Pheromones attractant

Many different functions of pheromones have been found since Butenandt. Aggregation pheromones attract both sexes to a special location, while sex pheromones are offered by one sex only to attract or arouse the other one. Trail pheromones used by ants mark food trails and alarm pheromones change the state of alertness of conspecifics. These are only some of the functions pheromones can have, and similar different functions can be found in allelochemicals as well. 

Plant volatiles [enhancement of pheromone attraction] (3Z)-Hex-3-en-l-yl acetate 38 [80]... 

Aphidius ervi Aphid sp. (Aphidinae) Host sex pheromone [attraction, increased parasitization] (4aS,7S,7aR)-Nepetalactone 26 (lR,4aS,7S,7aR)-nepetalactol 27 [77,78]... 

Cotesia plutellae Plutella xylostella Host sex pheromone [attraction] (1lZ)-Hexadec-l 1-enal 31, (llZ)-hexadec-ll-en-l-yl acetate 32 (llZ)-hexadec-l 1-en-l-ol 33 [80]... 

Telenomus euproctidis Euproctis taiwana Host sex pheromone [attraction] (9Z)-16-Methylheptadec-9-en-1 -yl isobutyrate 23 16-methyl-heptadec-l-yl isobutyrate 24 [74,75]... 

In one final improvement to the synthesis of the racemate, after it had been shown that even the unnatural enantiomer of the pheromone attracted bugs, the Z-isomer of diene ester 139 was used in the ester-enolate Claisen rearrangement, resulting in a slightly higher yield, and avoiding the use of HMPA as a solvent in that step [113]. 

Black, G. A. and Dempson, J. B. (1986). A test of the hypothesis of pheromone attraction in salmon migration. Environmental Biology of Fishes 15,229-235. 

Diaea socialis 108 Salticidae E Social spider volatile silk bound pheromone attracts conspeciflcs Evans and Main, 1993... 

Females of the desert spider Agenelopsis aperta emit a volatile pheromone that attracts conspecihc males (Riechert and Singer, 1995). This pheromone was identified as 8-methyl-2-nonanone (1 Fig. 4.1), a previously unknown arthropod semio-chemical. It was found by headspace analysis and abdominal washings of females 2 weeks after their hnal molt, when they become sexually receptive it was absent in females of other age classes. The pheromone attracted males in a three-choice arena system at doses as low as 500 ng (Papke et al., 2001). Another female-specific ketone, 6-methyl-3-heptanone (2), was not attractive. Very low doses of 1 (10-9 mg/ml applied to a hlter paper placed in empty juvenile female webs) also induced courtship behavior in males (Papke et al., 2001). The normal behavioral sequence was followed, except for phases which required input from the female. The ED50 value (mean effective dose) of 1 was 5.5x 10-4 mg/ml hexane. In contrast, ketone 2 only induced a response in some males at unnaturally high concentrations... 

Togashi, T., Motomura, T., and Ichimura, T., Gamete dimorphism in Bryopsis plumosa. Phototaxis, gamete motility and pheromonal attraction, Bot. Mar., 41, 257, 1998. 

Byers J. A. (1983) Bark beetle conversion of a plant compound to a sex-specific inhibitor of pheromone attraction. Science 220, 624—626. 

Most female moths utilize a blend of components produced in a specific ratio for species-specific pheromone attraction of conspecific males. A major question is how these species-specific ratios of components are produced. Research from several sources indicates that these ratios are produced by the inherent specificity of certain enzymes present in the biosynthetic pathways. The combination of these enzymes acting in concert produces the species-specific pheromone blend. Observations of enzymatic properties of each enzyme in the pathway should yield insights into how the final pheromone blend is produced. Several examples will be illustrated to make this point. 

Den Otter C. J. and Van der Haagen M. M. (1989) Sex pheromone attractants and inhibitors in the cabbage armyworm, Mamestra brassicae L. (Lep. Noctuidae) electrophysiological discrimination. Insect Sci. Applic. 10, 235-242. 

The Australian magnificent tree frog breeds in the water, where males court females. A peptide, now called splendipherin, has been extracted from the male parotid and rostral glands and found to attract females in glass tanks at concentrations of approximately 10-13 moll-1.75 This pheromone attracts females from distances of up to a meter within minutes. 

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