The Chemical Basis of Species, Sex, and Individual Recognition Using Feces in the Domestic Cat
The Chemical Basis of Species, Sex, and Individual Recognition Using Feces in the Domestic Cat
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DOI：
10.1007/s10886-018-0951-3
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发表时间：
2018-04-01
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Yamashita, Tetsuro
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Miyazaki, Masao;Miyazaki, Tamako;Yamashita, Tetsuro
从排泄物中散发出的气味提供了关于主人的重要信息。在物种和/或性别中具有较高水平的挥发性化合物，或个体之间的差异可能是物种和/或性别的气味线索，或个体识别。然而，这些化合物仅在少数脊椎动物物种中被鉴定。在家猫（Felis silvestris卡图斯），它是已知的，未掩埋的猫粪便的领土标记断言其家域的边界，但很少有人知道，粪便化合物的气味线索的物种，性别和个人识别的猫。在本研究中，我们证明了物种的化学基础，性别和个人识别使用猫的粪便。对于雄性，主要成分是脂肪酸和3-巯基-3-甲基-1-丁醇（MMB），这是一种不常见的氨基酸猫氨酸的衍生物。粪便中MMB的释放水平存在性别差异（雄性>雌性）和随年龄增长的动态变化。猫区分粪便气味与MMB，和不同的脂肪酸组合物之间的个人。没有猫特定的化合物，如MMB，是检测到从他们的肛门气味发射脂肪酸。我们的结论是，粪便MMB是一种雄性识别信息素在猫，也提供了一个时间的痕迹的主人。在感知MMB后，它们可以区分具有可变脂肪酸子集的同种粪便的个体差异。与气味标记相反，由于猫在嗅闻同种肛门气味之前可以从视觉线索中获得物种信息，因此它们可能会在嗅闻过程中努力区分肛门气味的个体差异。
Scents emitted from excretions provide important information about the owner. Volatile compounds with higher levels in a species and/or sex, or that vary among individuals could be odor cues for species and/or sex, or individual recognition. However, such compounds have been identified in only a few vertebrate species. In domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus), it is known that unburied cat feces are territorial markers asserting the border of their home range, but little was known which fecal compounds are scent cues for species, sex, and individual recognition in cats. In the present study, we demonstrated the chemical basis for species, sex, and individual recognition using feces of cats. For males, major contents were fatty acids and 3-mercapto-3-methyl-1-butanol (MMB), a derivative of the unusual amino acid, felinine. MMB emission levels from feces had sex-based differences (male > female) and dynamic temporal changes during aging. Cats distinguished fecal odors with and without MMB, and different fatty acid compositions among individuals. No cat-specific compound, such as MMB, was detectable from their anal odor emitting fatty acids. We concluded that fecal MMB is a male sex recognition pheromone in cats and also provides a temporal trace of the owner. After sensing MMB, they may distinguish individual differences of conspecific feces with variable subsets of fatty acids. In contrast to scent marks, since cats can obtain species information from visual cues before sniffing conspecific anal odors, they may use their efforts to distinguish individual differences of anal odors during sniffing.