Maculatic Acids-Sex Attractant Pheromone Components of Bald-Faced Hornets.

Authors :: Ren W
Gries R
McCaughey C
Derstine N
Alamsetti SK
Kurita KL
Tu L
Linington RG
Britton R
Gries G
Source :: Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) [Angew Chem Int Ed Engl] 2018 Sep 03; Vol. 57 (36), pp. 11618-11622. Date of Electronic Publication: 2018 Jun 28.
Publication Year :: 2018
Abstract: Yellowjackets in the genera Vespula and Dolichovespula are prevalent eusocial insects of great ecological and economic significance, but the chemical signals of their sexual communication systems have defied structural elucidation. Herein, we report the identification of sex attractant pheromone components of virgin bald-faced hornet queens (Dolichovespula maculata). We analyzed body surface extracts of queens by coupled gas chromatographic-electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD), isolated the compounds that elicited responses from male antennae by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and identified these components by GC mass spectrometry (MS), HPLC-MS, and NMR spectroscopy. In laboratory olfactometer experiments, synthetic (2Z,7E)-3,7-dimethyldeca-2,7-diendioic acid (termed here maculatic acid A) and (2Z,7E)-10-methoxy-3,7-dimethyldeca-10-oxo-deca-2,7-dienoic acid (termed here maculatic acid C) in binary combination significantly attracted bald-faced hornet males. These are the first sex attractant pheromone components identified in yellowjackets.<br /> (© 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)