title: Isolation of a Female-Emitted Sex Pheromone Component of the Fungus Gnat, Lycoriella ingenua, Attractive to Males.
abstract: Lycoriella ingenua Dufour (Diptera: Sciaridae) is acknowledged as the major pest species of the white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, throughout the world. Components of the female-produced sex pheromone of this species were identified previously as C15-C18 n-alkanes, with the major component n-heptadecane, and shown to be attractive to L. mali. However, a subsequent report could not repeat this work. We reinvestigated the sex pheromone of this species by confirming that virgin females were attractive to males in a Y-tube bioassay and by collection of extracts from virgin females. Extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to electroantennographic detection, and by the less widely-used technique of gas chromatography coupled to a behavioral bioassay to detect compounds causing wing-fanning and copulatory abdomen curling in males. A single, behaviorally-active pheromone component was isolated and characterized by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. This component was definitively not n-heptadecane or any of the other C15-C19 n-alkanes reported previously, but is proposed to be a sesquiterpene alcohol having analytical characteristics that closely matched those of reference germacradienols.
authors.affiliation: Chemical Ecology Laboratory, Department of Entomology, Penn State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Stefanos S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Andreadis
authors.affiliation: Chemical Ecology Laboratory, Department of Entomology, Penn State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Cloonan
authors.affiliation: Chemical Ecology Laboratory, Department of Entomology, Penn State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Myrick
authors.affiliation: Chemical Ecology Laboratory, Department of Entomology, Penn State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.|Institute of Health and Environmental Ecology, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, 325035, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Haibin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Chemical Ecology Laboratory, Department of Entomology, Penn State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. tcb10@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Thomas C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Baker
mesh_terms: D000438:Alcohols / Q000032:analysis*; D000818:Animals; D057506:Arthropod Antennae / Q000502:physiology; D002633:Chemotaxis; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D004175:Diptera / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000032:analysis*; D012724:Sex Attractants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000438:Alcohols; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; D012724:Sex Attractants
keywords: Female extract; Fungus gnat; Gas chromatography/behavioral bioassays; Gas chromatography/electroantennographic detection; Mushroom fly; Y-tube olfactometer