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Chemical Communication in Chagas Disease Vectors. Source, Identity, and Potential Function of Volatiles Released by the Metasternal and Brindley's Glands of Triatoma infestans Adults

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Abstract

Compounds from the metasternal and Brindley's glands of the blood-sucking bug, Triatoma infestans, were identified by solid phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Volatile compounds released by adult bugs during copulation or after mechanical disturbance were also characterized. Six compounds were identified and found consistently in all samples from metasternal glands. The most abundant were 3-pentanone, 2-methylbutanol, 3-pentanol, and an unidentified compound. The metasternal gland blends did not differ qualitatively between sexes. Compounds found in Brindley's glands were short chain acids, alcohols, esters, and a ketone with no qualitative differences between sexes. Isobutyric acid was the main component of this blend, and two new confirmed compounds were described as products of these glands: 2-butanone and 2-methylbutyric acid. 3-Pentanone was collected from the headspace over 33% of the copulating pairs of T. infestans. Volatiles found in the headspace of disturbed T. infestans adults included short-chain fatty acids, alcohols, esters, and ketones, with no qualitative differences between sexes. Both types of glands apparently discharge their contents after disturbance. However, most of the volatiles released by bugs after disturbance came from Brindley's glands. The locomotor activity of fourth instars increased significantly after stimulation with the odors emitted by disturbed adults, as compared with larvae stimulated by the odor of undisturbed adults or by clean air. We also studied the directional behavioral response of fifth instars to the disturbance scent in a locomotion compensator. Larvae exposed to volatiles released by disturbed adults walked away from the direction of the odor. The results suggest that this blend or part of it functions as an alarm pheromone for T. infestans. We suggest that the metasternal glands of this species are involved both in the sexual and the alarm contexts, and that the Brindley's glands probably have both alarm and defensive roles.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to Prof. K.-E. Kaissling (Max Planck Institut für Verhaltensphysiologie, Seewiesen, Germany) for suggestions and improvements in the manuscript, and to C. Reisenman (University of Arizona) for critically reading the manuscript. We thank G. Aulin-Erdtman, Stockholm, Sweden, G. Flores, New York, USA, and M. Melcón, Buenos Aires, Argentina, for corrections of the English. We wish to thank S. Minoli and R. Barrozo for advice on behavioral experiments, and the staff members of our laboratories for many fruitful discussions. We thank T. C. Insausti (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina) for guidance to A. Vitta in the dissection of glands. We are also indebted to P. Guerenstein (University of Arizona) for his advice and criticism, and to M.C. Rodriguez and G. Vélez (both from Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina) for the provision of some chemical standards. This investigation received financial support from the UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), CAPES-SETCIP, PRONEX, PAPES, FIOCRUZ, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), CONICET and Universidad de Buenos Aires.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biologia Experimental Laboratorio de Fisiología de Insectos, FCEyN, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Gabriel Manrique & Claudio R. Lazzari

  2. Laboratório de Triatomíneos e Epidemiologia da Doença de Chagas-CPqRR-FIOCRUZ, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Ana C. R. Vitta, Raquel A. Ferreira, Lileia Diotaiuti & Marcelo G. Lorenzo

  3. Laboratório de Química de Produtos Naturais, CPqRR-FIOCRUZ, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Carlos L. Zani

  4. Department of Chemistry and Biomedical Sciences, University of Kalmar, Kalmar, Sweden

    C. Rikard Unelius

  5. Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l’Insecte, UMR CNRS 6035, Université François Rabelais, Tours, France

    Claudio R. Lazzari

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  1. Gabriel Manrique
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Correspondence to Gabriel Manrique.

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Manrique, G., Vitta, A.C.R., Ferreira, R.A. et al. Chemical Communication in Chagas Disease Vectors. Source, Identity, and Potential Function of Volatiles Released by the Metasternal and Brindley's Glands of Triatoma infestans Adults. J Chem Ecol 32, 2035–2052 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-006-9127-7

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