ArticleNature communications2013
A nonspecific defensive compound evolves into a competition avoidance cue and a female sex pheromone.
Article in Nature communications, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed.
- Microbial Odorant Detection Guides Drosophila Parasitoids Seeking Hosts in Fermenting Fruits.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Nudibranch Cadlina rumia discriminates waterborne cues to find prey and conspecifics and avoid threats.BMC zoology · 2026Article
- Harnessing semiochemicals for parasitoid-based biological control: from laboratory identification to field applications.Crop health · 2025Review
- Four Neurotoxic Insecticides Impair Partner and Host Finding in the Parasitoid Leptopilina heterotoma and Bioactive Doses Can Be Taken up Via the Host.Journal of chemical ecology · 2025Article
- Defensive tactics: lessons from Drosophila.Biology open · 2024Review
- An odorant receptor mediates the avoidance of Plutella xylostella against parasitoid.BMC biology · 2024Article
- TheEcology and evolution · 2023Review
- Sex pheromone communication in an insect parasitoid,Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Compression principle and Zipf's Law of brevity in infochemical communication.Biology letters · 2022Article
- Latest Developments in Insect Sex Pheromone Research and Its Application in Agricultural Pest Management.Insects · 2021Review
- Neuropeptide F signaling regulates parasitoid-specific germline development and egg-laying in Drosophila.PLoS genetics · 2021Article
- Article
- The Role of (Insects · 2020Article
- Distinct Roles of Cuticular Aldehydes as Pheromonal Cues in Two Cotesia Parasitoids.Journal of chemical ecology · 2020Article
- AreEcology and evolution · 2019Article
- The Combined Use of an Attractive and a Repellent Sex Pheromonal Component by a Gregarious Parasitoid.Journal of chemical ecology · 2019Article
- Semiochemicals Mediating Defense, Intraspecific Competition, and Mate Finding in Leptopilina ryukyuensis and L. japonica (Hymenoptera: Figitidae), Parasitoids of Drosophila.Journal of chemical ecology · 2019Article
- Carabidae Semiochemistry: Current and Future Directions.Journal of chemical ecology · 2018Review
- Interference of chemical defence and sexual communication can shape the evolution of chemical signals.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- Environmentally vulnerable noble chafers exhibit unusual pheromone-mediated behaviour.PloS one · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The evolution of chemical communication and the origin of pheromones are among the most challenging issues in chemical ecology. Current theory predicts that chemical communication can arise from compounds primarily evolved for non-communicative purposes but experimental evidence showing a gradual evolution of non-informative compounds into cues and true signals is scarce. Here we report that females of the parasitic wasp Leptopilina heterotoma use the defensive compound (-)-iridomyrmecin as a semiochemical cue to avoid interference with con- and heterospecific competitors and as the main component of a species-specific sex pheromone. Although competition avoidance is mediated by (-)-iridomyrmecin alone, several structurally related minor compounds are necessary for reliable mate attraction and recognition. Our findings provide insights into the evolution of insect pheromones by demonstrating that the increasing specificity of chemical information is accompanied by an increasing complexity of the chemical messengers involved and the evolution of the chemosensory adaptations for their exploitation.
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