Large-scale characterization of sex pheromone communication systems in Drosophila

Mohammed A. Khallaf (), Rongfeng Cui, Jerrit Weißflog, Maide Erdogmus, Aleš Svatoš, Hany K. M. Dweck, Dario Riccardo Valenzano, Bill S. Hansson and Markus Knaden ()
Additional contact information
Mohammed A. Khallaf: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Rongfeng Cui: Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing and CECAD Research Center at University of Cologne
Jerrit Weißflog: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Maide Erdogmus: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Aleš Svatoš: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Hany K. M. Dweck: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Dario Riccardo Valenzano: Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing and CECAD Research Center at University of Cologne
Bill S. Hansson: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Markus Knaden: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Insects use sex pheromones as a reproductive isolating mechanism to attract conspecifics and repel heterospecifics. Despite the profound knowledge of sex pheromones, little is known about the coevolutionary mechanisms and constraints on their production and detection. Using whole-genome sequences to infer the kinship among 99 drosophilids, we investigate how phylogenetic and chemical traits have interacted at a wide evolutionary timescale. Through a series of chemical syntheses and electrophysiological recordings, we identify 52 sex-specific compounds, many of which are detected via olfaction. Behavioral analyses reveal that many of the 43 male-specific compounds are transferred to the female during copulation and mediate female receptivity and/or male courtship inhibition. Measurement of phylogenetic signals demonstrates that sex pheromones and their cognate olfactory channels evolve rapidly and independently over evolutionary time to guarantee efficient intra- and inter-specific communication systems. Our results show how sexual isolation barriers between species can be reinforced by species-specific olfactory signals.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24395-z Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-24395-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24395-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().