Benzoquinones in the defensive secretion of a bug (Pamillia behrensii): a common chemical trait retrieved in the Heteroptera
Abstract
Benzoquinones are a phylogenetically widespread compound class recovered in arthropods and were recover in harvestman, millipedes and insects. While the function of benzoquinones is well studied in the predatory defense and microbial aversion, their entire phylogenetic distribution especially in insects remains to be uncovered. We here report on the metathoracic scent gland secretion of the mirid bug Pamillia behrensii, which is composed of heptan-2-one, 2-heptyl acetate, 2,3-dimethyl-1-4-benzoquinone, 2,3-dimethyl-1-4-hydroquinone as well as one unknown compound. The secretion is released upon disturbance to repel predators and serves as chemical defense. Additional morphological investigation of the gland showed that the benzoquinone-producing gland complex of P. behrensii does not differ from the usual metathoracic scent gland described from other Heteropterans. Overall, our data further underpins the widespread convergent evolution and use of benzoquinones for defense across the Arthropoda, now including the order Hemiptera.
Additional Information
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. This version posted December 12, 2020. We thank Joe Parker for making his laboratory available to us. JW was supported by NN. THN received a NN. AB is Simons Fellow of the Life Sciences Research Foundation (LSRF). Ethics statement: There are no legal restrictions on working with bugs. Field collection permissions were issues by California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Angeles National Forest (US Forest Service; USDA). Authors contributions: JMW, THN and AB design research; JMW and THN collected specimens; THN performed microscopy; JMW performed and analyzed behavioral assays; JMW collected chemical data; AB analyzed chemical data and performed organic synthesis; AB supervised the project; AB wrote the paper with input from THN and JMW. JMW and THN contributed equally. All authors gave final approval for publication. The authors have declared no competing interest.Attached Files
Submitted - 2020.12.11.421891v2.full.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 107072
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20201214-125341700
- Simons Foundation
- Life Sciences Research Foundation
- Created
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2020-12-14Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field