Mason R T, Fales H M, Jones T H, Pannell L K, Chinn J W, Crews D
Laboratory of Chemistry, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Science. 1989 Jul 21;245(4915):290-3. doi: 10.1126/science.2749261.
The majority of pheromones identified to date are insect pheromones, which are volatile in nature. Identification of nonvolatile pheromones have been relatively rare, especially in vertebrates. Male and female garter snakes use pheromones to mediate sexual behavior. The female sex attractiveness pheromone of the Canadian red-sided garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis, consists of a novel series of nonvolatile saturated and monounsaturated long-chain methyl ketones, whereas the male sex recognition pheromone contains squalene. These compounds were isolated, identified, and partially synthesized, and field tests show them to be biologically active.
迄今为止鉴定出的大多数信息素都是昆虫信息素，其本质上具有挥发性。非挥发性信息素的鉴定相对较少，尤其是在脊椎动物中。雄性和雌性束带蛇利用信息素来调节性行为。加拿大红边束带蛇（Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis）的雌性性吸引信息素由一系列新的非挥发性饱和和单不饱和长链甲基酮组成，而雄性性识别信息素则含有角鲨烯。这些化合物被分离、鉴定并部分合成，田间试验表明它们具有生物活性。
