Pheromonal communication

Meredith M. (1983). Sensory physiology of pheromone communication. In Pheromones and Reproduction in Mammals (Vandenbergh J.G., ed.). Academic Press, New York, pp. 200-252. 

Tirindelli R., Mucignat-Caretta C. and Ryba J. (1998). Molecular aspects of pheromonal communication via the vomeronasal organ of mammals. Trends Neurosci 21, 482-486. 

Billen J, Morgan ED (1998) In Vander Meer RK, Breed MD, Winston ML, Espelie KE (eds) Pheromone communication in social insects. Westview Press, Boulder, CO, p 3... 

Parasitic hymenoptera often eavesdrop on the pheromone communication of their host species. The type of host pheromone recognized depends on the host stage parasitized. Phoretic egg parasitoids are often attracted by the host sex pheromone, while species that parasitize later stages (larval, pupal) often do not respond to host sex pheromone components [ 11,42]. Larval parasitoids often recognize volatiles from the damaged host plant and/or host larval frass volatiles. Parasitoids of forest beetles respond to the beetle aggregation pheromones [42]. 

Chlorpyrifos inhibits substrate-borne reception and emission of sex pheromone in Tri-chogramma brassicae, an entomophagus insect massively used as a biological control agent of com borers, among survivors of an LC20 dose. Inhibition was probably due to nervous system effects and was not specific to pheromone communication (Delpuech et al. 1998). 

Delpuech, J.M., B. Froment, P. Fouillet, F. Pompanon, S. JaniUon, and M. Bouletreau. 1998. Inhibition of sex pheromone communications of Trichogramma brassicae (Hymenoptera) by the insecticide chlorpyrifos. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 17 1107-1113. 

Brennan, P. and Zufall, F. (2006) Pheromonal communication in vertebrates. Nature, in press. 

Thiessen D. D. (1977) Thermoenergetics and the evolution of pheromone communication. Prog. Psychobiol. Physiol. Psych. 7, 91-191. 

All of the long-range kairomones attractive to parasitoids that have been identified thus far are sex pheromones of the hosts. However, we are probably aware of only a small fraction of the predators and parasites that are eavesdropping on the pheromonal communications of their prey or hosts. While the evolution of individuals that are as inconspicuous as possible to their enemies is favored, it is impossible for a species to completely avoid emitting chemical signals. Thus, pheromones that are important to reproduction or other vital functions, and are good indicators of the presence of a species, are available for predators or parasitoids to exploit. 

The sex pheromone communication system basically involves the release of specific chemicals from a pheromone producer (emitter), the transmission of these chemicals in the environment to a receiver, and the processing of these signals to mediate appropriate behavioral responses in the receiver. The chemicals transmitted downwind have been the most obvious targets for characterization. The code was first broken with the publication in 1959 (3) of the sex pheromone for the domesticated silkworm Bombyx mori after extraction of a half million female silkworm pheromone glands and 30 years of classical chemical analyses. The pheromone was found to be (E10, Z12)-hexadecadien-l-ol, which was called bombykol. This work showed that there was nothing magical about the communication system, and chemists around the world were "attracted" to this area of research on insect pheromones. 

Another aspect of the sex pheromone communication system concerns the endogenous signals that control pheromone production and release from the emitting insect. A number of hormones have been found to be involved in the control of pheromone production in various insect species (18). Juvenile hormone was found to induce vitellogenesis and sex pheromone production in some cockroach and beetle species. However, ecdysteroids were found to be involved in regulating reproductive processes, including vitellogenin synthesis, in dipteran species. 

Understandably, there is a lot of general and also commercial interest in research aimed at the identification and evaluation of human pheromones. In as much as humans can motivate their responses to test compounds, it should be simpler to work with humans than with other mammals. However, although much has already been accomplished in this field, pheromone communication in humans, by and large, still remains an enigma. 

Breed MD, Espelie KE, Winston ML (eds) Pheromone communication in social insects ... 

Water may be better than air for studying the dynamics of stimulus dispersal, because in this denser medium fluid dynamic processes are attenuated (Atema, 1988). As interindividual distances increase with increasing body size, pheromone communication becomes less and less practical in water, particularly because of signal delays, dilution, and cross-currents. 

Teeter, J. (1980). Pheromone communication in sea lampreys Petmmyzon marinus) implications for population management. CanadianJournalofFisheries andAq uaticScience 37, 2123-2132. 

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