ArticleBMC biology2017
A Drosophila female pheromone elicits species-specific long-range attraction via an olfactory channel with dual specificity for sex and food.
Article in BMC biology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers.
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46 citing papers in PubMed.
- Drosophila melanogaster Fly Odors Alone are not Sufficient to Attract other Flies.Journal of chemical ecology · 2026Article
- Cryo-EM structures of Drosophila OR67d-Orco complexes reveal insect pheromone sensing mechanism.Cell research · 2026Article
- Article
- Convergent motifs of early olfactory processing are recapitulated by layer-wise efficient coding.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Review
- Convergent motifs of early olfactory processing are recapitulated by layer-wise efficient coding.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Pollination by sexual deception via pro-pheromone mimicry?The New phytologist · 2025Article
- Functional Characterization of a Female-Biased Chemoreceptor of the Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella) Responding to Aldehydes and Other Volatile Compounds.Journal of chemical ecology · 2025Article
- Function and evolution of Ir52 receptors in mate detection in Drosophila.Current biology : CB · 2024Article
- Further Evidence That FemaleInsects · 2024Article
- Chemical and Electrophysiological Characterisation of Headspace Volatiles from Yeasts Attractive to Drosophila suzukii.Journal of chemical ecology · 2024Article
- Sex Pheromone Mediates Resource Partitioning BetweenEvolutionary applications · 2024Article
- Qualitative and Quantitative Sex-Related Differences in the Perception of Single Molecules from Coffee Headspace.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Mutagenesis of Odorant Receptor CoreceptorInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Investigating Photo-Degradation as a Potential Pheromone Production Pathway in Spotted Lanternfly,Insects · 2023Article
- Aggregation pheromones have a non-linear effect on oviposition behavior in Drosophila melanogaster.Nature communications · 2023Article
- A volatile sex attractant of tsetse flies.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2023Article
- Heterologous investigation of metabotropic and ionotropic odorant receptors in ab3A neurons ofFrontiers in molecular biosciences · 2023Article
- Review
- Neural Control of Action Selection Among Innate Behaviors.Neuroscience bulletin · 2022Review
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14 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMate finding and recognition in animals evolves during niche adaptation and involves social signals and habitat cues. Drosophila melanogaster and related species are known to be attracted to fermenting fruit for feeding and egg-laying, which poses the question of whether species-specific fly odours contribute to long-range premating communication.
resultsWe have discovered an olfactory channel in D. melanogaster with a dual affinity to sex and food odorants. Female flies release a pheromone, (Z)-4-undecenal (Z4-11Al), that elicits flight attraction in both sexes. Its biosynthetic precursor is the cuticular hydrocarbon (Z,Z)-7,11-heptacosadiene (7,11-HD), which is known to afford reproductive isolation between the sibling species D. melanogaster and D. simulans during courtship. Twin olfactory receptors, Or69aB and Or69aA, are tuned to Z4-11Al and food odorants, respectively. They are co-expressed in the same olfactory sensory neurons, and feed into a neural circuit mediating species-specific, long-range communication; however, the close relative D. simulans, which shares food resources with D. melanogaster, does not respond to Z4-11Al.
conclusionThe Or69aA and Or69aB isoforms have adopted dual olfactory traits. The underlying gene yields a collaboration between natural and sexual selection, which has the potential to drive speciation.
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