Aphid alarm pheromone produced by transgenic plants affects aphid and parasitoid behavior

Beale, Michael H., Birkett, Michael A., Bruce, Toby J. A., Chamberlain, Keith, Field, Linda M., Huttley, Alison K., Martin, Janet L., Parker, Rachel, Phillips, Andrew L., Pickett, John A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8386-3770, Prosser, Ian M., Shewry, Peter R., Smart, Lesley E., Wadhams, Lester J., Woodcock, Christine M. and Zhang, Yuhua 2006. Aphid alarm pheromone produced by transgenic plants affects aphid and parasitoid behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103 (27) , pp. 10509-10513. 10.1073/pnas.0603998103

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Abstract

The alarm pheromone for many species of aphids, which causes dispersion in response to attack by predators or parasitoids, consists of the sesquiterpene (E)-β-farnesene (Eβf). We used high levels of expression in Arabidopsis thaliana plants of an Eβf synthase gene cloned from Mentha × piperita to cause emission of pure Eβf. These plants elicited potent effects on behavior of the aphid Myzus persicae (alarm and repellent responses) and its parasitoid Diaeretiella rapae (an arrestant response). Here, we report the transformation of a plant to produce an insect pheromone and demonstrate that the resulting emission affects behavioral responses at two trophic levels.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Chemistry
Publisher:	National Academy of Sciences
ISSN:	1111-0105
Last Modified:	18 Feb 2026 14:07
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/184969

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