Yasumasa KUWAHARA. Naoki MORI, Tomoyo SAKATA
Pesticide Research Institute, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku,
Kyoto 606-01, Japan
The astigmatic mites are known to possess a pair of opisthonotal glands, one of a morphology characteristic of the suborder. The gland in the cheese mite and the related species have been identified to function as the reservoir for emitting alarm pheromones such as nerylformate, neral and geranial. Thereafter, the gland have been recognized as the interesting target of natural product chemistry, containing not only alarm pheromones but also aggregation pheromones, sex pheromones, anti-fungal compounds and so on.
About 50 compounds, consisting of monoterpenes, normal hydrocarbons and aromatics, have been characterized from 7 families 35 species of mites. Total 13 cyclic and linear monoterpenes were identified, among which six monoterpenes were new and the other 6 compounds functioned as either alarm pheromone or sex pheromones. Four salicylaldehyde analogues were found, among which three compounds were new . Several compounds, such as two linear sesquiterpenes and a polyketide presumably of methyl methylmalonate origin, have been distributed in a limited species. Three new monoterpenes along with neral and geranial, and two new salicylaldehyde analogues indicated anti-fungal activity, among which total of five new compounds indicated 80-160 times stronger than a mixture of neral and geranial. Total 7 compounds and groups of compounds have been demonstrated as the alarm pheromones among 6 families 11 species. Two compounds are responsible for developing the aggregation pheromones in two species, respectively. At present, the sex pheromone have been identified in six species.
The poster will outline the present laboratory data on those mites examined, on chemicals identified and their distribution among mites, on feature of secretory components and on their biological functions.