A male-derived volatile sex pheromone in <Caenorhabditis> nematodes identified through its mimicry by a predator
Gronquist, M. R.; Wan, X.; Leighton, D.; Togawa, Y.; Sagawa, M.; Sternberg, P. W.; Schroeder, F. C.; Shinya, R.
Show abstract
Recent studies demonstrated that the predacious fungi Arthrobotrys oligospora emits a mixture of volatile chemical cues that function to attract nematode prey. The strong attraction elicited by one of the mixture components, methyl 3-methyl-2-butenoate (MMB), was highly female- and hermaphrodite-specific within several Caenorhabditis species, including C. remanei and C. elegans, suggesting that MMB might function as a mimic of an endogenous, male-produced, volatile sex pheromone (VSP) within these species. Here, we report evidence that MMB is produced by C. remanei males at levels that are attractive to C. remanei females and C. elegans hermaphrodites. Notably, MMB production was not detected for C. elegans males; a finding which correlates with behavioral assays for which worm-conditioned media (WCM) prepared from C. remanei, but not from C. elegans adult males is strongly attractive to both C. remanei females and C. elegans hermaphrodites. Our findings establish MMB as the first chemically identified VSP in nematodes and show that A. oligospora exploits a dual strategy of chemical deception--mimicry and eavesdropping--to enhance prey capture.
Matching journals
The top 7 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.
Similar papers in this journal
Similar papers in this journal
- Identification of a Female-produced Sex Attractant Pheromone of the Winter Firefly, Photinus corrusca 94%
- Recognition of an appropriate mating partner using cuticular hydrocarbons in a species with an extreme intra-sexual dimorphism 94%
- Coupling transcriptomics and behaviour to unveil the olfactory system of Spodoptera exigua larvae 90%
Similar papers in this journal
- Sugar alcohols have the potential as bee-safe feeding stimulants for wasp control 93%
- Characterisation of aphid antixenosis in aphid-resistant ancestor wheat, Triticum monococcum 92%
- Development of an eco-friendly RNAi yeast attractive targeted sugar bait that silences the Shaker gene in spotted-wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii 92%
Similar papers in this journal
- Oxidative stress delays development and alters gene function in the agricultural pest moth, Helicoverpa armigera 92%
- Genetic divergence and phenotypic plasticity contribute to variation in cuticular hydrocarbons in the seaweed fly C. frigida 91%
- Variation in social feeding behavior and interactions among Caenorhabditis nematodes 91%
Similar papers in this journal
"Similar papers" are the closest papers from that journal in the model's embedding space. They show what the match is built on, but the ranking comes mostly from a classifier over the whole training set, not from these examples alone.