Uridine-5’-tri-phosphate is a candidate component of the soluble sex pheromone bouquet in a marine shrimp, Lysmata wurdemanni

D Zhang,X Liu,Ma Harley,Jd Hardege

doi:10.3354/meps13294

Abstract

Characterisation of distance sex pheromones in decapods is challenging, although great efforts have been made in this field in the past 50 yr. In a previous study, we identified a component of the distance (soluble) sex pheromone bouquet of the peppermint shrimp Lysmata wurdemanni as being a uridine-5’-di-phosphate (UDP)-like chemical. However, UDP itself does not elicit the full pre-copulatory ‘approach and follow’ behaviour in peppermint shrimp. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the UDP-like chemical is uridine-5’-tri-phosphate (UTP), a metabolic product of chitin synthesis, and that this is the component of the distance sex pheromone of L. wurdemanni. We ran a series of bioassays to examine whether UDP, UTP or mixtures of the 2 compounds elicit male mating behaviour. Our results showed that male L. wurdemanni responded to UTP by displaying stereotyped courtship behaviour—the same behaviour elicited from males when exposed to water that previously contained moulting females. Combining UTP and UDP did not enhance the intensity of this courtship behaviour. The minimum effective concentration of UTP found to elicit courtship behaviour in the male shrimp was between 10-6 and 10-7 M. HPLC analysis showed the presence of UTP in the moulting water of female shrimp and also the partial conversion of UTP to UDP during the sample preparation procedure. Both the bioassay and chemical analysis results presented in this study suggest that UTP is a component of the distance sex pheromone in L. wurdemanni, and that the major peak in the chromatogram of a L. wurdemanni pheromone identified in previous studies might be a breakdown product of UTP.

Highlights

In generally, females emit distance pheromone to attract mating partners in many decapod crustaceans, such as crabs (Ryan 1966, Gleeson 1980, Seifert 1982, Hardege et al 2002, Kamio et al 2002, 2014), lobsters (Atema 1984), crayfish (Ameyaw-Akumfi & Hazlett 1975, Tierney et al 1984, Stebbing et al 2003), and several shrimp species in the genus Lysmata (Giri 2002, Zhang & Lin 2006, Zhang et al 2007, 2010, Zhang 2009), In Lysmata species, distance pheromone induces a pre-copulatory behaviour, i.e. searching behaviour (Zhang & Lin 2006, Zhang 2009)
In a previous study we identified a component of distance sex pheromone bouquet of the peppermint shrimp Lysmata wurdemanni as a uridine-5'-di-phosphate (UDP)-like chemical
HPLC analysis showed the existence of UTP in the moulting water of female shrimp and partial conversion of UTP to UDP during the sample preparation procedure. Both bioassay and chemical analysis results presented in this study suggest that UTP is a component of the distance sex pheromone in L. wurdemanni.The major peak of chromatogram of L. wurdemanni pheromone identified in previous studies might be a breakdown product of UTP

Summary

Introduction

Females emit distance pheromone to attract mating partners in many decapod crustaceans, such as crabs (Ryan 1966, Gleeson 1980, Seifert 1982, Hardege et al 2002, Kamio et al 2002, 2014), lobsters (Atema 1984), crayfish (Ameyaw-Akumfi & Hazlett 1975, Tierney et al 1984, Stebbing et al 2003), and several shrimp species in the genus Lysmata (Giri 2002, Zhang & Lin 2006, Zhang et al 2007, 2010, Zhang 2009), In Lysmata species, distance pheromone induces a pre-copulatory behaviour, i.e. searching behaviour (Zhang & Lin 2006, Zhang 2009). Efforts to characterise distance pheromones of crustaceans have been reported in lobster (Atema & Gagosian 1973, Gagosian & Atema 1973), crabs (Gleeson 1984, Asai et al 2000, Hardege et al 2002, 2011, Kamio et al 2002, 2014) and amphipods Microdeutopus gryllotalpa (Borowsky et al 1987). In recent years three chemicals, ceramides, uridine-5'-di-phosphatewere (UDP), and N-acetylglucosamino-1,5-lactone (NAGL) were suggested as components of distance sex pheromone in decapod crustaceans. UDP was identified to be the major component of the female crab pheromone and induced all key characteristics of male sexual behaviour in the shore crab Carcinus maenas (Hardege et al 2011). A test demonstrates that uridine-5'-tri-phosphate (UTP) is probably a component of the sex pheromone bouquet in the crab C. maenas as well because it is able to elicit a stereotyped mating behaviour albeit at higher threshold concentrations than UDP (Fletcher 2007). In a caridean shrimp Lysmata wurdemanni,the major component of the distance pheromone bouquet has been demonstrated to be a small molecule of approx. 500 – 1000 Dalton, whose UV spectrum is similar to UDP, but its chromatographic properties were not the same as UDP’s (Zhang et al 2010)

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