RS also turns up in
the male sex pheromones of another species of wasp, N. giraulti, whereas RR appears to be unique.
When the scientists analyzed the N. vitripennis
male sex pheromone, they found it contained two important chemicals, which they call RS and RR.
Not exact matches
They discovered that
pheromones secreted by the
male mouse activate these neurons which, in turn, transmit this signal to another population of neurons (gonadotropin - releasing hormone neurons) to drive attraction to the opposite
sex.
After conducting a range of different experiments, the researchers discovered that some of the chemicals left behind by the females, called
sex pheromones, were largely responsible for keeping the
males awake.
«The overall message,» says Gries, «is that here is some great food to eat, and here is safety, because not only can they hear «live» rats, they can also smell the
male rat's
sex pheromone.
In the lab, and in field experiments, female brown rats readily enter trap boxes baited with the
male brown rat's
sex pheromone.
Using microelectrodes, the researchers recorded the electrical activity of
pheromone - sensitive interneurons in
male American cockroaches that relay signals of female - producing
sex pheromones in the antennal lobe (functional homolog to the mammalian olfactory bulb) to higher - order centers.
Simon Fraser University scientists have developed a new way to exterminate rats by identifying and synthetically replicating the
male brown rat's
sex pheromone.
A similar discovery in fruit flies, reported in an earlier independent study, which shows that a particular
sex pheromone enhances female sexual behaviors and
male aggression via separate neural circuits between the
sexes, suggests that a sexually distinct circuit may be a universal strategy for converting
male pheromone information into appropriate behavioral output.
Top: When
male mice detect the ESP1
sex pheromone, they display enhanced aggressive behavior toward other
male mice.
Unlike many other species,
male hunting spiders do not use chemical signals such as
sex pheromones to attract a mate.
The newest measure involves hijacking a
sex pheromone that
male lampreys use to attract females.
Many orchids are masters of sexual deception, tricking
male insects into pollinating their flowers by producing chemicals that precisely mimic female insects»
sex pheromones.
Sex pheromones wafting from a female's skin drive
males crazy, but how they work has long been a mystery.
To find out whether
sex hormones affect the number of neurons devoted to detecting female
pheromones, the researchers removed the testes from
male mice and the ovaries from females.
Maures et al. (p. 541, published online 29 November) explored why the presence of abundant mating - competent
males causes a decrease in the life span of nematodes of the opposite
sex and found that a secreted substance, possibly a
pheromone, reproduced the effect of the
males when transferred in the culture medium.
«The traps utilizing
sex pheromones to attract only
male cockroaches are not sufficient,» says Nishino.
In moths, females emit a species - specific
sex pheromone, consisting of a blend of biochemically related components, to which
males are attracted.
In contrast, the Drosophila
sex pheromone cVA is detected by both
sexes and elicits dimorphic behavior by routing the signal via different third order neuronal circuits deep in the brains of
males and females [19].
Megan Massa: Rapid Effects of Testosterone on Responsiveness to
Sex Pheromones in
Male Carassius auratus
In silk moths, this is achieved by only
males expressing the receptor BmOR - 1 in their antenna, which detects the female - specific
sex pheromone bombykol [18].
Thus diversity in receptor expression can explain differences in odor sensitivity, but does not appear to dictate whether
sex pheromones are differentially detected by
males or females.
Before then, they assumed that B. germanica didn't need a volatile
sex pheromone because the cockroaches live in close quarters where
males could easily find females, Schal says.
However the contraceptive pill tampers with this cycle, so your smell receptors aren't as responsive to the
male (or female)
pheromone, and may reduce your interest in
sex.