12 - The Molecular Basis of Pheromone Reception: Its Influence on Behavior

Abstract

This chapter discusses the molecular basis of pheromone reception and its influence on behavior. It presents a model to describe the molecular mechanisms of pheromone reception, one consistent with shifting equilibrium states in chemical reactions. In this kinetic equilibrium model, a multifunctional role for the binding protein and unifunctional roles for the esterase and the putative receptor proteins were proposed. According to this model, the following pheromone molecules have the following properties: (1) pheromone molecules enter a sensory hair via pore tubules, gaining access to the internal lymph space, and encounter an extremely high concentration of PBP; (2) pheromone is solubilized into the lymph by the high concentration of PBP; (3) once solubilized, the pheromone moves through this proteinaceous phase of the sensory hair lymph, eventually encountering a receptor molecule, an enzyme, or some other species of binding site. (4) the pheromone molecule has a finite lifetime within a sensory hair, having an opportunity to activate receptor molecules repeatedly until it is degraded on encounter with an enzyme molecule; (5) this finite lifetime of a pheromone molecule, and the dynamic response of the sensory hair to pheromone stimulus, is determined by the relative concentrations of the protein species involved and by their kinetic properties; and (6) the pheromone-binding protein has the multifunctional properties of solubilizer, carrier, and protector of pheromone.