Symbiotic skin bacteria as a source for sex-specific scents in frogs.

ABSTRACT: Amphibians are known to possess a wide variety of compounds stored in their skin glands. While significant progress has been made in understanding the chemical diversity and biological relevance of alkaloids, amines, steroids, and peptides, most aspects of the odorous secretions are completely unknown. In this study, we examined sexual variations in the volatile profile from the skin of the tree frog Boana prasina and combined culture and culture-independent methods to investigate if microorganisms might be a source of these compounds. We found that sesquiterpenes, thioethers, and methoxypyrazines are major contributors to the observed sex differences. We also observed that each sex has a distinct profile of methoxypyrazines, and that the chemical origin of these compounds can be tr

SUBMITTER: Brunetti AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6369798 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature