Diamondback moth uses plant defense substances as oviposition cues
A research team from the Nanjing Agricultural University in Nanjing, China, and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, showed that isothiocyanates produced by cruciferous plants to fend off pests serve as oviposition cues. The plant defense substances serve as odor signals for females of the diamondback moth to lay their eggs on these plants. The scientists identified two olfactory receptors whose sole function is to detect these defense substances and to guide the moths to the ideal oviposition sites. They uncovered the molecular mechanism that explains why some insects that specialize in feeding on certain host plants are attracted by substances that are supposed to keep pests away. The study is reported in Current Biology.