Sex lives of insects study could stave off invasive species
Early detection of invasive species through pheromone chemistry.

Sudbury.com
Dec. 13, 2016
By Rob O'Flanagan

Luring insects with the scent of sex might be an excellent way to find out if you have an invasion on your hands.

University of Guelph molecular and cellular biology professor Peter Krell has received a two-year, $234,000 grant from Genome Canada to study the use of sex pheromones to detect the presence of invasive insect species.

Early detection, Krell said in an interview, could help in the development of strategies to keep invasive insect species from wreaking havoc on the environment and the economy.

An invasive species like the emerald ash borer has decimated forests. Managing the invasion costs hundreds of millions of dollars each year in Ontario and Quebec.

Pheromones are a chemical substance produced by insects and mammals that acts as a stimulus to members of the same species. There are hundreds of types of them. Sexual pheromones create a kind of sexual chemistry between potential mating partners.

Krell said male insects have odorant receptors in their antennae that are capable of differentiating between hundreds of different kinds of pheromones. Some of those pheromone varieties are for finding mates. When those scents are detected, the male will follow them to the source.

“If a male insect is around, his antennae will be looking for these odorants,” he said. “If he gets a signal and it looks like there’s a female that’s receptive, then he’s going to fly towards that odorant.”

In his lab, Krell is developing what he calls an “antennae in a box” - odorant receptor cells engineered with a protein that lights up in the presence of particular pheromones. It mimics what happens in the antenna of an insect.

His cell culture system could potentially be used to detect invasive insect species. If the box lights up, it’s an indication that a species is present.

Foresters currently rely simply on identifying the presence of destructive insects by sight, but by that time it might be too late.

Krell will collaborate with scientists from the Great Lakes Forestry Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, who have identified a small number of odorant receptors in the emerald ash borer.

Krell’s work will involve identifying specific attractive odorants and using the information to develop a diagnostic test to determine if an invasive species like emerald ash borer is present.

“One of the first steps is actually to identify what those odorants are,” he said. “There are thousands of them. This is why I’m having this collaboration with people in Sault Ste. Marie. They have libraries of odorants.”

The overall goal of the research is to help protect Canada’s valuable forestry sector.