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

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

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)