| Title: | A deceptive pollination system targeting drosophilids through olfactory mimicry of yeast |
| Author(s): | Stokl J; Strutz A; Dafni A; Svatos A; Doubsky J; Knaden M; Sachse S; Hansson BS; Stensmyr MC; |
| Address: | "Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans Knoll-Strasse 8, Jena, Germany" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.cub.2010.09.033 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1879-0445 (Electronic) 0960-9822 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "In deceptive pollination, insects are bamboozled into performing nonrewarded pollination. A prerequisite for the evolutionary stability in such systems is that the plants manage to generate a perfect sensory impression of a desirable object in the insect nervous system [1]. The study of these plants can provide important insights into sensory preference of their visiting insects. Here, we present the first description of a deceptive pollination system that specifically targets drosophilid flies. We show that the examined plant (Arum palaestinum) accomplishes its deception through olfactory mimicry of fermentation, a strategy that represents a novel pollination syndrome. The lily odor is composed of volatiles characteristic of yeast, and produces in Drosophila melanogaster an antennal detection pattern similar to that elicited by a range of fermentation products. By functional imaging, we show that the lily odors target a specific subset of odorant receptors (ORs), which include the most conserved OR genes in the drosophilid olfactome. Furthermore, seven of eight visiting drosophilid species show a congruent olfactory response pattern to the lily, in spite of comprising species pairs separated by approximately 40 million years [2], showing that the lily targets a basal function of the fly nose, shared by species with similar ecological preference" |
| Keywords: | Animals Arthropod Antennae/metabolism Arum/*chemistry Chemotaxis/*physiology Drosophila melanogaster/*physiology Electrophysiology Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Molecular Structure *Odorants Olfactory Receptor Neurons/metabolism Pollination/*physio; |
| Notes: | "MedlineStokl, Johannes Strutz, Antonia Dafni, Amots Svatos, Ales Doubsky, Jan Knaden, Markus Sachse, Silke Hansson, Bill S Stensmyr, Marcus C eng Comparative Study Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2010/10/12 Curr Biol. 2010 Oct 26; 20(20):1846-52. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.09.033. Epub 2010 Oct 7" |
