Abstract

Insects and other arthropods constitute over half of the living animal species on earth; they are important not only from a biological viewpoint, but as disease vectors, and as agricutural, forest, and household pests. Insects interact chemically with one another, with plants, with animal hosts, and with predators. This project is concerned with elucidating the chemistry of these interactions. For the arthropods themselves attention will be paid not only to glandular substances, but also to systemic components that may play important roles in arthropod defense and/or communication. Plants have been co-evoloving with insects for many millions of years, and the chemical relationships between these two groups of organisms are rich and interesting. Our work with plants will emphasize the isolation and characterization of new insect repellents, and the utilization of plant alkaloids as insect defensive agents and pheromone precursors. In all cases, new compounds with demonstrable biological activities will be isolated and characterized. Chemical syntheses will be carried out to confirm structures and to provide material for bioassays. The overall objectives of this work are to increase our understanding of natural regulatory mechanisms, and to provide the basis for new control techniques of disease vectors or other pests.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01AI012020-13
Application #
3125078
Study Section
Bio-Organic and Natural Products Chemistry Study Section (BNP)
Project Start
1976-09-01
Project End
1990-08-31
Budget Start
1985-09-01
Budget End
1986-08-31
Support Year
13
Fiscal Year
1985
Total Cost
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
Cornell University
Department
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
City
Ithaca
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
14850

  Publications

Jham, Gulab N; Attygalle, Athula B; Meinwald, Jerrold (2005) Location of double bonds in diene and triene acetates by partial reduction followed by methylthiolation. J Chromatogr A 1077:57-67
Eisner, T; Goetz, M A; Hill, D E et al. (1997) Firefly ""femmes fatales"" acquire defensive steroids (lucibufagins) from their firefly prey. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 94:9723-8
Eisner, T; Smedley, S R; Young, D K et al. (1996) Chemical basis of courtship in a beetle (Neopyrochroa flabellata): Cantharidin as ""nuptial gift"". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 93:6499-503
Eisner, T; Attygalle, A B; Conner, W E et al. (1996) Chemical egg defense in a green lacewing (Ceraeochrysa smithi) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 93:3280-3
Attygalle, A B; Smedley, S R; Eisner, T et al. (1996) Tocopheryl acetates from the pupal exocrine secretion of the squash beetle, Epilachna borealis (Coccinellidae). Experientia 52:616-20
Shi, X; Leal, W S; Meinwald, J (1996) Assignment of absolute stereochemistry to an insect pheromone by chiral amplification. Bioorg Med Chem 4:297-303
Leal, W S; Shi, X; Nakamuta, K et al. (1995) Structure, stereochemistry, and thermal isomerization of the male sex pheromone of the longhorn beetle Anaglyptus subfasciatus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 92:1038-42
Meinwald, J; Eisner, T (1995) The chemistry of phyletic dominance. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 92:14-8
Leal, W S; Shi, X; Liang, D et al. (1995) Application of chiral gas chromatography with electroantennographic detection to the determination of the stereochemistry of a cockroach sex pheromone. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 92:1033-7
Eisner, T; Meinwald, J (1995) The chemistry of sexual selection. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 92:50-5

Showing the most recent 10 out of 24 publications