{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,16]],"date-time":"2026-01-16T03:12:48Z","timestamp":1768533168690,"version":"3.49.0"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,17]]},"group-title":"Animal Behavior and Cognition","reference-count":0,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,17]],"date-time":"2025-09-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1758067200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Japan Science and Technology Agency","award":["JPMJFR210A"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JPMJFR210A"]}]},{"name":"Japan Society for the Promotion of Science","award":["17H07161"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["17H07161"]}]},{"name":"National Institutes of Health","award":["R01NS113119"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01NS113119"]}]},{"name":"National Institutes of Health","award":["R35GM131877"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R35GM131877"]}]},{"name":"Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,17]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                  Recent studies demonstrated that the predacious fungi\n                  <jats:italic>Arthrobotrys oligospora<\/jats:italic>\n                  emits a mixture of volatile chemical cues that function to attract nematode prey. The strong attraction elicited by one of the mixture components, methyl 3-methyl-2-butenoate (MMB), was highly female- and hermaphrodite-specific within several\n                  <jats:italic>Caenorhabditis<\/jats:italic>\n                  species, including\n                  <jats:italic>C. remanei<\/jats:italic>\n                  and\n                  <jats:italic>C. elegans<\/jats:italic>\n                  , suggesting that MMB might function as a mimic of an endogenous, male-produced, volatile sex pheromone (VSP) within these species. Here, we report evidence that MMB is produced by\n                  <jats:italic>C. remanei<\/jats:italic>\n                  males at levels that are attractive to\n                  <jats:italic>C. remanei<\/jats:italic>\n                  females and\n                  <jats:italic>C. elegans<\/jats:italic>\n                  hermaphrodites. Notably, MMB production was not detected for\n                  <jats:italic>C. elegans<\/jats:italic>\n                  males; a finding which correlates with behavioral assays for which worm-conditioned media (WCM) prepared from\n                  <jats:italic>C. remanei<\/jats:italic>\n                  , but not from\n                  <jats:italic>C. elegans<\/jats:italic>\n                  adult males is strongly attractive to both\n                  <jats:italic>C. remanei<\/jats:italic>\n                  females and\n                  <jats:italic>C. elegans<\/jats:italic>\n                  hermaphrodites. Our findings establish MMB as the first chemically identified VSP in nematodes and show that\n                  <jats:italic>A. oligospora<\/jats:italic>\n                  exploits a dual strategy of chemical deception\u2014mimicry and eavesdropping\u2014to enhance prey capture.\n                <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1101\/2025.09.12.675966","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,17]],"date-time":"2025-09-17T17:25:23Z","timestamp":1758129923000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["A male-derived volatile sex pheromone in &lt;Caenorhabditis&gt; nematodes identified through its mimicry by a predator"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"given":"Matthew R.","family":"Gronquist","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xuan","family":"Wan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Leighton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yuki","family":"Togawa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Marika","family":"Sagawa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7699-0173","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paul W","family":"Sternberg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Frank C","family":"Schroeder","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2450-3054","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ryoji","family":"Shinya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"54368","container-title":[],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1101\/2025.09.12.675966","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,15]],"date-time":"2026-01-15T09:35:31Z","timestamp":1768469731000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/biorxiv.org\/lookup\/doi\/10.1101\/2025.09.12.675966"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,17]]},"references-count":0,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1101\/2025.09.12.675966","relation":{},"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,17]]},"subtype":"preprint"}}