US-Sweden Cooperative Research: Biochemical Studies of Pheromone Perception in Agrotis Segetum

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This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Glenn Prestwich, State University of New York at Stony Brook and two Swedish researchers from the University of Lund, Sweden: Professor Christer Lofstedt of the Ecological Center and Professor Tommy Liljefors of the Chemical Center. The objective of the proposed project is to investigate mechanisms of pheromone detection. Chemists and biologists have developed considerable sophisti- cation in the elucidation of pheromone structures, industrial- scale pheromone synthesis, and in the use of pheromones for mating disruption and integrated pest management, since the publication of the first pheromone structure over thirty years ago. In contrast, current understanding of how pheromones work on a molecular level is still very rudimentary. Dr. Prestwich and his Swedish colleagues have worked together over the past few years on the chemistry, biochemistry, ecology, behavior and sensory physiology of pheromone perception in the turnip moth Agrotis segetum. Using pheromones prepared at Stony Brook, the investigators now propose to conduct: 1) biochemical studies of pheromone receptor and binding proteins, 2) computer simulations and electrophysiological evaluations of pheromone analogs, and 3) behavioral testing of physiologically active analogs. Dr. Prestwich will use molecular graphics programs at the University of Lund to evaluate conformations of pheromone analogs synthesized at Stony Brook, and will also use the routinely available supply of Agrotis segetum pupae and adult moths at Lund for biochemical experiments requiring live, staged insects. In addition, he will establish as routine a variety of biochemical techniques in the Lund laboratories and provide new structures for calculations and model testing by the Swedish groups. This research will benefit from the complementary expertise of Dr. Prestwich and his Swedish collaborators in the chemistry of pheromone structure. The results of this research will have important applications for future uses of pheromone technology, such as pest management.