The ability of attractants and repellents to affect the turnover of methyl groups on the methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins (MCPs) was examined for Bacillus subtilis. Attractants were found to cause an increase in the turnover of methyl groups esterified to the MCPs, while repellents caused a decrease. These reactions do not require CheW. However, a cheW null mutant exhibits enhanced turnover...

The vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster is equipped with two peripheral olfactory organs, antenna and maxillary palp. The antenna is involved in finding food, oviposition sites and mates. However, the functional significance of the maxillary palp remained unknown. Here, we screened the olfactory sensory neurons of the maxillary palp (MP-OSNs) using a large number of natural odor extracts to ide...

Paramecium tetraurelia is attracted to cyclic AMP, which probably, as other attractants, signifies the presence of food. Attraction to cyclic AMP was specific, saturable, and, therefore, likely to be receptor-mediated. In these studies, we measured the binding of cyclic [3H]AMP to whole cells and found it to be saturable, reversible, and displaying specificity similar to that of attraction. An ...

Urban environments present unique challenges for landscape designers wishing to incorporate wildlife attractants into their designs. Cities such as Tucson, Arizona that are surrounded by relatively large expanses of native vegetation provide many opportunities for effectively enticing native wildlife into urban spaces. Patches of landscape can be designed that mimic vegetation composition found...

Control of ants using baits of low toxicity cannot be effective without knowledge of bait distribution patterns and bait station densities, which are determined by ants' foraging activities. Furthermore, the success of toxic baits also depends upon attractiveness of bait carriers. Here, we assessed ground and vine foraging activity and food preferences for the three ant species ( Linepithema hu...

Mosquito Magnet-X traps were modified for use with blue, green, red, and blue-green-red light-emitting diodes and olfactory attractants to determine the response of Lutzomyia shannoni (Dyar) and Lutzomyia vexator (Coquillett) (Diptera: Psychodidae) field populations to these attractants. Red and blue-green-red-baited traps captured the highest numbers of Lu. shannoni and Lu. vexator, respective...

Acute Toxicity Studies with Insect Attractants. BEROZA, M., INSCOE, M. N., SCHWARTZ, P. H., JR., KEPLINGER, M. L. AND MASTRI, C. W. (1975). Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 31, 421-429. Eight insect attractants and one inhibitor of a sex attractant were tested for acute oral and aerosol inhalation toxicity in rats, for acute dermal toxicity, eye irritation, and primary skin irritation on rabbits, and ...

The chemotactic response of Bradyrhizobium japonicum toward soybean seed and root exudates was examined. Assays using various isoflavones and fractionated exudate indicated that isoflavones are not the principal attractants in exudates. Likewise, induction of nod genes with isoflavones or seed exudate before assay did not enhance chemotaxis. Screening of numerous compounds revealed that only di...