Europe PMC · 2026-06-09
Fig trees actively control their own pollination timing by switching their scent profile at key developmental stages: drawing pollinating wasps in with sweet attractant compounds when their flowers are ready, then switching to repellent scents once pollination is complete. The wasps carry specialized scent-binding proteins calibrated to recognize their host tree's specific chemical signals, revealing the molecular basis for why each fig species pairs exclusively with its own wasp species.
Fig trees dynamically regulate scent output across development, strongly activating attractant-producing enzymes during the receptive phase and switching to repellent-producing enzymes after pollination
Pollinator fig wasp scent-binding proteins showed markedly higher binding affinities to host fig volatiles than proteins from non-pollinator wasps, explaining species-pair exclusivity
Site-directed mutagenesis pinpointed single amino acid residues, Phe109 and Phe117, as the molecular keys in two pollinator wasp binding proteins that enable high-affinity recognition
