Identification of potential chemosignals in the European water vole Arvicola terrestris

The water vole Arvicola terrestris is endemic to Europe where its outbreak generates severe economic losses for farmers. Our project aimed at characterising putative chemical signals used by this species, to develop new sustainable methods for population control that could also be used for this species protection in Great Britain. The water vole, as well as other rodents, uses specific urination sites as territorial and sex pheromone markers, still unidentified. Lateral scent glands and urine samples were collected from wild males and females caught in the field, at different periods of the year. Their volatile composition was analysed for each individual and not on pooled samples, revealing a specific profile of flank glands in October and a specific profile of urinary volatiles in July. The urinary protein content appeared more contrasted as males secrete higher levels of a lipocalin than females, whenever the trapping period. We named this protein arvicolin. Male and female liver transcript sequencing did not identify any expression of other odorant-binding protein sequence. This work demonstrates that even in absence of genome, identification of chemical signals from wild animals is possible and could be helpful in strategies of species control and protection.