SUMMARYIn diverse insects, the forward positioning of the antenna is often among the first behavioral indicators of the onset of flight. This behavior may be important for the proper acquisition of the mechanosensory and olfactory inputs by the antennae during flight. Here, we describe the neural mechanisms of antennal positioning in hawk moths from behavioral, neuroanatomical and neurophysiological perspectives. The behavioral experiments indicated that a set of sensory bristles called Böhmʼs bristles (or hair plates) mediate antennal positioning during flight. When these sensory structures were ablated from the basal segments of their antennae, moths were unable to bring their antennae into flight position, causing frequent collisions with the flapping wing. Fluorescent dye-fills of the underlying sensory and motor neurons revealed that the axonal arbors of the mechanosensory bristle neurons spatially overlapped with the dendritic arbors of the antennal motor neurons. Moreover, the latency between the activation of antennal muscles following stimulation of sensory bristles was also very short (<10ms), indicating that the sensorimotor connections may be direct. Together, these data show that Böhmʼs bristles control antennal positioning in moths via a reflex mechanism. Because the sensory structures and motor organization are conserved across most Neoptera, the mechanisms underlying antennal positioning, as described here, are likely to be conserved in these diverse insects.Supplementary material available online at

Carnivorous plants match their animal prey for speed of movements and hence offer fascinating insights into the evolution of fast movements in plants. Here, we describe the mechanics of prey capture in aquatic bladderworts Utricularia stellaris, which prey on swimming insect larvae or nematodes to supplement their nitrogen intake. The closed Utricularia bladder develops lowerthan-ambient internal pressures by pumping out water from the bladder and thus setting up an elastic instability in bladder walls. When the external sensory trigger hairs on their trapdoor are mechanically stimulated by moving prey, the trapdoor opens within 300 -700 ms, causing strong inward flows that trap their prey. The opening time of the bladder trapdoor is faster than any recorded motion in carnivorous plants. Thus, Utricularia have evolved a unique biomechanical system to gain an advantage over their animal prey.

BackgroundMembers of the canonical Transient Receptor Potential (TRPC) class of cationic channels function downstream of Gαq and PLCβ in Drosophila photoreceptors for transducing visual stimuli. Gαq has recently been implicated in olfactory sensing of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other odorants. Here we investigated the role of PLCβ and TRPC channels for sensing CO2 in Drosophila.Methodology/Principal FindingsThrough behavioral assays it was demonstrated that Drosophila mutants for plc21c, trp and trpl have a reduced sensitivity for CO2. Immuno-histochemical staining for TRP, TRPL and TRPγ indicates that all three channels are expressed in Drosophila antennae including the sensory neurons that express CO2 receptors. Electrophysiological recordings obtained from the antennae of protein null alleles of TRP (trp343) and TRPL (trpl302), showed that the sensory response to multiple concentrations of CO2 was reduced. However, trpl302; trp343 double mutants still have a residual response to CO2. Down-regulation of TRPC channels specifically in CO2 sensing olfactory neurons reduced the response to CO2 and this reduction was obtained even upon down-regulation of the TRPCs in adult olfactory sensory neurons. Thus the reduced response to CO2 obtained from the antennae of TRPC RNAi strains is not due to a developmental defect.ConclusionThese observations show that reduction in TRPC channel function significantly reduces the sensitivity of the olfactory response to CO2 concentrations of 5% or less in adult Drosophila. It is possible that the CO2 receptors Gr63a and Gr21a activate the TRPC channels through Gαq and PLC21C.