Fig. 3

MUP manipulation disrupts recognition of individual volatile signatures from wild-stock males. Urine from wild-stock males was manipulated by the addition of r-darcin, r-MUP7 or r-MUP9 (1 μg/μl) to establish whether this disrupted recognition of the airborne odour signature in the learned template. Data show the difference in time under the male test compared to female control stimulus (mean ± SEM) when the male airborne test stimulus matched the learning template or differed. Recognition was assessed as more time near the male test odour than the female control, using matched pair t tests of log transformed data ((a) t₁₁ = 4.36, p = 0.0006; (b) t₁₁ = − 1.58, p = 0.93; (c) t₁₁ = − 0.48, p = 0.68; (d) t₁₁ = 0.05, p = 0.48; (f) t₁₁ = 0.07, p = 0.47; (k) t₁₁ = − 0.24, p = 0.59) or non-parametric Wilcoxon signed rank tests ((e) z = − 2.51, p = 0.0045; (g) z = 2.98, p < 0.001; (h) z = 0.78, p = 0.24; (i) z = − 1.18, p = 0.87; (j) z = − 0.47, p = 0.66; n = 12 for all tests). A control test (k) examined response to a mixture of all three recombinant MUPs (1 μg/μl of each) when presented as the contacted learning template and matching airborne test odour. ***p < 0.005, ****p < 0.001