Proteins and peptides as pheromone signals and chemical signatures

Wyatt, Tristram D.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.07.025

Cited by 88 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…Finally, biologically relevant chemical cues can be transferred in a variety of ways, from volatile substances recognized by olfaction to chemicals that act when two individuals are in physical contact (41). Because adult female fur seals and their pups conduct nasonasal inspections during the recognition procedure (20), it is possible that some of the chemicals may act through contact.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical fingerprints encode mother–offspring similarity, colony membership, relatedness, and genetic quality in fur seals

Stoffel

Caspers

Forcada

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

128

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Chemical communication underpins virtually all aspects of vertebrate social life, yet remains poorly understood because of its highly complex mechanistic basis. We therefore used chemical fingerprinting of skin swabs and genetic analysis to explore the chemical cues that may underlie mother-offspring recognition in colonially breeding Antarctic fur seals. By sampling mother-offspring pairs from two different colonies, using a variety of statistical approaches and genotyping a large panel of microsatellite loci, we show that colony membership, mother-offspring similarity, heterozygosity, and genetic relatedness are all chemically encoded. Moreover, chemical similarity between mothers and offspring reflects a combination of genetic and environmental influences, the former partly encoded by substances resembling known pheromones. Our findings reveal the diversity of information contained within chemical fingerprints and have implications for understanding mother-offspring communication, kin recognition, and mate choice. Olfaction in particular is fundamental to animal communication, mediating social interactions as varied as territorial behavior, kin recognition, and mate choice (1). Metabolomic tools, such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) have made it possible to generate individual-specific chemical "fingerprints." By separating compounds and quantifying their relative abundances, these fingerprints provide a wealth of information, even though not all compounds can necessarily be identified. Both volatile and contact cues are potentially hidden within the extreme complexity of chemical profiles, which is why a mechanistic understanding of chemical communication is still lacking in natural vertebrate populations (2).In particular, "surprisingly little progress" has been made in understanding the link between vertebrate chemical fingerprints and genotype (2). Experimental studies have shown that females of several species are capable of discriminating potential partners based on olfactory cues (3-5). However, very few studies have demonstrated a convincing link between the molecular composition of chemical fingerprints and genetic traits, such as heterozygosity (a measure of genetic quality) and relatedness (6-9). These studies were almost exclusively conducted on a captive population of lemurs, a species known for its conspicuous use of scent marking.A functional understanding of how genotype is chemically encoded also requires knowledge of how many and which types of substances are involved. This is challenging because, especially in natural populations, an individual's mixture of surface chemicals is not only the product of its genotype but may also be mediated by hormones, the microbial flora, body condition, and environmental factors (2). Thus, analyses based on overall chemical fingerprints may overlook subtle genetic signatures and make little if any headway toward identifying the specific substances involved. A second less-appreciated problem is that the modest panels of around 10-15 microsat...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical fingerprints encode mother–offspring similarity, colony membership, relatedness, and genetic quality in fur seals

Stoffel

Caspers

Forcada

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

128

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“…refs 5, 6, 7. Despite growing knowledge of the molecular identity of odours involved in social and sexual communication in mammals8910, molecules involved in odour-based species recognition remain elusive. The present study addresses this question in the framework of incipient speciation between the two European subspecies of the house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus and M. m. musculus (hereafter domesticus and musculus )111213.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular heterogeneity in major urinary proteins of Mus musculus subspecies: potential candidates involved in speciation

Hurst

Beynon

Armstrong

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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When hybridisation carries a cost, natural selection is predicted to favour evolution of traits that allow assortative mating (reinforcement). Incipient speciation between the two European house mouse subspecies, Mus musculus domesticus and M.m.musculus, sharing a hybrid zone, provides an opportunity to understand evolution of assortative mating at a molecular level. Mouse urine odours allow subspecific mate discrimination, with assortative preferences evident in the hybrid zone but not in allopatry. Here we assess the potential of MUPs (major urinary proteins) as candidates for signal divergence by comparing MUP expression in urine samples from the Danish hybrid zone border (contact) and from allopatric populations. Mass spectrometric characterisation identified novel MUPs in both subspecies involving mostly new combinations of amino acid changes previously observed in M.m.domesticus. The subspecies expressed distinct MUP signatures, with most MUPs expressed by only one subspecies. Expression of at least eight MUPs showed significant subspecies divergence both in allopatry and contact zone. Another seven MUPs showed divergence in expression between the subspecies only in the contact zone, consistent with divergence by reinforcement. These proteins are candidates for the semiochemical barrier to hybridisation, providing an opportunity to characterise the nature and evolution of a putative species recognition signal.

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“…Chemical communication is an important sensory modality that is used by many terrestrial and aquatic species to successfully perform a range of activities that enhance their ability to survive and reproduce (Cross, Blumstein, & Rosell, 2013; Lemasson, Mikus, Blois‐Heulin, & Lodé, 2013; Wyatt, 2014). For example, many organisms use olfaction for interspecific communication, which is essential for recognizing and discriminating between group and nongroup members (Billingham, Chapple, Sunnucks, & Wong, 2009) or for identifying potential competitors (Carazo, Font, & Desfilis, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, many organisms use olfaction for interspecific communication, which is essential for recognizing and discriminating between group and nongroup members (Billingham, Chapple, Sunnucks, & Wong, 2009) or for identifying potential competitors (Carazo, Font, & Desfilis, 2008). Further, both aquatic and terrestrial species rely on chemical signals to identify potential mates (e.g., Wyatt, 2014). In aquatic habitats, the disruption of this sensory modality driven by the alteration of the chemical environment has been widely explored (reviewed in Billingham et al., 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increased temperature disrupts chemical communication in some species but not others: The importance of local adaptation and distribution

Iglesias‐Carrasco

Head

Martı́n

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Environmental conditions experienced by a species during its evolutionary history may shape the signals it uses for communication. Consequently, rapid environmental changes may lead to less effective signals, which interfere with communication between individuals, altering life history traits such as predator detection and mate searching. Increased temperature can reduce the efficacy of scent marks released by male lizards, but the extent to which this negative effect is related to specific biological traits and evolutionary histories across species and populations have not been explored. We experimentally tested how increased temperature affects the efficacy of chemical signals of high‐ and low‐altitude populations of three lizard species that differ in their ecological requirements and altitudinal distributions. We tested the behavioral chemosensory responses of males from each species and population to male scent marks that had been incubated at one of two temperatures (cold 16°C or hot 20°C). In high‐altitude populations of a mountain species (Iberolacerta monticola), the efficacy of chemical signals (i.e., latency time and number of tongue flicks) was lower after scent marks had been exposed to a hot temperature. The temperature that scent marks were incubated at did not affect the efficacy of chemical signals in a ubiquitous species (Podarcis muralis) or another mountain species (I. bonalli). Our results suggest that specific ecological traits arising through local adaptation to restricted distributions may be important in determining species vulnerability to climatic change.

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Proteins and peptides as pheromone signals and chemical signatures

Cited by 88 publications

References 92 publications

Chemical fingerprints encode mother–offspring similarity, colony membership, relatedness, and genetic quality in fur seals

Chemical fingerprints encode mother–offspring similarity, colony membership, relatedness, and genetic quality in fur seals

Molecular heterogeneity in major urinary proteins of Mus musculus subspecies: potential candidates involved in speciation

Increased temperature disrupts chemical communication in some species but not others: The importance of local adaptation and distribution

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