The pathogen causing Dutch elm disease makes host trees attract insect vectors.
Dutch elm disease is caused by the fungal pathogen Ophiostoma novo-ulmi which is transmitted by the native elm bark beetle, Hylurgopinus rufipes. We have found that four semiochemicals (the monoterpene (-)-beta-pinene and the sesquiterpenes (-)-alpha-cubebene, (+)-spiroaxa-5,7-diene and (+)-delta-cadinene) from diseased American elms, Ulmus americana, synergistically attract H. rufipes, and that sesquiterpene emission is upregulated in elm trees inoculated with O. novo-ulmi. The fungus thus manipulates host trees to enhance their apparency to foraging beetles, a strategy that increases the probability of transportation of the pathogen to new hosts.
McLeod
Geoff
G
Simon Fraser University Department of Biological Sciences Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6.
Gries
Regine
R
von Reuss
Stephan H
SH
Rahe
James E
JE
McIntosh
Rory
R
König
Wilfried A
WA
Gries
Gerhard
G
D000818:Animals; D001203:Ascomycota; D000081008:Bicyclic Monoterpenes; D001643:Bridged Bicyclo Compounds / Q000378:metabolism*; D002630:Chemotactic Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*; D039821:Monoterpenes / Q000378:metabolism*; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000378:metabolism*; D034403:Ulmus / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology
D000081008:Bicyclic Monoterpenes; D001643:Bridged Bicyclo Compounds; D002630:Chemotactic Factors; D039821:Monoterpenes; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; C010789:beta-pinene