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Science 18 February 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5712, pp. 1104 - 1106
DOI: 10.1126/science.1107163
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Reports

Identification of the Sex Pheromone of the German Cockroach, Blattella germanica

Satoshi Nojima,1* Coby Schal,2 Francis X. Webster,3 Richard G. Santangelo,2 Wendell L. Roelofs1{dagger}

The sex pheromone of the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, has been characterized as gentisyl quinone isovalerate. This cockroach is a major cause of allergic disease and serves as a mechanical vector of pathogens, making it one of the most important residential and food-associated pests worldwide. The sex pheromone–producing gland in adult females was identified in 1993, but thermal instability of the pheromone made characterization difficult. Now, using a new preparative gas chromatography approach coupled with electroantennographic detection, we have isolated and characterized the pheromone, which we term blattellaquinone, and confirmed the identification by chemical synthesis. The synthetic pheromone was active in behavioral assays and highly effective in field trapping tests, which suggest that it may provide a new tool in cockroach population detection, monitoring, and control.

1 Department of Entomology, New York Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University, Geneva, NY 14456, USA.
2 Department of Entomology and W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, Box 7613, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695–7613, USA.
3 Department of Chemistry, State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA.

* Present address: Fine Chemical Department, Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0004, Japan.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wlr1{at}cornell.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)