The total amount of cuticular hydrocarbons is the same in mutant and control males. The mutant males show a significant decrease in the relative proportion of desaturated cuticular hydrocarbons and a significant increase in the relative proportion of methyl branched cuticular hydrocarbons compared to control males.
The total amount of cuticular hydrocarbons is the same in mutant and control females. The mutant females show a significant decrease in the relative proportion of desaturated cuticular hydrocarbons and a significant increase in the relative proportion of linear cuticular hydrocarbons compared to control females.
Homozygous males retain an ability to discriminate between male and female control flies in a courtship assay.
Mutant females have defective cuticular hydrocarbon (CH) profiles; the desaturation index (DI) in females is significantly different from both wild-type controls and the desat11573-1 progenitor allele.