Abstract
Cats show a characteristic response to catnip (Nepeta cataria) and silver vine (Actinidia polygama), which comprises licking, chewing, rubbing, and rolling. This response is induced by plant iridoids: nepetalactone (catnip) and dihydronepetalactone, isodihydronepetalactone, iridomyrmecin, and isoiridomyrmecin (silver vine). However, its biological significance had remained undetermined. In this chapter, we review the behavioral significance of this feline response. Nepetalactol was isolated as a potent bioactive compound from silver vine. Nepetalactol-induced rubbing and rolling behavior transfers nepetalactol to feline fur. Nepetalactol has also mosquito repellent bioactivity, and as a consequence, its transfer to the feline’s fur protects cats from mosquito bites. Licking and chewing the plants damages the leaves, which promotes airborne emission of iridoids from the plants and diversifies the iridoids in silver vine. Although both the amount and composition of iridoids considerably differ between these plants, cats show a comparably prolonged duration of the response to the low level of a complex cocktail of iridoids in damaged silver vine and the high level of nepetalactone in damaged catnip. In conclusion, the silver vine and catnip response contributes to chemical pest defense in cats, which provides an important example of how animals utilize plant metabolites for their pest defense.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Prof. Toshio Nishikawa, Prof. Jane L Hurst, Prof. Robert Beynon, Prof. Shuji Kaneko, and Dr. Tamako Miyazaki for our collaboration. This research was funded by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 18H04602 and 20H04759 (M.M.), and 22 J23343 (R.U.), Suntory Foundation for Life Sciences (M.M.), and the Sasakawa Scientific Research Grant from The Japan Science Society (R.U.). R.U. was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows.
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Miyazaki, M., Uenoyama, R. (2023). Chemical Pest Defense by the Innate Response to Silver Vine and Catnip Plants in the Domestic Cat. In: Schaal, B., Rekow, D., Keller, M., Damon, F. (eds) Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 15. CSiV 2021. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35159-4_21
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