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Chemical Senses Advance Access published online on June 14, 2007
Chemical Senses, doi:10.1093/chemse/bjm040
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Maxillary Palps Are Broad Spectrum Odorant Detectors in Culex quinquefasciatus*

Zainulabeuddin Syed and Walter S. Leal

Honorary Maeda-Duffey Laboratory, Department of Entomology, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA

Correspondence to be sent to: Walter S. Leal, Honorary Maeda-Duffey Lab, Department of Entomology, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA. e-mail: wsleal{at}ucdavis.edu


  Abstract

A single type of olfactory sensilla on maxillary palps in many species of mosquitoes houses a very sensitive olfactory receptor neuron (ORN) for carbon dioxide reception. We performed extensive single sensillum recordings from this peg sensillum in Culex quinquefasciatus and have characterized the response threshold and kinetics for CO2 reception, with a detection threshold less than the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. This ORN responded in a tonic mode to lower concentrations of CO2, whereas higher concentrations generated a phasic-tonic mode of action potential firing. Sensillum potentials accurately represented the response magnitude and kinetics of carbon dioxide–elicited excitatory responses. Stimulation of these ORNs with human breath, a complex mixture of mosquito kairomones and up to 4.5% CO2, elicited excitatory responses that were reliably detected by CO2-sensitive ORNs. Another ORN housed in these sensilla responded to 1-octen-3-ol and to various plant-derived compounds, particularly floral and green leaf volatiles. This ORN showed remarkable sensitivity to the natural enantiomer, (R)-(–)-1-octen-3-ol, rivaling pheromone-detecting ORNs in moths. Maximum neuronal response was elicited with a 10 ng dose. A biological, ecological role of maxillary palps in detection of plant- and nectar-related sources is proposed.

Key words: CO2 detection, mosquito olfaction, phasic-tonic responses, plant/nectar location, single sensillum recordings

* Dedicated to Dr Jan van der Pers (1944–2006).

Accepted 2 May 2007


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