Influence of Dietary Experience on the Induction of Preference of Adult Moths and Larvae for a New Olfactory Cue.
In Lepidoptera, host plant selection is first conditioned by oviposition site preference of adult females followed by feeding site preference of larvae. Dietary experience to plant volatile cues can induce larval and adult host plant preference. We investigated how the parent's and self-experience induce host preference in adult females and larvae of three lepidopteran stem borer species with different host plant ranges, namely the polyphagous Sesamia nonagrioides, the oligophagous Busseola fusca and the monophagous Busseola nairobica, and whether this induction can be linked to a neurophysiological phenotypic plasticity. The three species were conditioned to artificial diet enriched with vanillin from the neonate larvae to the adult stage during two generations. Thereafter, two-choice tests on both larvae and adults using a Y-tube olfactometer and electrophysiological (electroantennography [EAG] recordings) experiments on adults were carried out. In the polyphagous species, the induction of preference for a new olfactory cue (vanillin) by females and 3rd instar larvae was determined by parents' and self-experiences, without any modification of the sensitivity of the females antennae. No preference induction was found in the oligophagous and monophagous species. Our results suggest that lepidopteran stem borers may acquire preferences for new olfactory cues from the larval to the adult stage as described by Hopkins' host selection principle (HHSP), neo-Hopkins' principle, and the concept of 'chemical legacy.'
Noctuid Stem Borer Biodiversity team, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement c/o icipe, African Insect Science for Food and Health, Nairobi, Kenya; Unité Mixte de Recherche 247, Evolution, Génomes, Comportement et Ecologie, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France; Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France.
Christophe
C
Petit
Noctuid Stem Borer Biodiversity team, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement c/o icipe, African Insect Science for Food and Health, Nairobi, Kenya; Unité Mixte de Recherche 247, Evolution, Génomes, Comportement et Ecologie, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France; Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France.
Bruno
B
Le Ru
Unité Mixte de Recherche 247, Evolution, Génomes, Comportement et Ecologie, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France; Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France.
Stéphane
S
Dupas
Unité Mixte de Recherche 1392, Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Versailles, France.
Brigitte
B
Frérot
Noctuid Stem Borer Biodiversity team, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement c/o icipe, African Insect Science for Food and Health, Nairobi, Kenya.
Peter
P
Ahuya
Unité Mixte de Recherche 247, Evolution, Génomes, Comportement et Ecologie, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France; Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France.
Laure
L
Kaiser-Arnauld
Unité Mixte de Recherche 247, Evolution, Génomes, Comportement et Ecologie, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France; Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France.
Myriam
M
Harry
Noctuid Stem Borer Biodiversity team, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement c/o icipe, African Insect Science for Food and Health, Nairobi, Kenya; Unité Mixte de Recherche 247, Evolution, Génomes, Comportement et Ecologie, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France; Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France.
Paul-André
PA
Calatayud
D000818:Animals; D057506:Arthropod Antennae / Q000502:physiology; D001547:Benzaldehydes; D003463:Cues; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology; D060434:Herbivory; D058507:Host Specificity / Q000502:physiology; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009036:Moths / Q000502:physiology*; D010058:Oviposition; D010944:Plants; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*
D001547:Benzaldehydes; C100058:vanillin