Sex-Linked Transcription Factor Involved in a Shift of Sex-Pheromone Preference in the Silkmoth Bombyx Mori
Sex-linked transcription factor involved in a shift of sex-pheromone preference in the silkmoth Bombyx mori Tsuguru Fujiia, Takeshi Fujiib, Shigehiro Namikic, Hiroaki Abed, Takeshi Sakuraic, Akio Ohnumae, Ryohei Kanzakic, Susumu Katsumaa, Yukio Ishikawab, and Toru Shimadaa,1 aLaboratory of Insect Genetics and Bioscience, Department of Agricultural and Environmental Biology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan; bLaboratory of Applied Entomology, Department of Agricultural and Environmental Biology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan; cResearch Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 153-8904, Japan; dLaboratory of Insect Functional Biochemistry, Department of Biological Production, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan; and eInstitute of Sericulture, Ami, Ibaraki 300-0324, Japan Edited by John G. Hildebrand, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, and approved September 26, 2011 (received for review June 9, 2011) In the sex-pheromone communication systems of moths, odorant The silkmoth Bombyx mori has been used as a model for receptor (Or) specificity as well as higher olfactory information studying sex-pheromone communication systems in moths. B. mori processing in males should be finely tuned to the pheromone of females secrete an ∼11:1 mixture of bombykol [(E,Z)-10,12- conspecific females. Accordingly, male sex-pheromone preference hexadecadien-1-ol] and bombykal [(E,Z)-10,12-hexadecadien- should have diversified along with the diversification of female 1-al] from the pheromone gland (14). Bombykol alone elicits sex pheromones; however, the genetic mechanisms that facili- full courtship behavior in males, whereas bombykal alone shows tated the diversification of male preference are not well un- no apparent activity (14).
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