GENETIC FEMINIZATION OF PHEROMONES AND ITS BEHAVIORAL CONSEQUENCES INDROSOPHILA MALES

Pheromones are intraspecific chemical signals important for mate attra ction and discrimination, In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, hy drocarbons on the cuticular surface of the animal are sexually dimorph ic in both their occurrence and their effects: Female-specific molecul es stimulate male sexual excitation, whereas the predominant male-spec ific molecule tends to inhibit male excitation, Complete feminization of the pheromone mixture produced by males was induced by targeted exp ression of the transformer gene in adult oenocytes (subcuticular abdom inal cells) or by ubiquitous expression during early imaginal life. Th e resulting flies generally exhibited male heterosexual orientation bu t elicited homosexual courtship from other males.