Abstract
Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) have proliferated globally and have become one of the most challenging pests to control indoors. They are nocturnal and use multiple sensory cues to detect and orient towards their human hosts. After feeding, usually on a sleeping human, they return to a shelter on or around the sleeping surface, but not directly on the host. We hypothesized that although human skin odors attract hungry bed bugs, human skin compounds may also prevent arrestment on hosts. We used arrestment assays to test human skin swabs, extracts from human skin swabs, and pure compounds identified from human skin swabs. When given a choice, bed bugs preferred to arrest on substrates not previously conditioned by humans. These responses were consistent among laboratory-reared and apartment-collected bed bugs. The compounds responsible for this behavior were found to be extractable in hexane, and bed bugs responded to such extracts in a dose-dependent manner. Bioassay-guided fractionation paired with thin-layer chromatography, GC–MS, and LC–MS analyses suggested that triglycerides (TAGs), common compounds found on human skin, were preventing arrestment on shelters. Bed bugs universally avoided sheltering in TAG-treated shelters, which was independent of the number of carbons or the number of double bonds in the TAG. These results provide strong evidence that the complex of human skin compounds serve as multifunctional semiochemicals for bed bugs, with some odorants attracting host-seeking stages, and others (TAGs and possibly other compounds) preventing bed bug arrestment. Host chemistry, environmental conditions and the physiological state of bed bugs likely influence the dual nature behavioral responses of bed bugs to human skin compounds.
Highlights
Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius L.) are obligate hematophagous pests that live in close proximity to humans[1]
Several sensory modalities and multiple cues are integrated in host-seeking bed bugs, with behavioral responses being modulated by both environmental factors[12] and physiological states[17]
We evaluated bed bug behavior in shelters treated with human skin extracts, followed by bioassayguided fractionation paired with thin-layer chromatography (TLC), gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS), and liquid-chromatography-tandem MS (LC–MS) analyses to identify human skin compounds that prevent bed bug arrestment
Summary
Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius L.) are obligate hematophagous pests that live in close proximity to humans[1]. Unlike some hematophagous arthropods that have formed close associations with their hosts (e.g., lice, fleas), bed bugs do not rest or reside on their host, but instead shelter in close proximity to the h ost[1] They are typically found in areas where their host is located at night (e.g., bed, sofa) and their host-seeking activities generally range over relatively short distances (< 1 m)[1]. Many factors influence aggregation, bed bugs have not been reported to arrest on their host, but instead they shelter in close proximity to the host[1] This suggests a dual nature of host cues, which simultaneously attract bed bugs and prevent their arrestment on the host, likely dependent upon environmental and physiological factors of the bed bug (e.g., feeding status, mating status, etc.) and the host (e.g., skin compounds, host body temperature, C O2 levels, host movement, etc.). We evaluated bed bug behavior in shelters treated with human skin extracts, followed by bioassayguided fractionation paired with thin-layer chromatography (TLC), gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS), and liquid-chromatography-tandem MS (LC–MS) analyses to identify human skin compounds that prevent bed bug arrestment
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