Pheromone articles from across Nature Portfolio

The authors show that the Drosophila master regulator WAKE modulates the secretion of insulin-like peptides, triggering a decrease in 20-hydroxyecdysone levels. This lowers the perception of a male-specific sex pheromone and explains why WAKE-deficient Drosophila flies show male-male courtship behaviour.

A neural circuit activated by the male pheromone, darcin, mediates a complex and variable array of innate and reinforced behaviours that may promote mate encounters and mate selection.

Olfactory experience can alter the relative abundance of neurons expressing specific chemoreceptors. Here, the authors demonstrate that the distinct odor experiences of sex-separated male and female mice induce sex-specific differences in the abundance of neurons that detect sexually dimorphic odors.

Sex pheromones that increase mating have been reported across a number of different species, yet there is little known about pheromones that suppress female mating drive. This study reports that juvenile female mice release a pheromone, ESP22, which suppresses sexual receptivity of adult female mice by evoking a robust rejection behavior upon male mounting.

Mate preference and copulatory behavior in female rodents are coordinated with the ovulation cycles of the animal. This study shows that hypothalamic kisspeptin neurons control both mate choice and copulation, and therefore, that sexual behavior and ovulation may be synchronized by the same neuropeptide.

The structure of pheromone, produced by microalgae in vanishingly small quantities as part of a signalling cascade that controls sexual reproduction, has been determined.

Individuals with ASD demonstrate altered behavioural responses to chemosensory social cues.

McHenry and colleagues delineate a neural circuit controlling female sexual behavior. These experiments shed light on how the brain optimizes reproductive behavior to coincide with phases of peak fertility.

Male fruitflies quickly learn that courting already-mated females is useless. It turns out that a small subset of neurons in the male brain signals this negative experience and controls pheromone sensitivity. See Letter p.145