Table 1 Mean percentage ± SE of the chemical compounds putatively identified in the pure and mixed anal gland secretions of subordinate meerkats.

From: Social odours covary with bacterial community in the anal secretions of wild meerkats

Fatty acids

Mean percentage ± SE

Mann-Whitney test*

Pure glandular secretions

Anal-pouch mixtures

Octanoic acid

y

y

 

Nonanoic acid

y

y

 

Dodecanoic acid

0.04 ± 0.01

0.19 ± 0.06

W = 270, P = 0.059

Tetradecanoic acid

0.18 ± 0.03

0.13 ± 0.05

W = 524, P = 0.007

Pentadecanoic acid

0.21 ± 0.03

0.09 ± 0.04

W = 558, P = 0.001

9-Hexadecenoic acid

2.11 ± 0.33

0.03 ± 0.03

W = 739, P < 0.0001

Hexadecanoic acid

21.55 ± 1.65

4.41 ± 1.08

W = 705, P < 0.0001

Heptadecanoic acid

0.19 ± 0.03

n

 

9-octadecenoic acid

39.0 ± 2.69

0.23 ± 0.14

W = 744, P < 0.0001

Octadecanoic acid

5.24 ± 0.50

n

 

Wax esters

Octanoic acid, ethyl ester

n

y

 

Nonanoic acid, ethyl ester

n

y

 

Decanoic acid, ethyl ester

n

0.09 ± 0.03

 

Dodecanoic acid, ethyl ester

0.005 ± 0.004

0.46 ± 0.16

W = 218, P = 0.0005

Tridecanoic acid, ethyl ester

n

0.001 ± 0.001

 

Tetradecanoic acid, ethyl ester

0.01 ± 0.01

0.27 ± 0.08

W = 226, P = 0.005

Pentadecanoic acid, ethyl ester

0.01 ± 0.01

0.13 ± 0.03

W = 244, P = 0.008

Hexadecanoic acid, methyl ester

0.03 ± 0.01

0.23 ± 0.23

W = 432, P = 0.133

9-Hexadecenoic acid, ethyl ester

0.15 ± 0.10

0.31 ± 0.19

W = 274, P = 0.02

Hexadecanoic acid ethyl ester

0.55 ± 0.17

2.01 ± 0.53

W = 263, P = 0.061

Heptadecanoic acid, ethyl ester

0.003 ± 0.002

0.11 ± 0.05

W = 264, P = 0.007

Linoleic acid ethyl ester

1.11 ± 0.54

3.37 ± 1.04

W = 224, P = 0.007

9-Octadecenoic acid, ethy ester

1.29 ± 0.72

4.79 ± 1.34

W = 181, P = 0.0003

Octadecanoic acid, ethyl ester

0.23 ± 0.16

0.75 ± 0.21

W = 231, P = 0.008

Alcohols

1-Pentadecanol

n

0.12 ± 0.03

 

1-Hexadecanol

n

0.57 ± 0.13

 

9-Octadecen-1-ol

n

0.27 ± 0.11

 

1-Octadecanol

n

0.17 ± 0.06

 

Alcenes

1-dodecene

y

y

 

Alcanes

Decanal

n

y

 

Tetradecanal

0.22 ± 0.04

0.21 ± 0.03

W = 327, P = 0.45

Pentadecanal

0.07 ± 0.01

0.25 ± 0.03

W = 88, p < 0.0001

Hexadecanal

0.30 ± 0.06

0.20 ± 0.04

W = 448, P = 0.20

Heptadecanal

0.06 ± 0.03

0.16 ± 0.02

W = 83, P < 0.0001

9-Octadecenal

0.01 ± 0.01

4.41 ± 1.08

W = 85, P < 0.0001

Octdecanal

0.24 ± 0.05

0.23 ± 0.02

W = 304, P = 0.25

Sterols

Cholesta-3,5-diene

2.59 ± 0.44

1.34 ± 0.18

W = 467, P = 0.11

Cholesterol

1.31 ± 0.42

30.79 ± 5.86

W = 0, P < 0.0001

Cholestan-3-one

1.41 ± 0.51

15.8 ± 4.35

W = 105, P = 0.001

Cholest-4-en-3-one

0.16 ± 0.04

0.25 ± 0.06

W = 357, P = 0.80

Others

Vitamin E

1.86 ± 0.31

0.35 ± 0.21

W = 679, P < 0.0001

Squalene

1.39 ± 0.35

0.16 ± 0.05

W = 654, P < 0.0001

  1. *P values are not corrected for multiple testing73. Differences in abundance between pure and mixed secretions were tested using Mann-Whitney tests. Y: denotes a compound that was detected, but that was not included in the comparison between pure and mixed secretions (these compounds, being at the edge of the chromatograms, were only detected in the pure secretion samples run on the GCMS column used to analyse mixed secretion samples). n: denotes a compound that was not detected in a given type of sample. All compounds listed above had an assignment probability >88%.
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