Chemical studies of pheromone receptors in insects

✍ Scribed by Dr. Glenn D. Prestwich

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 684 KB
• Volume: 22
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0739-4462
• DOI: 10.1002/arch.940220108

✦ Synopsis

In the current molecular model for insect olfaction, pheromones are recognized in a minimum-energy conformation by specific receptor proteins in a dendritic membrane following their binding-protein-mediated transit through the extracel-M a r sensory lymph. Binding to the receptor protein then triggers a G-proteinlinked phospholipase C, which releases a short pulse of the second messenger inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3). lP3 may act via its receptor to mobilize Ca' + ions, eventually leading to a transmembrane ion current; alternatively, l P3 may directly gate the ion channel. To understand this process, we have synthesized photoaffinity labels for the pheromone receptor sites and for the lP3 receptor sites. The latter probe, ['251]-ASA-IP3, is now being employed in joint projects to identify membrane IP3 receptors in the rat brain, locust brain, rat olfactory cilia, catfish olfactory cilia, and in cockroach and moth sensilla. Fluorine-substituted pheromone analogs have also been synthesized as probes of receptor site hydrophobicity. The rationale for this approach i s presented, and biological studies with selectively-fluorinated analogs of (Z)-S-decenyl acetate (ZS-lO:Ac), (Z)-7-dodecenyl acetate (27-1 2:Ac), (Z)-9-dodecenyl acetate (Z9-12:Ac), (Zl-g-tetradecenyl acetate (Z9-14:Ac), (Z)-11 -hexadecenal (Z11-16:AI), and several functional group derivatives for a number of economically important moth species are described.