Inset: mass spectrum of the most abundant female-specific compound ].
This led us to hypothesize that the production of mono-unsaturated aldehydes with a double bond in position 4 was linked to oxidation of di-unsaturated cuticular hydrocarbons.
Since Or69a A and Or69a B are more similar to each other than to other Ors, it is conceivable that the Or69a A exon has arisen from a duplication of the ancestral Or69a B exon, which is found throughout ].
The strain energy required for any compound to assume a steric conformation that aligns with an active ligand should typically not exceed 5 kcal/mol [ co-occur in the same habitat and use partially overlapping food resources.
The very rarely occurring hybrid matings are sterile; the antagonistic interaction between pheromone and food stimulus might therefore be adaptive and point towards a contributing role of Or69a in reproductive isolation.
A tentative explanation for the significantly reduced attraction response of ], and the interaction between these input channels with Or69a may be sexually dimorphic.
Last, but not least, attraction to habitats involves many other odorants that may further modulate attraction to ).