A wide range of organisms use sex pheromones to communicate with each other and to identify appropriate mating partners. While the evolution of chemical communication has been suggested to cause sexual isolation and speciation, the mechanisms that govern evolutionary transitions in sex pheromone production are poorly understood. Here, we decipher the molecular mechanisms underlying the rapid ev...

BACKGROUND Odorant-Degrading Enzymes (ODEs) are supposed to be involved in the signal inactivation step within the olfactory sensilla of insects by quickly removing odorant molecules from the vicinity of the olfactory receptors. Only three ODEs have been both identified at the molecular level and functionally characterized: two were specialized in the degradation of pheromone compounds and the ...

In most animals, male copulation is dependent on the detection and processing of female-produced sex pheromones. In males, a refractory postejaculatory interval (PEI) follows copulation, allowing them to avoid direct remating until they have replenished their reproductive tracts. In the moth Agrotis ipsilon, newly mated males show a transient inhibition of behavioral and central nervous respons...

Sexual reproduction likely evolved as protection from environmental stresses, specifically, to repair DNA damage, often via homologous recombination. In higher eukaryotes, meiosis and the production of gametes with allelic combinations different from parental type provides the side effect of increased genetic variation. In fungi it appears that while the maintenance of meiosis is paramount for ...

Communication between cells and their environments is often mediated by G protein-coupled receptors and cognate G proteins. In fungi, one such signaling cascade is the mating pathway triggered by pheromone/pheromone receptor recognition. Unlike Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which expresses two G subunits, most filamentous ascomycetes and basidiomycetes have three G subunits. Previous studies have d...

The surface of insects is covered by a complex mixture of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) to prevent desiccation. In many species these lipids also have communicative functions, but often it is unknown which components are crucial for the behavioural response. Furthermore, it is often ignored that polar lipids also occur on the insects' cuticle and might interact with CHCs. In the parasitic wasp ...

Sex pheromone communication of moths helps to understand the mechanisms underlying reproductive isolation and speciation. Helicoverpa armigera and Helicoverpa assulta use (Z)-11-hexadecenal (Z11-16:Ald) and (Z)-9-hexadecenal (Z9-16:Ald) as pheromone components in reversed ratios, 97:3 and 5:95, respectively. H. armigera also produces trace amount of (Z)-9-tetradecenal (Z9-14:Ald) in the sex phe...

Abstract Benthic diatoms dominate primary production in marine subtidal and intertidal environments. Their extraordinary species diversity ecological success is thought to be linked with their predominantly heterothallic sexual reproduction. Little known about pheromone involvement during mating of pennate diatoms. Here we describe guided the coastal raphid diatom Cylindrotheca closterium . We ...

BACKGROUND Members of the subfamily Galleriinae have adapted to different selective environmental pressures by devising a unique mating process. Galleriinae males initiate mating by attracting females with either chemical or acoustic signals (or a combination of both modalities). Six compounds considered candidates for the sex pheromone have recently been identified in the wing gland extracts o...

We cloned the pheromone precursor genes of Podospora anserina in order to elucidate their role in the biology of this fungus. The mfp gene encodes a 24-amino-acid polypeptide finished by the CAAX motif, characteristic of fungal lipopeptide pheromone precursors similar to the a-factor precursor of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The mfm gene encodes a 221-amino-acid polypeptide, which is related to th...