Structure and function of Dufour gland pheromones from the crazy ant Paratrechina longicornis

Volker Witte; Leif Abrell; Athula B. Attygalle; Xiaogang Wu; Jerrold Meinwald

doi:10.1007/s00049-006-0365-5

Structure and function of Dufour gland pheromones from the crazy ant Paratrechina longicornis

Volker Witte, Leif Abrell, Athula B. Attygalle, Xiaogang Wu, Jerrold Meinwald

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dufour glands of Paratrechina longicornis were analyzed chemically using GC-MS techniques. The glands contained twelve alkanes between C₉ and C₂₀ chain length with undecane and tridecane as the main components, six alkenes (1- and 4-undecene, 1-, 4-, and 6- tridecene, and heptadecadiene), two alkyl formates (C₁₁ and C₁₃), and saturated and polyunsaturated acids. Many of the alkanes and alkenes were behaviorally active causing a short lasting attraction of ants with different intensity. Detection of the major gland compound undecane in recruitment trails by in vivo SPME sampling provided evidence for its use as a recruitment pheromone. Both poison gland (formic acid) and Dufour gland (undecane) contents were detected on SPME fibers which had been attacked by the ants.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	63-69
Number of pages	7
Journal	Chemoecology
Volume	17
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-006-0365-5
State	Published - Mar 2007

Keywords

Alarm
Chemical communication
Dufour gland
Hydrocarbons
Paratrechina longicornis
Recruitment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Biochemistry

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10.1007/s00049-006-0365-5

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title = "Structure and function of Dufour gland pheromones from the crazy ant Paratrechina longicornis",

abstract = "Dufour glands of Paratrechina longicornis were analyzed chemically using GC-MS techniques. The glands contained twelve alkanes between C9 and C20 chain length with undecane and tridecane as the main components, six alkenes (1- and 4-undecene, 1-, 4-, and 6- tridecene, and heptadecadiene), two alkyl formates (C11 and C13), and saturated and polyunsaturated acids. Many of the alkanes and alkenes were behaviorally active causing a short lasting attraction of ants with different intensity. Detection of the major gland compound undecane in recruitment trails by in vivo SPME sampling provided evidence for its use as a recruitment pheromone. Both poison gland (formic acid) and Dufour gland (undecane) contents were detected on SPME fibers which had been attacked by the ants.",

keywords = "Alarm, Chemical communication, Dufour gland, Hydrocarbons, Paratrechina longicornis, Recruitment",

author = "Volker Witte and Leif Abrell and Attygalle, {Athula B.} and Xiaogang Wu and Jerrold Meinwald",

note = "Funding Information: We are grateful for financial support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Stevens Institute of Technology, and for a Chemistry Biosphere 2 Program grant from Office of the Executive Vice Provost of Columbia University (Michael Crow), Koji Nakanishi, Barry Osmond, and Edward P. Bass. Special thanks to W. Gronenberg (University of AZ, Tucson) for providing laboratory space for ant maintenance and bioassays and to Robin Polt (University of AZ, Tucson) for chemistry infrastructure support. LA was partially supported by NSF (CHE-0216226). We also thank Zack Blascak for mass spectrometry support and NSF for GC-TOFMS instrument acquisition support (CHE-0216226). We thank two anonymous referees for fruitful comments on the manuscript.",

year = "2007",

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doi = "10.1007/s00049-006-0365-5",

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AU - Witte, Volker

AU - Abrell, Leif

AU - Attygalle, Athula B.

AU - Wu, Xiaogang

AU - Meinwald, Jerrold

N1 - Funding Information: We are grateful for financial support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Stevens Institute of Technology, and for a Chemistry Biosphere 2 Program grant from Office of the Executive Vice Provost of Columbia University (Michael Crow), Koji Nakanishi, Barry Osmond, and Edward P. Bass. Special thanks to W. Gronenberg (University of AZ, Tucson) for providing laboratory space for ant maintenance and bioassays and to Robin Polt (University of AZ, Tucson) for chemistry infrastructure support. LA was partially supported by NSF (CHE-0216226). We also thank Zack Blascak for mass spectrometry support and NSF for GC-TOFMS instrument acquisition support (CHE-0216226). We thank two anonymous referees for fruitful comments on the manuscript.

PY - 2007/3

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N2 - Dufour glands of Paratrechina longicornis were analyzed chemically using GC-MS techniques. The glands contained twelve alkanes between C9 and C20 chain length with undecane and tridecane as the main components, six alkenes (1- and 4-undecene, 1-, 4-, and 6- tridecene, and heptadecadiene), two alkyl formates (C11 and C13), and saturated and polyunsaturated acids. Many of the alkanes and alkenes were behaviorally active causing a short lasting attraction of ants with different intensity. Detection of the major gland compound undecane in recruitment trails by in vivo SPME sampling provided evidence for its use as a recruitment pheromone. Both poison gland (formic acid) and Dufour gland (undecane) contents were detected on SPME fibers which had been attacked by the ants.

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KW - Paratrechina longicornis

KW - Recruitment

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Structure and function of Dufour gland pheromones from the crazy ant Paratrechina longicornis

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Keywords

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