Female Attacus atlas respond to pheromones of Antheraea polyphemus: a comparative electrophysiological and biochemical study

Female Attacus atlas respond electrophysiologically to both of the Antherae a polyphemus pheromone components (E,Z)-6,11 hexadecadienyl acetate and (E, Z)-6,11-hexadecadienal. Moreover, they possess a pheromone-binding protein (PBP) and general odorant-binding proteins (GOBPs), as well as a pheromone- degrading sensillar esterase and aldehyde oxidase enzymes. They show no ele ctroantennogram responses to their own gland extract. In contrast, female A . polyphemus do not respond to their own or to A. atlas pheromone. Male A. atlas do not detect any of the A. polyphemus compounds but only the conspec ific female gland extracts. Both male A. atlas and female A. polyphemus pos sess PBP and GOBP but lack the pheromone-degrading esterases of male Anther aea. The results indicate that the two species use quite distinct classes o f chemicals as pheromones. In spite of this, the N-terminal amino acid sequ ences of the PBPs show homology of 68%.