YOU may not think moths emit the sexiest of smells, but scientists at an Oxfordshire laboratory have cracked the mysteries of their mojo.

Researchers at the Diamond Light Source, Harwell, have identified how the female insects’ odours offer an irresistible lure to their mates.

Dr Jing-Jiang Zhou and Prof Nick Keep harnessed the power of the £380m light source, which is 100 billion times brighter than hospital x-rays, to discover the structure of the protein-carrying chemicals sniffed out by silkworm moths searching for mates.

The research could lead to the development of pesticides which can attract or repel insects and could be used in the fight against malaria.

It is the 100th protein structure solved by research at the Diamond since it was switched on two years ago.

Scientists extracted moth scent, which is sensed by their partners through antennae, and fired the intense rays of light through it to model its structure.

The results have now been published in The Journal of Molecular Biology.

Prof Keep said: “The next thing we want to do is look at crop pests like aphids and see if we can understand how they sense the plants that seem to attract them.”

Dr Zhou, of Rothemsted Research, added: “It’s not just the farming community which stands to benefit from this work. One of our spin-off companies is also investigating how bees can detect small quantities of explosives.”

Opened in 2007, the Diamond Light Source is the UK’s largest science investment in 40 years.

The doughnut-shaped facility has already been used to analyse the Dead Sea Scrolls and the wreck of the Mary Rose, map the effects of Parkinson’s Disease and develop drugs for major pharmaceutical companies.

An announcement on funding for the third phase of the project, for more laboratories linked to the light source, will be made by Research Councils UK later this year.

lsloan@oxfordmail.co.uk