development, when fed on a meridic diet containing either a higher or lower concentration of AAs (AAI and AAII) than occurs naturally in the aerial tissues of their host plant, was determined. Accumulation of AAs in the body and integument was proportional to the weight of larvae and greater in the larvae that fed on the diet containing the higher concentration of AAs. Phenolic AAs (AAIa and AAIVa) not present in the diets were found in all larval tissues examined. Integument and body extracts had a higher AAI/AAII ratio than in the original diet and also a relatively high AAIa/AAIVa ratio, suggesting a preferred AAII to AAIa transformation in those larval tissues. In the osmeterial secretion, the value of the AAI/AAII ratio was similar to that in the diets and the AAIa/AAIVa ratio close to 1, which suggests that hydroxylation of AAI to AAIVa and of AAII to AAIa occur to similar extents. The higher accumulation of AAs and the relatively higher proportion of AAI, one of the most toxic AAs, in the integument, suggest that their role is to deter attacks by natural enemies.

Screening of native plants from central Argentina against the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex lundi (Guérin) and its symbiotic fungus

“…The active principle of A. argentina, argentilactone, was highly effective in inhibiting the foraging ant behavior as well as symbiotic fungus growth, indicating that the ants would be able to detect a priori compounds that interfere with the normal development of the symbiont. Very few species have evolved specialized physiological or ethological adaptations allowing them to deal with aristolochic acid (Pinto et al, 2011), which is a typical chemical feature of Aristolochia species (Jacobson, 1982) however according our finding they are not seem to be involved in ant negative response to this plant extract.…”

Fate of Ingested Aristolactams from Aristolochia chilensis in Battus polydamas archidamas (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)

“…However, when a mixture of AA-I and AA-II was added to the artificial meridic diet of B . polydamas archidamas , AAs were partially transformed into AA-Ia and AA-IVa and there was no evidence for the presence of ALs, which is contrary to the hypothesis that aristolactams are created from AAs by larva [ 26 ]. We might assume that all the aristolactams found in the larvae, or larval frass originated from the ALs ingested from the plant.…”

Occurrence of Sarmentosin and Other Hydroxynitrile Glucosides in Parnassius (Papilionidae) Butterflies and Their Food Plants

“…In L. japonicus, it appears likely that only two more enzymes are necessary to produce all the non-cyanogenic HNGs, and they could very well be closely related to the two cytochromes P450 already known to be involved in the pathway Takos et al, 2011;Saito et al, 2012). As previously mentioned, biosynthesis of sarmentosin presumably only requires an additional hydroxylation of rhodiocyanoside A, a reaction frequently used by insects to handle sequestered toxins (Langel and Ober, 2011;Pinto et al, 2011) and possibly present in P. clodius if it does not feed on S. lanceolatum. Given the similar structure of the CNglc biosynthetic pathway in insects and plants, it is likely that some insects could also possess the few additional enzymes needed to produce the remaining compounds as suspected for the Abraxas species (Nishida, 1994;Nishida et al, 1994).…”

“…Cultured larvae reared on this food plant contained IGs to the same order of magnitude as the plant tissue, and so did the larval frass (Mead et al, 1993), clearly demonstrating less than 100 % sequestration. Among Papilionidae sequestering non-glucosidic compounds such as aristolochic acids, quinolizidine alkaloids, or pyrrolizidine alkaloids, the recovery of compounds in larvae can be estimated to correspond to either 0.5-50 % of ingested compounds, or up to 1 g of plant material (Montllor et al, 1990;Vonnickischrosenegk and Wink, 1993;Pinto et al, 2011).…”