Mimicking insect signaling: Artificial gland for biosynthesis and release of semiochemicals for communication

We explore the functionality of a complete chemoemitter platform mimicking the biosynthetic pathways and release of female sex pheromones of the Spodoptera littoralis moth. This artificial gland system consists of a microreactor in which the pheromone biosynthesis takes place, and a micromachined evaporator that releases ratiometrically-encoded blend into the environment. The artificial gland was implemented for the investigation and detection of patterns by highly sensitive olfaction system of male moths in electroantennographic and behavioral assays. Thus, a new information emission scheme by utilizing semiochemicals as a data carrier was demonstrated.