| Title: | "Peripheral, central and behavioral responses to the cuticular pheromone bouquet in Drosophila melanogaster males" |
| Author(s): | Inoshita T; Martin JR; Marion-Poll F; Ferveur JF; |
| Address: | "Centre des Sciences du Gout et de l'Alimentation, Unite Mixte de Recherche-6265 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unite Mixte de Recherche-1324 Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Universite de Bourgogne, Dijon, France" |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0019770 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1932-6203 (Electronic) 1932-6203 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Pheromonal communication is crucial with regard to mate choice in many animals including insects. Drosophila melanogaster flies produce a pheromonal bouquet with many cuticular hydrocarbons some of which diverge between the sexes and differently affect male courtship behavior. Cuticular pheromones have a relatively high weight and are thought to be -- mostly but not only -- detected by gustatory contact. However, the response of the peripheral and central gustatory systems to these substances remains poorly explored. We measured the effect induced by pheromonal cuticular mixtures on (i) the electrophysiological response of peripheral gustatory receptor neurons, (ii) the calcium variation in brain centers receiving these gustatory inputs and (iii) the behavioral reaction induced in control males and in mutant desat1 males, which show abnormal pheromone production and perception. While male and female pheromones induced inhibitory-like effects on taste receptor neurons, the contact of male pheromones on male fore-tarsi elicits a long-lasting response of higher intensity in the dedicated gustatory brain center. We found that the behavior of control males was more strongly inhibited by male pheromones than by female pheromones, but this difference disappeared in anosmic males. Mutant desat1 males showed an increased sensitivity of their peripheral gustatory neurons to contact pheromones and a behavioral incapacity to discriminate sex pheromones. Together our data indicate that cuticular hydrocarbons induce long-lasting inhibitory effects on the relevant taste pathway which may interact with the olfactory pathway to modulate pheromonal perception" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Animals, Genetically Modified Behavior, Animal/*drug effects Brain/*drug effects/metabolism Calcium/metabolism Drosophila melanogaster/*physiology Electrophysiology Female Male Olfactory Pathways/*drug effects Pheromones/*pharmacology Taste/*drug;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineInoshita, Tsuyoshi Martin, Jean-Rene Marion-Poll, Frederic Ferveur, Jean-Francois eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2011/06/01 PLoS One. 2011; 6(5):e19770. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019770. Epub 2011 May 20" |
