Environmental Entomology (2018) 47, 1553-1559

Tamara Babcock, John Borden, Regine Gries, Cassandra Carroll, Margo Moore and Gerhard Gries (2018)
Lachancea thermotolerans, a yeast symbiont of yellowjackets, enhances attraction of three yellowjacket species (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) to fruit powder
Environmental Entomology 47 (6), 1553-1559
Abstract: Previously, we showed that the symbiotic yeast Lachancea thermotolerans (Filippov) (Saccharomycetales: Saccharomycetaceae) is attractive to its Vespula (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) yellowjacket hosts when grown on media supplemented with grape juice. We hypothesized that "Concerto", a commercial strain of this yeast, could be combined with fruit powder to form a shelf-stable bait for trapping yellowjackets. Using molecular techniques, we first confirmed that Concerto yeast is indeed the species L. thermotolerans. We then tested whether: 1) Concerto yeast produces volatiles similar to those produced by L. thermotolerans isolated from yellowjackets, 2) Concerto yeast enhances attraction of yellowjackets to fruit powder, 3) a Concerto yeast/fruit powder bait interacts synergistically with a yellowjacket semiochemical lure, and 4) a synthetic analog blend of Concerto-produced volatiles attracts yellowjackets. Using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, we demonstrated that the chemical composition of Concerto-produced volatiles closely resembles that produced by a yellowjacket-isolated strain of L. thermotolerans. In field experiments, addition of Concerto to fruit powder doubled its attractiveness to yellowjackets. Addition of the Concerto/fruit powder bait to a heptyl butyrate–based wasp lure revealed a weak additive effect. A three-component synthetic analog blend of volatiles identified from the Concerto/fruit powder bait attracted Vespula pensylvanica (Saussure), but no other yellowjacket species. Our results suggest that commercial L. thermotolerans in combination with fruit powder could be used as a yellowjacket bait, and that addition of yeast-produced volatiles to a commercial wasp lure may improve its attractiveness to V. pensylvanica. Further research should determine why the synthetic volatile blend failed to attract Vespula species other than V. pensylvanica.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): John H. Borden, Gerhard Gries

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
pheromones/attractants/traps

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Vespula pensylvanica