From 160 to 20 to 1 compound: A behavior-based separative technique to pinpoint a pheromone in rabbit milk

B. Schaal, G. Coureaud and D. Langlois

Centre des Sciences du Goût, CNRS, Dijon, France

This presentation will summarize the experimental steps leading from a very complex mixture of volatile compounds to an intermediary step of 20 candidate key-compounds, to finally a single compound which activity explains the activity of the whole mixture. The joint chemical-behavioral approach will be outlined, and followed by a description of the cascade of experiments permitting to enter the isolated key-compound into the category of biologically-active compounds named ‘pheromone’.

Paper presented at Measuring Behavior 2005 , 5^th International Conference on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research, 30 August - 2 September 2005, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

© 2005 Noldus Information Technology bv