Bacteria make locust-swarm signal.For a locust locust, in botany locust, in botany, any species of the genus Robinia, deciduous trees or shrubs of the family Leguminosae (pulse family) native to the United States and Mexico. , that urge to join the crowd may literally be a gut feeling gut feeling Intuition, visceral sensation . The pheromone pheromone Any chemical compound secreted by an organism in minute amounts to elicit a particular reaction from other organisms of the same species. Pheromones are widespread among insects and vertebrates (except birds) and are present in some fungi, slime molds, and algae. guaiacol guai·a·col n. A yellowish, oily, aromatic substance derived from guaiacum or wood creosote and used chiefly as an expectorant, a local anesthetic, and an antiseptic. plays a role in sending swarms of desert locusts into the air. Now, an English research team has traced the compound to bacteria in the locust gut. Tracking the guaiacol source required building an elaborate system to rear locusts in a sealed, sterile box, report Rod J. Dillon and his colleagues from the University of Bath in the Feb. 24 NATURE. Putting eggs with sterilized ster·il·ize tr.v. ster·il·ized, ster·il·iz·ing, ster·il·iz·es 1. To make free from live bacteria or other microorganisms. 2. surfaces into the germ-free setup yielded a generation of locusts with no bacteria in their guts. The superclean locusts produced fecal pellets that smell "less medicinal" than normal locust droppings do, notes Dillon. Chemical analysis attributed the difference mainly to the lack of guaiacol. When researchers introduced one bacterial species, Pantoea agglomerans, both smell and guaiacol returned. Gut bacteria aid plenty of creatures, people included, but Dillon says he doesn't know of another example where a host depends on hitchhikers for this type of communications signal. |
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