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Biochemical Assay Detects Feeding Damage to Loblolly Pine Seeds Caused by the Leaffooted Pine Seed Bug (Hemiptera: Coreidae)

Informally Refereed

Abstract

A large number of proteins in salivary gland extracts of the leaffooted pine seed bug, Leptoglossus corculus Say, were strongly recognized by a polyclonal antibody-based assay developed for detecting saliva of the western conifer seed bug, Lepfoglossus occidentalis Heidemann, in lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta var. lafifolia Engelmann, seeds. An average of approximately 85% of loblolly pine, Pinus taeda L., seeds exposed to feeding by L. corculus for 1 to 4 weeks in the laboratory contained detectable amounts of salivary proteins when the antibody assays were performed weekly on samples (n = 10) of seed. In comparison, radiography of exposed seed detected an average of approximately 63% damaged seed over the same 4-wk period, indicating that the antibody assay increased sensitivity of damage detection by approximately one-third. Depletion of insoluble polypeptides and proliferation of soluble polypeptides <23.5 kDa was apparent after SDS-PAGE and quantitative assays were performed on proteins extracted from seeds that were damaged by exposure to L. corculus feeding. Our data suggest that the antibody-based test could be used to obtain accurate estimates of seed losses attributable to L. corculus feeding in southern pine seed orchards.

Keywords

Seed bug, Pinus taeda, antibody, immunodetection, damage

Citation

Lait, Cameron G.; Miller, Daniel R.; Bates, Sarah L.; Borden, John H.; Kermode, Allison R. 2003. Biochemical Assay Detects Feeding Damage to Loblolly Pine Seeds Caused by the Leaffooted Pine Seed Bug (Hemiptera: Coreidae). J. Entomol. Sci. 38(4): 644-653 (October 2003)
Citations
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/6211