500,000 scent glands of the female silkmoth (Bombyx mori) were needed to elucidate the molecular structure of bombycol.[1]Structural formula of bombycol, the first clearly chemically identified insect pheromone
Insect pheromones are neurotransmitters that serve the chemical communication between individuals of an insect species. They thus differ from kairomones, in other words, neurotransmitters that transmit information to non-species organisms. Insects produce pheromones in special glands and release them into the environment. In the pheromone receptors of the sensory cells of the recipient, they produce a nerve stimulus even in very low concentrations, which ultimately leads to a behavioral response. Intraspecific communication of insects via these substances takes place in a variety of ways and serves, among other things, to find sexual partner, to maintain harmony in a colony of socially living insects, to mark territories or to find nest sites and food sources.
In 1959, the German biochemist and Nobel Prize winner Adolf Butenandt identified and synthesized the unsaturated fatty alcohol bombycol, the sex pheromone of the domestic silk moth (Bombyx mori), as the first known insect pheromone. The sex pheromones of female butterflies are mostly mono- or bis-olefinic fatty acids or their esters, fatty alcohols, their esters or the corresponding aldehydes. Male butterflies use a wide range of chemicals as sex pheromones, for example pyrrolizidine alkaloids, terpenes and aromatic compounds such as benzaldehyde.
Research into the chemical communication of insects is expanding our understanding of how they locate their food sources or places to lay eggs. For example, beekeepers use an artificially produced Nasanov pheromone containing terpenes such as geraniol and citral to attract bees to an unused hive. The agriculture and forestry industries use insect pheromones commercially in pest control using insect traps to prevent egg laying and in practicing the mating disruption. It is expected that insect pheromones can also contribute in this way to the control of insect-borne infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever or African trypanosomiasis.
^Gossauer, Albert (2006). Struktur und Reaktivität der Biomoleküle. Zurich: Helvetica Chimica Acta. p. 134. ISBN 978-3-906390-29-1.
to non-species organisms. Insects produce pheromones in special glands and release them into the environment. In the pheromone receptors of the sensory...
There are alarm pheromones, food trail pheromones, sex pheromones, and many others that affect behavior or physiology. Pheromones are used by many organisms...
A pheromone trap is a type of insect trap that uses pheromones to lure insects. Sex pheromones and aggregating pheromones are the most common types used...
vapor. Honey bee pheromones can be grouped into releaser pheromones which temporarily affect the recipient's behavior, and primer pheromones which have a...
as pheromones, especially in social insects. Pheromones are of two main kinds: primer pheromones, which generate a long-duration change in the insect that...
Trail pheromones are semiochemicals secreted from the body of an individual to affect the behavior of another individual receiving it. Trail pheromones often...
is sometimes managed by a set of pheromones that alter the behavior of specific castes in the colony. These pheromones may act across different species...
The Nasonov (alternatively, Nasanov) pheromone is released by worker bees to orient returning forager bees back to the colony. To broadcast this scent...
shapes to attract pests. Chemical attractants or pheromones may attract only a specific sex. Insect traps are sometimes used in pest management programs...
relating to the queen mandibular pheromones. Replicating the effects of queen mandibular pheromones, the strips and pheromones itself was shown to increase...
Oleic acid is a fatty acid that occurs naturally in various animal and vegetable fats and oils. It is an odorless, colorless oil, although commercial samples...
compound include chocolate, buckwheat, flowers, and communication pheromones from various insect orders. It is notable for being a floral attractant for numerous...
Besides being a natural constituent of plants, it and its analogs are insectpheromones. In particular, verbenone when formulated in a long-lasting matrix...
Dimethylamine is an organic compound with the formula (CH3)2NH. This secondary amine is a colorless, flammable gas with an ammonia-like odor. Dimethylamine...
guarding their eggs and young. Insects can communicate with each other in a variety of ways. Male moths can sense the pheromones of female moths over great...
may also have an attractive scent which in some cases mimics insectpheromones. Insect pollinators such as bees have adaptations for their role, such...
Cetyl alcohol /ˈsiːtəl/, also known as hexadecan-1-ol and palmityl alcohol, is a C-16 fatty alcohol with the formula CH3(CH2)15OH. At room temperature...
Pantoea agglomerans (Enterobacter). It is one of the main components of the pheromones that cause locust swarming. Methoxyphenols are potential biomarkers of...
acetate is released by a honey bee's sting apparatus where it serves as a pheromone beacon to attract other bees and provoke them to sting. Isoamyl acetate...
orchid bees. It is collected and used by the bees as an intra-specific pheromone; In apiculture benzyl acetate is used as a bait to collect bees. Natural...
Unlike pheromones, allomones harm the receiver at the benefit of the producer. This grouping encompasses the chemical arsenal that numerous insects employ...
increase the attractive effect of pheromones of cohabiting insect species that protect plants from attacking insect species. For example, corn plants...
esters are used in the perfume industry and have been identified as insectpheromones. Lavandulyl acetate Sakauchi, Hiroyuki; Kiyota, Hiromasa; Takigawa...
sex pheromones. A principal component thereof, (Z)-7-dodecen-1-yl acetate, has also been found to be a sex pheromone in numerous species of insects. In...
Methylparaben serves as a pheromone for a variety of insects and is a component of queen mandibular pheromone. It is a pheromone in wolves produced[clarification...
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