Cell pairing is central for many processes, including immune defense, neuronal connection, hyphal fusion, and sexual reproduction. How does a cell orient toward a partner, especially when faced with multiple choices? Fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe P and M cells, which respectively express P and M factor pheromones [1, 2], pair during the mating process induced by nitrogen starvation. E...

An advantage of using pheromones in olfactory studies is that they are chemical signals for which receptor neurons are evolved and thus elicit biologically relevant odour-information to be processed in the brain. In many vertebrate and insect species, the olfactory system is separated into a 'main' and an 'accessory' division, the latter mediating pheromone information. In moths, the pheromone ...

Pheromones are chemical signals used among consepcifics for social interactions such as sex attraction, mate selection, modulation of neuroendocrine function, and individual identification (Vandenbergh, 1994; Singh, 2001; Halpern and Martínez-Macros, 2003). The male effect is a representative example of such pheromonal actions in goats and sheep, in which exposure to the male pheromone accelera...

Finding a partner is an essential task for members of all species. Like many insects, females of the noctuid moth Heliothis virescens release chemical cues consisting of a species-specific pheromone blend to attract conspecific males. While tracking these blends, male moths are also continuously confronted with a wide range of other odor molecules, many of which are plant volatiles. Therefore, ...

The mechanisms of insect odor transduction are still controversial. Insect odorant receptors (ORs) are 7TM receptors with inverted membrane topology. They colocalize with a conserved coreceptor (Orco) with chaperone and ion channel function. Some studies suggest that insects employ exclusively ionotropic odor transduction via OR-Orco heteromers. Other studies provide evidence for different meta...

The efficacy of mating disruption by using Isomate-M 100 pheromone dispensers and two formulations of microencapsulated sprayable pheromone for management of oriental fruit moth, Grapholita molesta (Busck), was compared with conventional insecticides in large plot studies in Henderson County, North Carolina, in 2000 and 2001. In addition, experiments were conducted in small and large plots to t...

Food input by the cave cricket, Hadenoecus cumberlandicus Hubble & Norton (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae), is vital to the cave community, making this cricket a true keystone species. Bioassays conducted on cave walls and in the laboratory show that clustering in H. cumberlandicus is guided by a pheromone, presumably excreta. This aggregation pheromone was demonstrated by using filter paper disc...

Production of bacteriocins by lactic acid bacteria is in some cases regulated by a quorum sensing mechanism that involves a secreted bacteriocin-like peptide pheromone. In the case of Lactobacillus plantarum C11, this pheromone, the 26-mer plantaricin A (PlnA), has the interesting property of having both bacteriocin and pheromone activities. To gain insight into how PlnA functions as a pheromon...

We identified a four-component sex pheromone blend that is as attractive or more attractive to male navel orangeworm moths, Amyelois transitella (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), than either unmated females or hexane extracts of pheromone glands of females. The blend consisted of (11Z,13Z)-hexadecadienal; (11Z,13Z)-hexadecadien-1-ol; (11Z,13E)-hexadecadien-1-ol; and a hydrocarbon, (3Z,6Z,9Z,12...

Recent evidence suggests that Paracoccidioides species have the potential to undergo sexual reproduction, although no sexual cycle has been identified either in nature or under laboratory conditions. In the present work we detected low expression levels of the heterothallic MAT loci genes MAT1-1 and MAT1-2, the α-pheromone (PBα) gene, and the α- and a-pheromone receptor (PREB and PREA) genes in...