Behavioral responses of adult female tobacco hornworms, Manduca sexta, to hostplant volatiles change with age and mating status

Mechaber, Wendy L.; Capaldo, Christopher; Hildebrand, John G.

doi:10.1673/031.002.0501

Cited by 51 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Linalool is a common component of the scent of moth-pollinated flowers (Miyake et al 1998;Raguso & Pichersky 1999), and (þ)-linalool is the major floral component in the moth-pollinated Clarkia breweri (Raguso & Pichersky 1999). While foliage volatiles from host plants are sufficient to elicit oviposition in laboratory experiments (Mechaber et al 2002), it is possible that in nature floral (þ)-linalool acts in concert with foliage volatiles to attract M. sexta from a distance and/or at close range to elicit oviposition behaviour. If so, then the effects of (þ)-linalool parallel the reported scale-dependent effects of CO 2 on visits of hungry M. sexta moths to D. wrightii flowers (Goyret et al 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antagonistic effects of floral scent in an insect–plant interaction

et al. 2010

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In southwestern USA, the jimsonweed Datura wrightii and the nocturnal moth Manduca sexta form a pollinator-plant and herbivore-plant association. Because the floral scent is probably important in mediating this interaction, we investigated the floral volatiles that might attract M. sexta for feeding and oviposition. We found that flower volatiles increase oviposition and include small amounts of both enantiomers of linalool, a common component of the scent of hawkmoth-pollinated flowers. Because (þ)-linalool is processed in a female-specific glomerulus in the primary olfactory centre of M. sexta, we hypothesized that the enantiomers of linalool differentially modulate feeding and oviposition. Using a synthetic mixture that mimics the D. wrightii floral scent, we found that the presence of linalool was not necessary to evoke feeding and that mixtures containing (þ)-and/or (2)-linalool were equally effective in mediating this behaviour. By contrast, females oviposited more on plants emitting (þ)-linalool (alone or in mixtures) over control plants, while plants emitting (2)-linalool (alone or in mixtures) were less preferred than control plants. Together with our previous investigations, these results show that linalool has differential effects in feeding and oviposition through two neural pathways: one that is sexually isomorphic and non-enantioselective, and another that is female-specific and enantioselective.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antagonistic effects of floral scent in an insect–plant interaction

et al. 2010

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“…Furthermore, pheromone-specific MGC-ORNs maintain certain glycosylation patterns into adulthood . At the behavioral level, adult female M. sexta exhibit changing responses to host plant volatiles, depending on age and mating status (Mechaber et al 2002). The underlying principle might be comparable to that in males, since the female glomeruli specialized to host plant odors correspond to the MGC in males (Rospars and Hildebrand 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Standard three-dimensional glomeruli of the Manduca sexta antennal lobe: a tool to study both developmental and adult neuronal plasticity

Huetteroth

Schachtner

2005

Cell Tissue Res

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The metamorphosing antennal lobe (AL) of the sphinx moth Manduca sexta serves as an established model system for studying neuronal development. To improve our understanding of mechanisms involved in neuronal plasticity, we have analyzed the size, shape, and localization of ten identified glomeruli at three different time points during development and in the adult, viz., (1) 13 days after pupal eclosion (P13), which reflects a time when the basic glomerular map has formed, (2) immediately after adult eclosion (A0), which represents a time when the newly formed glomeruli are uninfluenced by external odors, and (3) 4 days after adult eclosion (A4), which reflects a time when the animals have been exposed to surrounding odors. Our data from normally developing ALs of male M. sexta from P13 to A0 revealed an increase in size of all examined glomeruli of between 40% and 130%, with the strongest increases occurring in two of the three sex-specific glomeruli (cumulus, toroid). From A0 to A4, the cumulus and toroid increased significantly when correlated to AL volume, whereas the other glomeruli reached the sizes gained after A0. This study was based on antibody staining against the ubiquitous synaptic vesicle protein synaptotagmin, confocal laser scan microscopy, and the three-dimensional (3D) analysis tool AMIRA. Tissue permeability and therefore reliability of the staining quality was enhanced by using formalin/methanol fixation. The standard 3D glomeruli introduced in this study can now be used as basic tools for further examination of neuronal plasticity at the level of the identified neuropil structures, viz., the glomeruli of the AL of M. sexta.

