Towards a biosynthetic infochemical communication system

By exploiting recent advances in the understanding of both pheromone biosynthesis pathways and the detection of molecules in the insect nervous system, we are developing a new class of technology for biosynthetic infochemical communication. Here we present a prototype instrument that comprises an integrated chemotransmitter, an odour pathway and a chemoreceiver controlled by a laptop computer. Our initial studies show that the system can transmit, receive and decode a set of volatiles commonly found in fruits. The system is capable of ratiometrically encoding information by releasing complex blends of compounds in specific ratios, detecting the transmitted blends with a sensor array and decoding the infochemical information using neuromorphic algorithms representing ratio processing in the macroglomerular complex (MGC) of the antennal lobe of the moth (e.g. Manduca sexta).