Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Male Sex Pheromone (male + sex_pheromone)
Selected AbstractsFlower-feeding affects mating performance in male oriental fruit flies Bactrocera dorsalisECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 1 2000Todd E. Shelly Summary 1. Males of the oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis are attracted to and feed on flowers of the golden shower blossom Cassia fistula. Flowers of this plant contain methyl eugenol, the metabolites of which apparently function in the synthesis of male sex pheromone. 2. The goal of the study reported here was to determine whether feeding on C. fistula flowers enhanced male mating success. Mating frequencies of unfed (control) and fed (treated) males were compared in trials conducted 0 (same day), 2, 7, or 21 days after treated males were exposed to the flowers. Trials were performed using flowers from three trees of C. fistula to investigate whether the effects of floral feeding were similar among different plants. 3. For all three trees, treated males accounted for a disproportionately large number of matings in trials performed 0, 2, and 7 days after floral feeding by the treated males. For two of the trees, treated males also had a mating advantage 21 days after flower-feeding. 4. Additional tests were conducted to compare female attraction to perch sites of control and treated males. When at a lek, males exhibit rigorous wing-fanning behaviour, presumably to increase dispersal of the sex pheromone. Floral feeding had no significant effect on the level of wing-fanning. Significantly more female sightings were recorded for perches of treated than control males, however, suggesting that the treated males produced a pheromone more attractive to females than did control males. [source] Differences in the skin peptides of the male and female Australian tree frog Litoria splendidaFEBS JOURNAL, Issue 1 2000The discovery of the aquatic male sex pheromone splendipherin, a new antibiotic peptide caerin 1.10, together with Phe8 caerulein The skin secretions of female and male Litoria splendida have been monitored monthly over a three-year period using HPLC and electrospray mass spectrometry. Two minor peptides are present only in the skin secretion of the male. The first of these is the female-attracting aquatic male sex pheromone that we have named splendipherin, a 25 amino acid peptide (GLVSSIGKALGGLLADVVKSKGQPA-OH). This pheromone constitutes about 1% of the total skin peptides during the breeding season (January to March), dropping to about 0.1% during the period June to November. Splendipherin attracts the female in water at a concentration of 10,11,10,9 m, and is species specific. The second peptide is a wide-spectrum antibiotic of the caerin 1 group, a 25 residue peptide (GLLSVLGSVAKHVLPHVVPVIAEKL-NH2) named caerin 1.10. The neuropeptides of L. splendida are also seasonally variable, the change identical for both the female and male. During the period October to March, the sole neuropeptide present in skin secretions is caerulein [pEQDY(SO3)TGWMDF-NH2]; this is active on smooth muscle and is also an analgaesic. During the southern winter (June to September), more than half of the caerulein is hydrolysed to [pEQDYTGWMDF-NH2], a peptide that shows no smooth muscle activity. In place of caerulein, a new peptide, Phe8 caerulein [pEQDY(SO3)TGWFDF-NH2], becomes a major component of the skin secretion. Perhaps this seasonal change is involved in thermoregulation, that is, with the initiation and maintenance of the inactive (hibernation) phase of the animal. [source] Sex pheromones and trail-following pheromone in the basal termites Zootermopsis nevadensis (Hagen) and Z. angusticollis (Hagen) (Isoptera: Termopsidae: Termopsinae)BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 3 2010CHRISTIAN BORDEREAU In the context of an evolutionary study of the chemical communication in termites, sex pheromones and trail-following pheromones were investigated in two Termopsidae, Zootermopsis nevadensis and Z. angusticollis. In these species, in which the presence of sex-specific pheromones has been demonstrated previously, the chemical structure of the female sex pheromone has now been identified as (5E)-2,6,10-trimethylundeca-5,9-dienal and the male sex pheromone as (+)- or (,)- syn -4,6-dimethyldodecanal. The amount of sex pheromone was estimated at 5,10 ng per individual in females and 2,5 ng in males. Because these two sympatric species do not differ in their pheromonal chemical composition, reproductive isolation is probably mediated chiefly by differences in dispersal flight chronology. The trail-following pheromone was shown to be composed of the same compound as the male sex pheromone, that is syn -4,6-dimethyldodecanal. The compound syn -4,6-dimethyldodecanal was 10 times more active than the racemic (+/,)- syn + (+/,) -anti -4,6-dimethyldodecanal in eliciting trail-following. The amount of syn -4,6-dimethyldodecanal was estimated at 0.1,0.5 ng per pseudergate. Regarding the phylogenetic aspects, the nature of the female sex pheromone of Zootermopsis is structurally akin to the trail-following pheromone of Mastotermes darwiniensis of Mastotermitidae and Porotermes adamsoni and Stolotermes victoriensis of Termopsidae. Interestingly, the nature of the trail-following pheromone of the Termopsinae Zootermopsis is clearly different from that of the Porotermitinae P. adamsoni and the Stolotermitinae S. victoriensis, which mirrors recent molecular data on the paraphyly of Termopsidae. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 100, 519,530. [source] Brothers smell similar: variation in the sex pheromone of male European Beewolves Philanthus triangulum F. (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae) and its implications for inbreeding avoidanceBIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 3 2006GUDRUN HERZNER Female choice is thought to increase the fitness returns of females. The complementary choice model states that the best mate depends on the particular genotype of a female. Aculeate Hymenoptera represent a special case of complementary female choice because males should be chosen on the basis of their allele at the sex determination locus. The prevalent sex determination mechanism in bees and wasps (single-locus complementary sex determination) requires that, to produce a daughter, diploid offspring are heterozygous at the sex determination locus. Otherwise, infertile diploid males result. Inevitably, the proportion of diploid males increases with the rate of inbreeding. In the European Beewolf, males scent mark territories to attract mates and the composition of the pheromone might provide a basis for female choice. One crucial prerequisite for females to be able to discriminate against brothers and avoid inbreeding is that the male sex pheromone varies with familial affiliation. This hypothesis was tested by analysing the pheromone of male progeny of eight mothers using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. A significantly higher similarity was found among brothers than among unrelated individuals. Such a genetic component of a male sex pheromone has not yet been described from aculeate Hymenoptera. © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2006, 89, 433,442. [source] | ||||||||||