Neural Basis of a Pollinator’s Buffet: Olfactory Specialization and Learning in Manduca sexta

• Autores: Hong Lei, Leif Abrell
• Localización: Science, ISSN 0036-8075, Vol. 339, Nº 6116, 2013, págs. 201-204
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Pollinators exhibit a range of innate and learned behaviors that mediate interactions with flowers, but the olfactory bases of these responses in a naturalistic context remain poorly understood. The hawkmoth Manduca sexta is an important pollinator for many night-blooming flowers but can learn—through olfactory conditioning—to visit other nectar resources. Analysis of the flowers that are innately attractive to moths shows that the scents all have converged on a similar chemical profile that, in turn, is uniquely represented in the moth‘s antennal (olfactory) lobe. Flexibility in visitation to nonattractive flowers, however, is mediated by octopamine-associated modulation of antennal-lobe neurons during learning. Furthermore, this flexibility does not extinguish the innate preferences. Such processing of stimuli through two olfactory channels, one involving an innate bias and the other a learned association, allows the moths to exist within a dynamic floral environment while maintaining specialized associations.