Mating pheromones, analysis

MacKay, V. L., Li, X., Flory, M. R., Turcott, E., and Law, G. L. (2004). Gene expression analyzed by high-resolution state array analysis and quantitative proteomics Response of yeast to mating pheromone. Mol. Cell Proteomics 3, 478—489. 

Choi, J.D. (1999). Analysis of Processing, Processing Efficiency, and Non-Classical Export of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Mating Pheromone a-Factor. The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. 

Flowers of some orchids mimic both the appearance and sex pheromone of virgin females of certain species of bees or wasps. This sexual deception results in pollination by male hymenoptera that would not normally visit flowers. Japanese honey bee drones (Apis cerana japonica) cluster on the oriental orchid (Cymbidiumpumilum) while on their mating flights [ 134]. By comparing volatile profiles of orchids and the female hymenoptera they mimic, or by GC-EAD and GC-MS analysis of orchid volatiles, several compounds have been identified that may mediate this attraction for the solitary bee Andrena nigroaenea [135, 136] and the scoliid wasp Campsoscolia ciliata [135]. 

Recent research has shown that the pheromone mediated behavior of lepidopterous insects is very complex. The chemical components of the pheromones are usually simple molecules, but complex mixtures involving permutations of geometry, functionality, and chain length are often required to elicit the complicated behavioral repertoire that eventually culminates in mating. To elucidate the chemical and behavioral aspects of this communications system, we have used a combination of methods including collection of the volatiles emitted by the female, analysis by high resolution capillary gas chromatography (GC), and the sequential and temporal analysis of the male s behavioral response to the pheromone blend and components thereof. New liquid phases and state of the art techniques have been developed for capillary GC to separate all the components of a pheromone blend. With these methods the chemical communication systems of Heliothis virescens (F.) and H. subflexa (Gn.) have been analyzed and certain aspects have been elucidated. 

This report also presents a detailed decision analysis for the manufacture of gossyplure, the pheromone of the pink bollworm. The material was to be used in permeation schemes to disrupt mating of the pink bollworm in the cotton fields of the Southwest. The conclusion was that such a venture appears modestly attractive . Although some of the assumptions were based on solid research results, many of them were necessarily somewhat arbitrary. Note that the report is already dated by recent progress. For example, mass trapping of the ambrosia beetle Gnathotrichus sulcatus is now on a commercial basis (see below). 

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