title: Pheromone evolution and sexual behavior in Drosophila are shaped by male sensory exploitation of other males.
abstract: Animals exhibit a spectacular array of traits to attract mates. Understanding the evolutionary origins of sexual features and preferences is a fundamental problem in evolutionary biology, and the mechanisms remain highly controversial. In some species, females choose mates based on direct benefits conferred by the male to the female and her offspring. Thus, female preferences are thought to originate and coevolve with male traits. In contrast, sensory exploitation occurs when expression of a male trait takes advantage of preexisting sensory biases in females. Here, we document in Drosophila a previously unidentified example of sensory exploitation of males by other males through the use of the sex pheromone CH503. We use mass spectrometry, high-performance liquid chromatography, and behavioral analysis to demonstrate that an antiaphrodisiac produced by males of the melanogaster subgroup also is effective in distant Drosophila relatives that do not express the pheromone. We further show that species that produce the pheromone have become less sensitive to the compound, illustrating that sensory adaptation occurs after sensory exploitation. Our findings provide a mechanism for the origin of a sex pheromone and show that sensory exploitation changes male sexual behavior over evolutionary time.
authors: Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117604.
authors: Soon Hwee
authors: SH
authors: Ng
authors: Shruti
authors: S
authors: Shankar
authors: Yasumasa
authors: Y
authors: Shikichi
authors: Kazuaki
authors: K
authors: Akasaka
authors: Kenji
authors: K
authors: Mori
authors: Joanne Y
authors: JY
authors: Yew
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004330:Drosophila / Q000502:physiology*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D052586:Mating Preference, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D012724:Sex Attractants / Q000737:chemistry*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D012724:Sex Attractants
keywords: chiral pheromone; laser desorption/ionization; male–male competition; sexual selection; supernormal stimulus