Abstract
To contribute to the development of new products to control the coffee leaf miner (Leucoptera coffeella), which is a major pest for coffee plants, this work aimed to select plant species able to produce substances active against this insect and to identify the active substances in the selected plant and their protein targets in the insect. Among the extracts of nineteen plant species, only that from leaves of Merremia tomentosa (Choisy) Hall. f. (Convolvulaceae) reduced the oviposition of L. coffeella on leaves of coffee plants. This extract was submitted to successive fractionation steps to achieve the isolation and identification of two active substances, ursolic acid (UA) and cis-tiliroside (CT). An in silico study showed that UA inhibits glycogen phosphorylases (GP) by binding to their allosteric site, while CT probably inhibits xanthine dehydrogenases (XT). As both GP and XT appear to be essential enzymes for insects, these results suggest that, during evolution, L. coffeella learned to identify plants producing inhibitors of these enzymes to avoid oviposition on such plants. Thus, both UA and CT have potential to be used as lead compounds in the development of new products for the control of the coffee leaf miner.
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Claims 4
Claim · model-written summary
Only Merremia tomentosa leaf extract among nineteen species reduced leaf miner oviposition on coffee leaves.
- Treatment
- extracts of nineteen plant speciese0
- Interactor
- L. coffeella
Leucoptera coffeellae0pest - Outcome
- oviposition of L. coffeellae0
- Direction
- reducede0
CoffeaNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Among the extracts of nineteen plant species, only that from leaves of Merremia tomentosa (Choisy) Hall. f. (Convolvulaceae) reduced the oviposition of L. coffeella on leaves of coffee plants.”
Claim · model-written summary
Ursolic acid and cis-tiliroside were identified as active extract constituents.
- Outcome
- two active substances, ursolic acid (UA) and cis-tiliroside (CT)e0
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“This extract was submitted to successive fractionation steps to achieve the isolation and identification of two active substances, ursolic acid (UA) and cis-tiliroside (CT).”
Claim · model-written summary
In silico analysis showed UA binding and inhibition of glycogen phosphorylases.
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“An in silico study showed that UA inhibits glycogen phosphorylases (GP) by binding to their allosteric site”
Claim · model-written summary
In silico analysis suggested CT inhibition of xanthine dehydrogenases.
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“CT probably inhibits xanthine dehydrogenases (XT)”
The same questions in other papers
botanical · Leucoptera coffeella · Coffea (coffee)Results agree
5 papers in the same direction as this paper
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2 papers more in this group
See all 6 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.