Author
Listed:
- Ingmar Weiss
(University of Regensburg, Institute for Zoology, Universitätsstraße 31)
- Thomas Rössler
(University of Regensburg, Institute for Zoology, Universitätsstraße 31)
- John Hofferberth
(Kenyon College)
- Michael Brummer
(University of Regensburg, Institute for Zoology, Universitätsstraße 31)
- Joachim Ruther
(University of Regensburg, Institute for Zoology, Universitätsstraße 31)
- Johannes Stökl
(University of Regensburg, Institute for Zoology, Universitätsstraße 31)
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.
Suggested Citation
Ingmar Weiss & Thomas Rössler & John Hofferberth & Michael Brummer & Joachim Ruther & Johannes Stökl, 2013.
"A nonspecific defensive compound evolves into a competition avoidance cue and a female sex pheromone,"
Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-11, December.
Handle:
RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3767
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3767
Download full text from publisher
Corrections
All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms3767. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through
the various RePEc services.