Center for Integrative Genomics, Faculty of Biology & Medicine, Bâtiment Le Génopode, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
EMBO Rep. 2013 Oct;14(10):874-83. doi: 10.1038/embor.2013.140. Epub 2013 Sep 13.
Sex pheromones provide an important means of communication to unite individuals for successful reproduction. Although sex pheromones are highly diverse across animals, these signals fulfil common fundamental roles in enabling identification of a mating partner of the opposite sex, the appropriate species and of optimal fecundity. In this review, we synthesize both classic and recent investigations on sex pheromones in a range of species, spanning nematode worms, insects and mammals. These studies reveal comparable strategies in how these chemical signals are produced, detected and processed in the brain to regulate sexual behaviours. Elucidation of sex pheromone communication mechanisms both defines outstanding models to understand the molecular and neuronal basis of chemosensory behaviours, and reveals how similar evolutionary selection pressures yield convergent solutions in distinct animal nervous systems.
性信息素为成功繁殖提供了重要的沟通手段，将个体联系在一起。虽然动物的性信息素具有高度多样性，但这些信号在识别异性交配伴侣、合适物种和最佳繁殖力方面发挥着共同的基本作用。在这篇综述中，我们综合了线虫、昆虫和哺乳动物等一系列物种中经典和最新的性信息素研究。这些研究揭示了这些化学信号在大脑中产生、检测和处理以调节性行为的相似策略。阐明性信息素通讯机制不仅定义了理解化学感觉行为的分子和神经元基础的杰出模型，还揭示了类似的进化选择压力如何在不同的动物神经系统中产生趋同解决方案。
