Olfactory effects of a hypervariable multicomponent pheromone in the red-legged salamander, Plethodon shermani.

ABSTRACT: Chemical communication via chemosensory signaling is an essential process for promoting and modifying reproductive behavior in many species. During courtship in plethodontid salamanders, males deliver a mixture of non-volatile proteinaceous pheromones that activate chemosensory neurons in the vomeronasal epithelium (VNE) and increase female receptivity. One component of this mixture, Plethodontid Modulating Factor (PMF), is a hypervariable pheromone expressed as more than 30 unique isoforms that differ between individual males-likely driven by co-evolution with female receptors to promote gene duplication and positive selection of the PMF gene complex. Courtship trials with females receiving different PMF isoform mixtures had variable effects on female mating receptivity, with only the mos

SUBMITTER: Wilburn DB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5373537 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature