Skip Navigation


Chemical Senses Advance Access originally published online on May 13, 2008
Chemical Senses 2008 33(6):509-522; doi:10.1093/chemse/bjn018
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
33/6/509    most recent
bjn018v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ulland, S.
Right arrow Articles by Mustaparta, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ulland, S.
Right arrow Articles by Mustaparta, H.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Plant Volatiles Activating Specific Olfactory Receptor Neurons of the Cabbage Moth Mamestra brassicae L. (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae)

S. Ulland1, E. Ian1, M. Stranden1, A.-K. Borg-Karlson2 and H. Mustaparta1

1 Neuroscience Unit, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7489 Trondheim, Norway 2 Ecological Chemistry Group, Department of Chemistry, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

Correspondence to be sent to: Hanna Mustaparta, Neuroscience Unit, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7489 Trondheim, Norway. e-mail: Hanna.Mustaparta{at}bio.ntnu.no


  Abstract

Herbivore insects are suitable model organisms for studying how plant odor information is encoded in olfactory receptor neurons (RNs). By the use of gas chromatography linked to electrophysiological recordings from single RNs, screening for sensitivity to naturally produced plant odorants is possible in order to determine the molecular receptive ranges of the neurons. Using this method, we have in this study of the cabbage moth, Mamestra brassicae, classified 21 types of olfactory RNs according to their responses to odorants present in the host plants of Brassicae, in the related species of Arabidopsis, as well as in essential oils of nonhost plants like ylang-ylang. Most of the RNs were tuned to one or a few structurally similar compounds, showing minimal overlap of their molecular receptive ranges. Whereas some RNs displayed a novel tuning, others were tuned to the same compounds as neurons in other insect species. We also found colocation in the same sensillum of 3 RN types with the same response characteristics and tuning as 3 colocated types described in heliothine moths living on different host plants. The presence of similar RN types across different insect species implies conservation or reappearance of the RN types, independent of the evolution of host plant ranges.

Key words: GC-SCR, Mamestra brassicae, molecular receptive range, receptor neuron

Accepted 8 April 2008


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.