A Hunch about the identity of the mouse pheromone

From the last analysis, the 371 mass species has been hypothesized to be a conjugate between aspartic acid and palmitic acid.

A little digging into the 431 mass species using the formula C24H33NO6, I broke it down to two components: C20H28O3 to react with aspartic acid (C4H7NO4).

Aspartic Acid

The C20H28O3 compound can be Etienic acid (4-androsten-3-one-17beta-carboxylic acid; 3-keto-4-etiochlenic acid;Testosterone 17-beta-carboxylic acid;3-Oxo-4-androstene-17-beta-carboxylic acid), which is basically testosterone with its hydroxyl group turned into a carboxylic group. The conjugated product is:

This would be something that should be produced in the body. The C20H28O3 formula could have alternative structures, notably 4-hydroxyl-retinoic acid and an analog, as the following:

4-hydroxyl-retinoic acid

 It's also worth noting that these three compounds have mass of 316, which is often identified in the LC/MS studies.

Fatty acid-amino acid conjugate has been identified, as elicitor in plant defense. The most famouse is Volicitin:

Which is a hydroxyl-linolenoic acid conjugated to glutamine. Similar compounds have been identified in beetles, caterpillar and fly larvae. The enzyme to make the synthesis is apparently unknown.

Prediction: these compounds (431, 316 and 371) appear in the same fractions, which means that they share similar chemical properties. The prediction is that if this is the case, other amino acid conjugates should also be present, especially the gluatamic acid conjugate. This is worth looking at.