| Title: | Effects of starvation on the olfactory responses of the blood-sucking bug Rhodnius prolixus |
| Author(s): | Reisenman CE; Lee Y; Gregory T; Guerenstein PG; |
| Address: | "Department of Neuroscience, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0077, USA. carolina@neurobio.arizona.edu" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2013.04.003 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1879-1611 (Electronic) 0022-1910 (Print) 0022-1910 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Blood-sucking insects use olfactory cues in a variety of behavioral contexts, including host-seeking and aggregation. In triatomines, which are obligated blood-feeders, it has been shown that the response to CO2, a host-associated olfactory cue used almost universally by blood-sucking insects, is modulated by hunger. Host-finding is a particularly dangerous task for these insects, as their hosts are also their potential predators. Here we investigated whether olfactory responses to host-derived volatiles other than CO2 (nonanal, alpha-pinene and (-)-limonene), attractive odorant mixtures (yeast volatiles), and aggregation pheromones (present in feces) are also modulated by starvation in the blood-sucking bug Rhodnius prolixus. For this, the responses of both non-starved and starved insects were individually tested at the beginning of the scotophase using a dual-choice 'T-shaped' olfactometer, in which one of its arms presented odor-laden air and the other arm presented odorless air. We found that the response of non-starved insects toward host-odorants and odorant mixtures was odor-dependent: insects preferred the odor-laden arm of the maze when tested with alpha-pinene, the odorless arm of the maze when tested with (-)-limonene, and distributed at random when tested with yeast volatiles or nonanal. In contrast, starved insects significantly preferred the odor-laden arm of the maze when tested with host-odorants or yeast volatiles. When tested with aggregation be, while starved insects preferred the odorless arm of the maze; insects that were even more starved (8-9 weeks post-ecdysis) significantly preferred the odor-laden arm of the maze. We postulate that this odor- and starvation-dependent modulation of sensory responses has a high adaptive value, as it minimizes the costs and risks associated with the associated behaviors. The possible physiological mechanisms underlying these modulatory effects are discussed" |
| Keywords: | Animals Bites and Stings/parasitology Eating Feeding Behavior Humans Odorants/analysis Rhodnius/*physiology Smell Starvation;neuroscience; |
| Notes: | "MedlineReisenman, Carolina E Lee, Yan Gregory, Teresa Guerenstein, Pablo G eng R03 AI078430/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ 1R03AI078430-01/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural England 2013/04/27 J Insect Physiol. 2013 Jul; 59(7):717-21. doi: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2013.04.003. Epub 2013 Apr 22" |
