The maintenance and detection of signaling gradients are critical for proper development and cell migration. In single-cell organisms, gradient detection allows cells to orient toward a distant mating partner or nutrient source. Budding yeast expand their growth toward mating pheromone gradients through a process known as chemotropic growth. MATα cells secrete α-factor pheromone that stimulates...

Manduca sexta females attract their mates with the release of a species-specific sex-pheromone blend, with bombykal (E,Z)-10,12-hexadecadienal and (E,E,Z)-10,12,14-hexadecatrienal being the two major components. Here, we searched for the hawkmoth bombykal receptor in heterologous expression systems. The putative pheromone receptor MsexOr1 coexpressed with MsexOrco in Xenopus oocytes elicited do...

A large family of vomeronasal receptors recognizes pheromone cues in many animals including most amphibia, reptiles, rhodents, and other mammals. Humans possess five vomeronasal-type 1 receptor genes (VN1R1-VN1R5), which code for proteins that are functional in recombinant expression systems. We used two different recombinant expression systems and identified Hedione as a ligand for the putativ...

Chemical signals play an important role in spider sexual communication, yet the chemistry of spider sex pheromones remains poorly understood. Chemical identification of male-produced pheromone-mediating sexual behaviour in spiders has also, to our knowledge, not been reported before. This study aimed to examine whether chemically mediated strategies are used by males of the spider Pholcus beiji...

In response to a predator attack, many Aphidinae species release an alarm pheromone, which induces dispersal behavior in other individuals within the colony. The major component of this pheromone is the sesquiterpene (E)-β-farnesene (Eβf), but variations occur between aphid species. In the present work, we collected, identified, and quantified the alarm pheromone of Aphis craccivora Koch (Hemip...

Mating pheromone-induced alteration of the cell surface proteins of haploid cells, presumed to play crucial roles in the specific cell-cell interactions during sexual conjugation of Tremella mesenterica , was investigated. Exposed surface proteins were revealed by lactoperoxidase-catalyzed iodination in combination with polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. From comparison of ...

BACKGROUND The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is an exotic insect pest that was first recognized in the United States in 2001. As of today, it has been found in more than 42 states. BMSB has a very broad host plant range and damage to crops in mid-Atlantic States has reached a critical level. A reliable and accurate tool for infestation detection and population monitoring is urgently needed ...

In this paper, we discuss the concentration dependency of pheromone communication in swarm robotics. Instead of a pheromone trail and the insect antenna, we used ethanol and an alcohol sensor. This experimental system has a trade-off problem; high concentrations of the pheromone yield high signal strength but the signal duration is short, while low pheromone concentrations yield low signal stre...

The southern pine beetle Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) is attracted to an aggregation pheromone that includes the multifunctional pheromone component endo-brevicomin. The effect of endo-brevicomin on attractive lures varies from strong enhancement to reduction of beetle attraction depending upon release rate, lure component spacing, and proximity of b...

Candida albicans cells homozygous for the MTLa locus respond to alpha-mating pheromone by activating gene expression and triggering morphological changes, and the cells undergo a pheromone-mediated cell cycle arrest that can be influenced by nutritional conditions. Disruption of C. albicans ORF19.7105, which is the predicted homologue of the yeast FAR1 gene, blocks pheromone-mediated morphologi...