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PLoS One

Title:		An inhibitory sex pheromone tastes bitter for Drosophila males
Author(s):		Lacaille F; Hiroi M; Twele R; Inoshita T; Umemoto D; Maniere G; Marion-Poll F; Ozaki M; Francke W; Cobb M; Everaerts C; Tanimura T; Ferveur JF;
Address:		"Universite de Bourgogne, CNRS-UMR5548, Dijon, France"
Journal Title:		PLoS One
Year:		2007
Volume:		20070815
Issue:		7
Page Number:		e661 -
DOI:		10.1371/journal.pone.0000661
ISSN/ISBN:		1932-6203 (Electronic) 1932-6203 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Sexual behavior requires animals to distinguish between the sexes and to respond appropriately to each of them. In Drosophila melanogaster, as in many insects, cuticular hydrocarbons are thought to be involved in sex recognition and in mating behavior, but there is no direct neuronal evidence of their pheromonal effect. Using behavioral and electrophysiological measures of responses to natural and synthetic compounds, we show that Z-7-tricosene, a Drosophila male cuticular hydrocarbon, acts as a sex pheromone and inhibits male-male courtship. These data provide the first direct demonstration that an insect cuticular hydrocarbon is detected as a sex pheromone. Intriguingly, we show that a particular type of gustatory neurons of the labial palps respond both to Z-7-tricosene and to bitter stimuli. Cross-adaptation between Z-7-tricosene and bitter stimuli further indicates that these two very different substances are processed by the same neural pathways. Furthermore, the two substances induced similar behavioral responses both in courtship and feeding tests. We conclude that the inhibitory pheromone tastes bitter to the fly"
Keywords:		"Animals Caffeine/pharmacology Drosophila melanogaster/genetics/*physiology Genotype Homosexuality, Male Lighting Male Neurons/drug effects/physiology Sex Attractants/*metabolism Sex Characteristics Sexual Behavior, Animal/drug effects/physiology Taste/dru;"
Notes:		"MedlineLacaille, Fabien Hiroi, Makoto Twele, Robert Inoshita, Tsuyoshi Umemoto, Daisuke Maniere, Gerard Marion-Poll, Frederic Ozaki, Mamiko Francke, Wittko Cobb, Matthew Everaerts, Claude Tanimura, Teiichi Ferveur, Jean-Francois eng 2007/08/22 PLoS One. 2007 Aug 15; 2(7):e661. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0000661"