Ant Olfaction: Smells Like an Insect, Develops Like a Mammal

Duan, Qichen; Volkan, Pelin

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.074

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 19 publications

(42 reference statements)

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“…The ant olfactory system also differs from that of Drosophila in several developmental properties that might be linked to its increased complexity (Trible et al, 2017; Yan et al, 2017; Duan and Volkan, 2020; Ryba et al, 2020). Based on these differences, it has been suggested that ants, similar to mice but unlike flies, might rely on intrinsic features of ORs for OSN axon guidance and AL patterning (Duan and Volkan, 2020; Ryba et al, 2020). This in turn could translate to increased developmental plasticity in the olfactory system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sparse and stereotyped encoding implicates a core glomerulus for ant alarm behavior

Hart

Frank

Lopes

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Ants communicate via large arrays of pheromones and possess expanded, highly complex olfactory systems, with antennal lobes in the brain comprising ~500 glomeruli. This expansion implies that odors could activate hundreds of glomeruli, which would pose challenges for higher order processing. To study this problem, we generated the first transgenic ants, expressing the genetically encoded calcium indicator GCaMP6s in olfactory sensory neurons. Using two-photon imaging, we mapped complete glomerular responses to four ant alarm pheromones. Alarm pheromones robustly activated ≤6 glomeruli, and activity maps for the three pheromones inducing panic-alarm in our study species converged on a single glomerulus. These results demonstrate that, rather than using broadly tuned combinatorial encoding, ants employ precise, narrowly tuned, and stereotyped representation of alarm pheromone cues. The identification of a central sensory hub glomerulus for alarm behavior suggests that a simple neural architecture is sufficient to translate pheromone perception into behavioral outputs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sparse and stereotyped encoding implicates a core glomerulus for ant alarm behavior

Hart

Frank

Lopes

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…antennation) for behaviors as diverse as nest mate recognition (Neupert et al, 2018), trophallaxis (Cabe et al, 2006), aggression (Paul and Annagiri, 2019) and prey search (Binz et al, 2016). Whereas antennae are major sensory organs for olfactory sensing (Duan and Volkan, 2020;Ryba et al, 2020;Zube et al, 2008), in many cases direct contact is required (Cabe et al, 2006;Sheridan et al, 1996), thus integrating chemical and mechanical information. Like other ants, E. ruidum largely relies on antennation for many behaviors inside (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stimulus-dependent learning and memory in the neotropical ant Ectatomma ruidum

Riveros

Entler

Seid

2021

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Learning and memory are major cognitive processes strongly tied to the life histories of animals. In ants, chemotactile information generally plays a central role in social interaction, navigation and resource exploitation. However, in hunters, visual information should take special relevance during foraging, thus leading to differential use of information from different sensory modalities. Here, we aimed to test whether a hunter, the neotropical ant Ectatomma ruidum, differentially learns stimuli acquired through multiple sensory channels. We evaluated the performance of E. ruidum workers when trained using olfactory, mechanical, chemotactile and visual stimuli under a restrained protocol of appetitive learning. Conditioning of the maxilla labium extension response enabled control of the stimuli provided. Our results show that ants learn faster and remember for longer when trained using chemotactile or visual stimuli than when trained using olfactory and mechanical stimuli separately. These results agree with the life history of E. ruidum, characterized by a high relevance of chemotactile information acquired through antennation as well as the role of vision during hunting.

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