As an environment-friendly phytosanitary measure, CATTS (controlled atmosphere temperature treatment system) has been developed to kill several quarantine insect pests infesting subtropical agricultural commodities. This study tested any possibility to apply CATTS to apples to effectively eliminate the peach fruit moth, Carposina sasakii, which has been regarded as a quarantine insect from the imported countries. When the larvae of C. sasakii were directly exposed to 46℃ (an installed lethal temperature of CATTS), they showed a median lethal time at 14.66 min. Addition of high carbon dioxide to the temperature treatment enhanced the thermal limit susceptibility of C. sasakii to 46℃. The larvae internally infesting apples were tested using this CATTS device and showed 100% lethality after 60 min exposure to a treatment of 46℃ under 15% CO2 in the chamber. This study suggests a possibility that CATTS can be applied as a quarantine measure to kill the larvae of C. sasakii locating inside the apples. To understand the CATTS effect, a heat shock protein was cloned. Hsp90 was partially sequenced and showed its expression in response to heat treatment. CATTS was likely to suppress hsp90 expression.

As an environment-friendly phytosanitary measure, CATTS (controlled atmosphere temperature treatment system) has been developed to kill several quarantine insect pests infesting subtropical agricultural commodities. This study tested any possibility to apply CATTS to apples to effectively eliminate the peach fruit moth, Carposina sasakii, which has been regarded as a quarantine insect from the imported countries. When the larvae of C. sasakii were directly exposed to 46℃ (an installed lethal temperature of CATTS), they showed a median lethal time at 14.66 min. Addition of high carbon dioxide to the temperature treatment enhanced the thermal limit susceptibility of C. sasakii to 46℃. CATTS device was constructed to automatically control CO₂ concentration and temperature with real-time monitoring both in the chamber and in the fruit. The larvae internally infesting apples were tested using the CATTS device and showed 100% lethality after 60 min exposure to a treatment of 46℃ under 15% CO₂ in the chamber. Relatively long exposure may be due to the deviation between the ramping temperature (0.35℃/min) of the chamber and the ramping temperature (0.12-0.23℃/min) inside apple fruit, where the tested larvae were located. This study suggests a possibility that CATTS can be applied as a quarantine measure to kill the larvae of C. sasakii locating inside the apples.