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

Jacqueline S R Chin, Shane R Ellis, Huong T Pham, Stephen J Blanksby, Kenji Mori, Qi Ling Koh, William J Etges, Joanne Y Yew

eLife 2014 Mar 11

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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.

Citation

Jacqueline S R Chin, Shane R Ellis, Huong T Pham, Stephen J Blanksby, Kenji Mori, Qi Ling Koh, William J Etges, Joanne Y Yew. Sex-specific triacylglycerides are widely conserved in Drosophila and mediate mating behavior. eLife. 2014 Mar 11;3:e01751