Lymantria dispar pheromone components

A study using the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, illustrates the overall pathways involved in production of epoxide pheromone components (Fig. 3) [77]. This insect uses disparlure, Me2,epo7-18 H, as a pheromone component. In-... 

Diversity in the structure and proportion of pheromone components is mirrored in the diversity of the proteins from the olfactory system. A specialized olfactory system is responsible for distinguishing the pheromone from other odorants in the environment. The high precision of the pheromone olfactory system becomes apparent when we compare closely related species whose pheromones differ in subtle ways. For example, Heliothis species have the same unsaturated aldehyde as the major pheromone component, but their pheromone signals differ in the structure and proportion of minor components (Table 16.1). Another example is seen with the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) and nun moth (Lymantria monacha), both of which respond to la. The blend produced by the nun moth consists mostly of lb, which is a powerful behavioral antagonist in the gypsy moth and is behaviorally inactive in the nun moth (Hansen, 1984). Stereochemical features play an important role in the molecular recognition of pheromone components. 

Grant G. G., Langevin D., Liska J., Kapitola P. and Chong J. M. (1996) Olefin inhibitor of gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, is a synergistic pheromone component of nun moth, L. monacha. Naturwissenschaften 83, 328-330. 

The occurrence of hydrocarbons (usually mono- and di-alkenes) with an epoxide function group have been reported usually as sex attractants. The sex attractant of the female gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, was identified as the C18 2-methyl alkane derivative cis-7,S-epoxy-2-methyloctadecane (Bierl et al 1972). For the housefly, M. domestica, a major sex pheromone component is the C23 -alkane epoxide d.v-9,1O-cpoxytricosane (Uebel et al 1978) with a lesser quantity of 9,10-epoxyheptacosane (Mpuru et al., 2001). 

---