4.6 Article

Cuticular hydrocarbon reception by sensory neurons in basiconic sensilla of the Japanese carpenter ant

期刊

FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE
卷 17, 期 -, 页码 -

出版社

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2023.1084803

关键词

ant; cuticular hydrocarbons; basiconic sensilla; sensory neurons; nestmate recognition; social insect

向作者/读者索取更多资源

To maintain eusociality, ants can recognize subtle differences in cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs). It is debated whether peripheral or central neural mechanisms are responsible for CHC discrimination. In this study, single basiconic sensilla in Japanese carpenter ants were recorded to determine how CHCs are processed. The results showed that sensory neurons in the sensilla were electrically coupled and had the potential to discriminate different CHCs based on activated neuron patterns.
To maintain the eusociality of a colony, ants recognize subtle differences in colony-specific sets of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs). The CHCs are received by female-specific antennal basiconic sensilla and processed in specific brain regions. However, it is controversial whether a peripheral or central neural mechanism is mainly responsible for discrimination of CHC blends. In the Japanese carpenter ant, Camponotus japonicus, about 140 sensory neurons (SNs) are co-housed in a single basiconic sensillum and receive colony-specific blends of 18 CHCs. The complexity of this CHC sensory process makes the neural basis of peripheral nestmate recognition difficult to understand. Here, we electrophysiologically recorded responses of single basiconic sensilla to each of 18 synthesized CHCs, and identified CHC responses of each SN co-housed in a single sensillum. Each CHC activated different sets of SNs and each SN was broadly tuned to CHCs. Multiple SNs in a given sensillum fired in synchrony, and the synchronicity of spikes was impaired by treatment with a gap junction inhibitor. These results indicated that SNs in single basiconic sensilla were electrically coupled. Quantitative analysis indicated that the Japanese carpenter ants have the potential to discriminate chemical structures of CHCs based on the combinational patterns of activated SNs. SNs of ants from different colonies exhibited different CHC response spectra. In addition, ants collected from the same colony but bred in separate groups also exhibited different CHC response spectra. These results support the hypothesis that the peripheral sensory mechanism is important for discrimination between nestmate and non-nestmate ants.

作者

我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。

评论

主要评分

4.6
评分不足

次要评分

新颖性
-
重要性
-
科学严谨性
-
评价这篇论文

推荐

暂无数据
暂无数据