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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Chemistry Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #228184

Title: The diversity of caeliferins in American grasshoppers, what possible function?

Author
item Alborn, Hans
item Brennan, Margaret
item Teal, Peter

Submitted to: International Society of Chemical Ecology Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/17/2008
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Caeliferins is a new class of compounds recently identified from regurgitant of the American grasshopper (Schistocerca americana)1. Two closely related caeliferins were shown to induce the release of volatiles in corn plants comparable to what earlier has been shown with volicitin and other fatty acid amides. However, S. Americana regurgitant also contains other caeliferins with less activity on corn. Screening of regurgitant collected from several grasshopper species2 collected in the wild in Florida revealed that regurgitant of all tested true grasshoppers contains caeliferins. However the composition was more diverse than anticipated and even included new types of caeliferins not found in S. Americana regurgitant. Despite this diversity between species, the patterns of caeliferins were remarkably constant within species. In this paper we present new types of caeliferins and discuss the possible functions of the complex but species specific composition of caeliferins.