Sex pheromone communication and its regulation by the sex determination pathway in cockroaches

Sexual communication in animals orchestrates a series of interactive behaviors from locating and recognizing potential partners to courtship and final mating decisions and is thus critical for sexual reproduction and population fitness. Highly efficient communication between the sexes requires not only the production and emission of species-specific signals but also their precise detection and interpretation by the receiving individuals. Cockroaches, as one of the most evolutionarily ancient and successful group of insects, are quintessential chemical communicators that rely heavily on sex pheromones for sexual communication. They have long served as excellent model organisms in studies of chemical ecology. Although the biochemical characterization of sex pheromones in several species was largely accomplished during the last century, the past two decades have witnessed remarkable progress in understanding the molecular genetics of sex pheromone communication and its regulation, particularly driven by functional genomics. This review first provides an updated comparative survey of the pheromone components identified across distinct taxa. We then synthesize, but not limited to, recent advances in identification of key molecules controlling sex pheromone production, characterization of candidate chemosensory receptors and their neural processing pathways, and the regulatory roles of the sex determination cascade in shaping sexually dimorphic traits in both pheromone production and perception. Finally, we highlight key scientific questions that remain unsolved and propose future directions aimed at extending our mechanistic understanding of cockroach pheromone communication, as well as at developing behavior-based pest management strategies.