Tenebrio molitor

Soltani, N., A. Quennedey, J.P. Delbecque, and J. Delachambre. 1987. Diflubenzuron-induced alterations during in vitro development of Tenebrio molitor pupal integument. Arch. Insect Biochem. Physiol. 5 201-209. 

Antifreeze protein Tenebrio molitor 1EZG 1.4 Liou... 

Attractive Compounds. The female-produced sex pheromone of the yellow mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, is (R)-4-methyl- 1-nonanol [316] 163 (Scheme 18). Careful investigations on the biosynthesis of this compound [317] revealed that it is produced through a modification of normal fatty acid biosynthesis (Fig. 1, Fig. 2) propanoate serves as the starter, while formal chain elongation with acetate, propanoate, and acetate (accompanied by removal of the oxygens) produces 4-methylnonanoate which yields the pheromone alcohol after reduction. The structures and role of proteins that are present in the hemolymph or secreted by the tubular accessory glands of T. molitor, and that may carry lipophilic chemical messengers (like pheromones) are under investigation [318,319]. 

In Australian tenebrionid beetles, defensive compounds and their patterns seem to be of only low chemotaxonomic value. However, the aforementioned aromatic compounds are restricted to the genus Tribolium. Abdominal defensive compounds were used as chemosystematic characters in order to construct a phylogenetic tree for the genus Tribolium [330]. The defensive secretion of adults of Tenebrio molitor was shown to contain toluquinone 7 and m-cresol 89 [333]. The quantification of benzoquinones in single individuals of Tribolium castaneum at different days after adult eclosion indicates that the amount of toxic quinone only shows a maximum subsequent to cuticle sclerotization. Obviously, there is a need for an adequate cuticular barrier for self-protection from these defensive compounds [334]. 

Acidic methanolic extracts of larvae of Tenebrio molitor contain toxic substances, so-called paralysins, which exhibit immediate paralytic effects on other insects upon injection [336]. 

Both enantiomers of the biologically active Bower s compound, a potent analogue of an insect juvenile hormone [103] (Scheme 18) were prepared using Aspergillus sp. cells in 96% ee. Interestingly, biological tests showed that the (6i )-antipode was about ten times more active than the (6S)-counterpart against the yellow meal worm Tenebrio molitor. 

Pellitorine (4) has long been known for its toxicity when topically applied to adults of the beetle, Tenebrio molitor We found that 10 pg doses of topically applied pellitorine caused a paralytic action on adults of the confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum (unpublished data). However, all of the affected beetles recovered within 24 hrs posttreatment. Similar topical applications of up to 20 pg/beetle of fagaramide (2.), piperlongumine ( ), and N-isobutyl-2E,4E-octadienamide ( ) proved ineffective. 

The sex pheromone emitted by the female yellow mealworm beetles, Tenebrio molitor L. (Coleoptera Tenebrionidae), 4-methyl-1-nonanal is well known. However, it was observed that males emit a pheromone that attracts females, which was identified as (Z )-3-dodecenyl acetate. 

Carnitine is present in nearly all organisms and in all animal tissues. The highest concentration is found in muscle where it accounts for almost 0.1% of the dry matter. Carnitine was first isolated from meat extracts in 1905 but the first clue to its biological action was obtained in 1948 when Fraenkel and associates described a new dietary factor required by the mealworm, Tenebrio molitor. At first designated vitamin Bt, it was identified in 1952 as carnitine. Most organisms synthesize their own carnitine from lysine side chains (Eq. 24-30). 

Other changes are due to the presence of mites and of the larvae of insects, especially those of the yellow mead-worm (Tenebrio molitor) and the Mediterranean flour-moth (Ephestia Kuhniella). Larvae of insects are detectable by the naked eye. Mites may eaisily be observed by pressing a spoonful of flour on a sheet of paper with a transparent sheet of glass any mites present soon begin to move and render the surface of the flour in contact with the glass streaked with numerous irregular furrows. 

Several pheromones may be involved in mediating the mating behavior of the yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor L. (reviewed in Plarre and Vanderwel, 1999), but only one has been identified to date. Tanaka et al. (1986, 1989) identified the female-produced male attractantas(4/ )-(+)-4-methylnonan-l-ol(4-methylnonanol). Females produce the pheromone through a modification of normal fatty acid biosynthesis (Islam et al., 1999 Bacala, 2000). Initiation of the pathway with one unit of propionate results in the uneven number of carbons in the chain incorporation of another unit of propionate during elongation provides the methyl branch reduction of the fatty acyl intermediate produces the alcohol pheromone (Figure 6.8). 

Bacala R. (2000) In vitro studies of sex pheromone biosynthesis in the yellow mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera Tenebrionidae). MSc thesis. Univ. of Manitoba, 133 pp. 

Drnevich J. M., Hayes E. F. and Rutowski R. L. (2000) Sperm precedence, mating interval, and a novel mechanism of paternity bias in a beetle (Tenebrio molitor L.). Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 48, 447 -51. 

Drnevich J. M., Papke R. S., Rauser C. L. and Rutowki R. L. (2001) Material benefits from multiple mating in female mealworm beetles (Tenebrio molitor L.). J. Insect Behav. 14, 215-230. 

Gage M. J. G. (1992) Removal of rival sperm copulation in a beetle, Tenebrio molitor. Anim. Behav. 44, 587-589. 

Griffith O., Vakili R., Currie R. W. and Vanderwel D. (2003) Effects of mating on the sex pheromone of female yellow mealworm beetles (Tenebrio molitor L.). J. Chem. Ecol. In preparation. 

Happ G. M. and Wheeler J. (1969) Bioassay, preliminary purification, and effect of age, crowding, and mating on the release of sex pheromone by female Tenebrio molitor. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 62, 846-851. 

Judy K. J., Schooley D. A., Troetschler R. G., Jennings R. C., Bergot B. J. and Hall M. S. (1975) Juvenile hormone production by corpora allata of Tenebrio molitor in vitro. Life Sciences 16, 1059-1066. 

Menon M. (1970). Hormone-pheromone relationships in the beetle, Tenebrio molitor. J. Insect Physiol. 16, 1123-1139. 

Palomino J. J., Rodriguez M. and Cuerda D. (1994) Comportamiento de copula y competition de esperma en Tenebrio molitor. Etologta. 4, 19-26. 

Siva-Jothy M. T., Blake D. E., Thompson J. and Ryder J. J. (1996) Short- and long-term sperm precedence in the beetle Tenebrio molitor. a test of the adaptive sperm removal hypothesis. Physiol. Ent. 21, 313-316. 

Tanaka Y., Honda H., Ohsawa K. and Yamamoto I. (1989) Absolute configuration of 4-methyl-l-nonanol, a sex attractant of the yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor L. J. Pesticide Sci. 14, 197-202. 

Valentine J. M. (1931) The olfactory sense of the adult mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor (LINN). J. Exp. Zool. 58, 165-227. 

Charles J. P, Bouhin H., Quennedey B., Courrent A. and Delachambre J. (1992) cDNA cloning and deduced amino acid sequence of a major, glycine-rich cuticular protein from the coleopteran Tenebrio molitor. Temporal and spatial distribution of the transcript during metamorphosis. Eur. J. Biochem. 206, 813-819. 

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