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“…Instead, our results support the hypothesis that CO 2 acts as an orientation stimulus (Table 1, H A1 ). The CO 2 plume evoked the typical zigzag casting flight pattern indicative of odor-guided behavior in M. sexta (30,47,48) and was slightly more likely to elicit upwind casting flight than was floral odor. These results suggest that floral CO 2 is perceived by M. sexta as an odor, a hypothesis that is consistent with the fact that CO 2 -receptor cells in the LPO project their axons through the suboesophageal ganglion into both antennal lobes (34), the primary centers for the processing of olfactory inputs from the antennae.…”

Section: Scale Dependence Of Responses To Co2 In No-choice Assaysmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…3). Mechaber et al (48) demonstrated that virgin female M. sexta show host-plant tracking behavior in response to tomato leaf volatiles, and abdominal curling typical of oviposition when in contact with the plant, 3 days after eclosion. Thus, our unmated females-all of them 3 or more days posteclosion-were expected to show some response to host-plant volatiles.…”

Section: Context Dependence Of Female Responses In Binary-choice Assaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Context- and scale-dependent effects of floral CO ₂ on nectar foraging by Manduca sexta

Goyret

Markwell²,

Raguso³

2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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fragrance ͉ odor ͉ olfaction ͉ pollination ͉ Sphingidae A nthophilous insects use information from a variety of sensory channels to locate flowers and feed from them (1). Thus, a crucial task for studying insect-plant interactions is to identify which components of the environment provide the sensory inputs used by insects, and to what extent context and scale affect their information content (2). Whereas flower colors and patterns (3, 4), whole-flower and nectar odors (5), and even corolla shape and texture are known features used by foraging insects and other nectivorous animals (6, 7), few studies have explicitly addressed the role of flower respiratory carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) as a stimulus involved in plant-pollinator interactions.Our knowledge of how insects use CO 2 as a sensory cue is derived primarily from studies of insects that vector diseases or attack crop plants. For example, many haematophagous insects use CO 2 to locate their animal hosts from a distance (8). Discontinuous CO 2 plumes modulate host-seeking behavior by mosquitoes (9, 10), suggesting that CO 2 acts as a long-range orientation stimulus (11). Tsetse flies and biting midges also use CO 2 as a long-range attractant that can synergize the attractiveness of other host odors (12, 13). However, CO 2 also functions as a close-range feeding stimulus (on the host's skin) for mosquitoes (8). CO 2 synergizes the attractiveness of some human skin odors to female yellow fever mosquitoes (14) and has been suggested to synergize triatomine bug responses to L(ϩ)-lactic acid (15).Some herbivorous insects show similar responses to CO 2 , although typically at closer range to its source than haematophagous insects. CO 2 alone is sufficient to guide Diabrotica virgifera beetle larvae toward corn roots (16), and larvae of noctuid (Helicoverpa armigera) (17) and pyralid (Elasmopalpus lignosellus) (18) moths orient to above-ambient CO 2 sources. Females of the pyralid moth Cactoblastis cactorum search for CO 2 sinks on photosynthetic stem surfaces of Opuntia stricta, as indicators of high carbon fixation activity (19). In this case, CO 2 gradients are used as close-range stimuli, as is true for tephritid flies that oviposit on fruit wounds, which provide a localized source of CO 2 and other olfactory oviposition stimulants (20). Finally, responses to CO 2 may be context-dependent. Tephritid flies respond to CO 2 when presented with a fruit-like visual stimulus (20). Within a certain concentration range, Drosophila melanogaster adults and larvae are repelled by CO 2 , and it has been suggested that these responses depend on the olfactory context (21).It is clear from the studies reviewed above that CO 2 may function alone or in concert with host odors, at a distance or at close range, via several behavioral mechanisms. Recent studies suggest that CO 2 may also contribute to the interactions between flowers and insect pollinators. Floral CO 2 is primarily associated with elevated respiratory activity in thermogenic flowers, including deceptive flowers that mim...

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Behavioral responses of adult female tobacco hornworms, Manduca sexta, to hostplant volatiles change with age and mating status

Cited by 51 publications

References 40 publications

Antagonistic effects of floral scent in an insect–plant interaction

Antagonistic effects of floral scent in an insect–plant interaction

Standard three-dimensional glomeruli of the Manduca sexta antennal lobe: a tool to study both developmental and adult neuronal plasticity

Context- and scale-dependent effects of floral CO ₂ on nectar foraging by Manduca sexta

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Behavioral responses of adult female tobacco hornworms, Manduca sexta, to hostplant volatiles change with age and mating status

Cited by 51 publications

References 40 publications

Antagonistic effects of floral scent in an insect–plant interaction

Antagonistic effects of floral scent in an insect–plant interaction

Standard three-dimensional glomeruli of the Manduca sexta antennal lobe: a tool to study both developmental and adult neuronal plasticity

Context- and scale-dependent effects of floral CO 2 on nectar foraging by Manduca sexta

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Context- and scale-dependent effects of floral CO ₂ on nectar foraging by Manduca sexta