Abstract
The female silkmoth Bombyx mori L. emits a second pheromone component bombykal (E-10, Z-12-hexade-cadien-1-al) in addition to the well-known sexual attractant bombykol (E-10, Z-12-hexadecadien-1-ol). Bombykal stimulates its own specialized and highly sensitive olfactory cells of the male moth. Surprisingly, the aldehyde inhibits the release of the male's wing-fluttering response to bombykol.
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Each gland also contains 31 ng of the E,E isomer of bombykol [(E)-10, (E)-12-hexadecadienol; see Kasang, G., Schäfer, W., Schneider, D.: Naturwissenschaften 65, 337 (1978)
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As a starting point for the comparison of our test concentrations with those expected in the wild, a single female gland placed in our apparatus at an airstream velocity of 1 m/s releases about as much bombykol as our standard filter-paper source carrying 0.1 μg bombykol. These considerations underline the importance of studies of related wild species
Bombykal is very unlikely to have been one of the three gaschromatograph fractions found to elicit behavioral responses by Anders, F., Bayer, E.: Biol. Zentralbl. 78, 584 (1959). One reason is that the bombykal concentration would probably not have been sufficient for an excitatory effect under their experimental conditions. In addition, bombykal can be excluded on the basis of gaschromatograph retention times [7]
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We thank Dr. M. Trevisan, Istituto sperimentale per la Zoologia Agraria, Sezione specializzata per la Bachicoltura, Padova, Italy, for supplying silkworm pupae; other pupae came from Taiwan. We also thank C. Zack, E. Priesner, and especially M.A. Biederman-Thorson and J. Thorson for discussion and many helpful suggestions regarding the manuscript, and U. Rager and C. Heimann for technical assistance.
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Kaissling, K.E., Kasang, G., Bestmann, H.J. et al. A new pheromone of the silkworm moth Bombyx mori . Naturwissenschaften 65, 382–384 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00439702
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00439702