Project Lecturer Takeshi Sakurai won the 2015 Yoshida Award

About research 
Male moths locate their mates using species-specific sex pheromones emitted by conspecific females. Although such phenomena was first described by Jean-Henri Fabre in his book “Souvenirs entomologiques” more than 100 years ago, molecular and neural mechanisms that underlie highly specific and sensitive sex pheromone recognition of male moths have long remained a mystery. In this study, using a model insect species the silkmoth, we revealed molecular mechanisms of sex pheromone discrimination at sensory level, antennae. We also found neural mechanisms that define behavioral response specificity to conspecific pheromones and the ability to display behavioral responses to minuscule amounts of pheromone molecules.