We recently synthesized all stereoisomers of 1,10-bisaboladien-3-ol and 10,11-epoxy-1-bisabolen-3-ol, including three stink bug pheromones, via a rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric addition of trimethylaluminum to diastereomeric mixtures of cyclohex-2-enones. However, yields of trans isomers were low, and scaling reactions using expensive catalysts were cumbersome. Now we describe a new synthesis of ...

The minimal amount of pheromones necessary and sufficient to deterministically find a treasure (food) by a colony of ants, each modeled by either a Finite State Machine or a Turing Machine, is considered. The k mobile agents (ants), initially located at the origin (nest) of an infinite grid, communicate only through pheromones to perform a collaborative search for an adversarially hidden treasu...

Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is a population based heuristic search method for finding global optimal values in multi-disciplinary design optimization problems. PSO is based on simple social behavior exhibited by birds and insects. Due to its simplicity in implementation, PSO has been increasingly gaining popularity in the optimization community. Previous work by the authors demonstrated s...

In most species of social insect the queen signals her presence to her workers via pheromones. Worker responses to queen pheromones include retinue formation around the queen, inhibition of queen cell production and suppression of worker ovary activation. Here we show that the queen signal of the Brazilian stingless bee Friesella schrottkyi is a mixture of cuticular hydrocarbons. Stingless bees...

The regulation of female reproductive behaviors may involve memories of male pheromone signatures, formed in part by neural circuitry involving the olfactory bulb and hippocampus. These neural structures are the principal sites of adult neurogenesis; however, previous studies point to their independent regulation by sensory and physiological stimuli. Here we report that the pheromones of domina...

The present review assesses the phylogenetic history of information molecules (bioregulators pheromones, hormones, neuroactive compounds), receptors, transducers, second messengers) in uni- and multicellular organisms. Transitional stages between contemporary endocrine secretions including hormones and neuroactive materials, and primogenial exocrine compounds (pheromones) are proposed. Severalh...

Many fish species employ hormonal products as sex pheromones, and these cues are often mixtures that are released with a temporal pattern. This behavior is strikingly similar to that of insects, as moths use precise blends of odorants as sex pheromones and are skillful at tracking them in spite of changes in odor intensity associated with aerial dispersal. New studies in both groups of animals ...

Route learning is key to the survival of many central place foragers, such as bees and many ants. For ants which lay pheromone trails, the presence of a trail may act as an important source of information about whether an error has been made. The presence of trail pheromone has been demonstrated to support route learning, and the effect of pheromones on route choice have been reported to persis...

Molecular identification of sex pheromones in marine crustaceans has proven to be very difficult, and so far no unequivocal identification for any decapod crustacean has been published. Some of these difficulties are common to other animals – pheromones are often blends of molecules at low concentrations. Some difficulties are more specific to marine crustaceans – pheromones are often small and...

Pheromone binding proteins (PBPs) play an important role in olfaction of insects by transporting sex pheromones across the sensillum lymph to odorant receptors. To obtain a better understanding of the molecular basis between PBPs and semiochemicals, we have cloned, expressed, and purified two PBPs (CpunPBP2 and CpunPBP5) from the antennae of Conogethes punctiferalis. Fluorescence competitive bi...