The paper identifies a larval pheromone in clonal raider ants that suppresses adult egg laying, linking offspring presence to parental reproductive suppression.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · Apr 8, 2026Peer-reviewedAnimal Behavior & Cognition

Large-scale characterization of sex pheromone communication systems in Drosophila

Mohammed A. Khallaf, Rongfeng Cui, Jerrit Weißflog, Maide Erdogmus, Aleš Svatoš, Hany K. M. Dweck, Dario Riccardo Valenzano, Bill S. Hansson, Markus Knaden

The paper characterizes sex pheromone communication systems in Drosophila by analyzing phylogenetic and chemical traits across 99 species, identifying 51 sex-specific compounds and their roles in reproductive isolation.

Nature Communications · Jul 6, 2021Peer-reviewedNeuroscience

Mate discrimination among subspecies through a conserved olfactory pathway

Mohammed A. Khallaf, Thomas O. Auer, Veit Grabe, Ana Depetris-Chauvin, Byrappa Ammagarahalli, Dandan Zhang, Sofía Lavista-Llanos, Filip Kaftan, Jerrit Weißflog, Luciano Matias Matzkin, Stephanie M. Rollmann, Christer Löfstedt, Aleš Svatoš, Hany K. M. Dweck, Silke Sachse, , Markus Knaden

The paper identifies two male-specific pheromones in Drosophila mojavensis subspecies and shows how they contribute to sexual isolation through conserved sensory pathways and differential interpretation.

Science Advances · Jun 17, 2020Peer-reviewedNeuroscience