Kamil VLCEK, Blanka KALINOVA, Michal HOSKOVEC
Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Flemingovo nam. 2, 166 10 Praha 6, Czech Republic
In the large sphinx moth Manduca sexta, 8 components have been identified in thc female sex pheromone: hexadecanal, 3 isomeric hexadecenals, 2 isomeric hexadecadienals, and 2 isomeric hexadecatrienals. Recent field studies revealed that all components play an important role in male orientation to the odor source. The flagellum of the male antenna comprises about 80 annul), each carrying long male- specific sensillae trichodeae type I, which are organized as two arches, dorsal and ventral, opened towards the leading edge of the annulus. Second type, short scosillac trichodeae type II, are located inside of these arches. The type-I hairs house dendrites of a pair of olfactory receptor cells. One cell is specific for E10,Z12-16:AI (bombykal - the most prominent component in the pheromone blend) while the second one for one of the two hexadecatrienals in the pheromone blend (1). To our knowledge, nothing is known about peripheral perception of the remaining five components.
So far six components of the pheromone blend (all except the two hexadecatrienals) have been synthesized in our laboratory. According to our EAC, measurement thc male antenna responds to all of them. During preliminary ESG, experiments we observed responses to all of these six components in sensilla trichocle I. Because in Manduca sexta individual cells cannot be distinguished by the height their spike, additional adaptation EAG and ESG experiments are under investigation to figure out which receptor cell in sensilla responds to individual components.
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