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Sex-specific triacylglycerides are widely conserved in Drosophila and mediate mating behavior

Pheromones play an important role in the behavior, ecology, and evolution of many organisms. The structure of many insect pheromones typically consists of a hydrocarbon backbone, occasionally modified with various functional oxygen groups. Here we show that sex-specific triacylclyerides (TAGs) are b...

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Autores principales: Chin, Jacqueline SR, Ellis, Shane R, Pham, Huong T, Blanksby, Stephen J, Mori, Kenji, Koh, Qi Ling, Etges, William J, Yew, Joanne Y
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3948109/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24618898
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01751
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author Chin, Jacqueline SR
Ellis, Shane R
Pham, Huong T
Blanksby, Stephen J
Mori, Kenji
Koh, Qi Ling
Etges, William J
Yew, Joanne Y
author_facet Chin, Jacqueline SR
Ellis, Shane R
Pham, Huong T
Blanksby, Stephen J
Mori, Kenji
Koh, Qi Ling
Etges, William J
Yew, Joanne Y
author_sort Chin, Jacqueline SR
collection PubMed
description Pheromones play an important role in the behavior, ecology, and evolution of many organisms. The structure of many insect pheromones typically consists of a hydrocarbon backbone, occasionally modified with various functional oxygen groups. Here we show that sex-specific triacylclyerides (TAGs) are broadly conserved across the subgenus Drosophila in 11 species and represent a novel class of pheromones that has been largely overlooked. In desert-adapted drosophilids, 13 different TAGs are secreted exclusively by males from the ejaculatory bulb, transferred to females during mating, and function synergistically to inhibit courtship from other males. Sex-specific TAGs are comprised of at least one short branched tiglic acid and a long linear fatty acyl component, an unusual structural motif that has not been reported before in other natural products. The diversification of chemical cues used by desert-adapted Drosophila as pheromones may be related to their specialized diet of fermenting cacti. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01751.001
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spelling pubmed-39481092014-03-13 Sex-specific triacylglycerides are widely conserved in Drosophila and mediate mating behavior Chin, Jacqueline SR Ellis, Shane R Pham, Huong T Blanksby, Stephen J Mori, Kenji Koh, Qi Ling Etges, William J Yew, Joanne Y eLife Biochemistry Pheromones play an important role in the behavior, ecology, and evolution of many organisms. The structure of many insect pheromones typically consists of a hydrocarbon backbone, occasionally modified with various functional oxygen groups. Here we show that sex-specific triacylclyerides (TAGs) are broadly conserved across the subgenus Drosophila in 11 species and represent a novel class of pheromones that has been largely overlooked. In desert-adapted drosophilids, 13 different TAGs are secreted exclusively by males from the ejaculatory bulb, transferred to females during mating, and function synergistically to inhibit courtship from other males. Sex-specific TAGs are comprised of at least one short branched tiglic acid and a long linear fatty acyl component, an unusual structural motif that has not been reported before in other natural products. The diversification of chemical cues used by desert-adapted Drosophila as pheromones may be related to their specialized diet of fermenting cacti. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01751.001 eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2014-03-11 /pmc/articles/PMC3948109/ /pubmed/24618898 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01751 Text en Copyright © 2014, Chin et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Biochemistry
Chin, Jacqueline SR
Ellis, Shane R
Pham, Huong T
Blanksby, Stephen J
Mori, Kenji
Koh, Qi Ling
Etges, William J
Yew, Joanne Y
Sex-specific triacylglycerides are widely conserved in Drosophila and mediate mating behavior
title Sex-specific triacylglycerides are widely conserved in Drosophila and mediate mating behavior
title_full Sex-specific triacylglycerides are widely conserved in Drosophila and mediate mating behavior
title_fullStr Sex-specific triacylglycerides are widely conserved in Drosophila and mediate mating behavior
title_full_unstemmed Sex-specific triacylglycerides are widely conserved in Drosophila and mediate mating behavior
title_short Sex-specific triacylglycerides are widely conserved in Drosophila and mediate mating behavior
title_sort sex-specific triacylglycerides are widely conserved in drosophila and mediate mating behavior
topic Biochemistry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3948109/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24618898
http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01751
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