Pheromones are chemicals used for communication in animals, including humans.
D. melanogaster males court mature D. willistoni males and females, but do not court immature flies. A. suspensa males only court sexually mature females. Finally, there would also be a decarbonylation step to give a hydrocarbon with an odd number of carbons. The exciting part of the pathway is the introduction of the second double bond. Although we investigate other insects, Drosophila are our model insect because they are easy to rear in the laboratory in large numbers, there are a number of related and unrelated species readily available, and there is an extensive ecological, genetic and evolutionary data base from which comparisons can be made.