| Title: | Sex-specific triacylglycerides are widely conserved in Drosophila and mediate mating behavior |
| Author(s): | Chin JS; Ellis SR; Pham HT; Blanksby SJ; Mori K; Koh QL; Etges WJ; Yew JY; |
| Address: | "Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2050-084X (Electronic) 2050-084X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Pheromones play an important role in the behavior, ecology, and evolution of many organisms. The structure of many insect pheromones typically consists of a hydrocarbon backbone, occasionally modified with various functional oxygen groups. Here we show that sex-specific triacylclyerides (TAGs) are broadly conserved across the subgenus Drosophila in 11 species and represent a novel class of pheromones that has been largely overlooked. In desert-adapted drosophilids, 13 different TAGs are secreted exclusively by males from the ejaculatory bulb, transferred to females during mating, and function synergistically to inhibit courtship from other males. Sex-specific TAGs are comprised of at least one short branched tiglic acid and a long linear fatty acyl component, an unusual structural motif that has not been reported before in other natural products. The diversification of chemical cues used by desert-adapted Drosophila as pheromones may be related to their specialized diet of fermenting cacti" |
| Keywords: | Animals Biological Evolution Crotonates/*chemistry/metabolism Desert Climate Drosophila melanogaster/chemistry/classification/*physiology Female Hemiterpenes Male Molecular Structure Pheromones/biosynthesis/*chemistry Phylogeny Reproduction/physiology Sex; |
| Notes: | "MedlineChin, Jacqueline S R Ellis, Shane R Pham, Huong T Blanksby, Stephen J Mori, Kenji Koh, Qi Ling Etges, William J Yew, Joanne Y eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2014/03/13 Elife. 2014 Mar 11; 3:e01751. doi: 10.7554/eLife.01751" |
