Chemical structure of odorants and perceptual similarity in ants

Bos, Nick; d’Ettorre, Patrizia; Guerrieri, Fernando J.

doi:10.1242/jeb.087007

Cited by 16 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(54 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A unifying-template would be based on commonalities found in the majority of all nestmate CHC profiles and their corresponding neural representation, which led to the concept of “inclusion theory” (Guerrieri et al, 2009; Bos et al, 2012, 2013). However, in one of our test scenarios (workers from sub-colony AB encountering workers from sub-colony A), the inclusion criterion with respect to the chemical composition of the CHC profiles was fulfilled.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning Distinct Chemical Labels of Nestmates in Ants

Neupert

Hornung

Millar

et al. 2018

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Colony coherence is essential for eusocial insects because it supports the inclusive fitness of colony members. Ants quickly and reliably recognize who belongs to the colony (nestmates) and who is an outsider (non-nestmates) based on chemical recognition cues (cuticular hydrocarbons: CHCs) which as a whole constitute a chemical label. The process of nestmate recognition often is described as matching a neural template with the label. In this study, we tested the prevailing view that ants use commonalities in the colony odor that are present in the CHC profile of all individuals of a colony or whether different CHC profiles are learned independently. We created and manipulated sub-colonies by adding one or two different hydrocarbons that were not present in the original colony odor of our Camponotus floridanus colony and later tested workers of the sub-colonies in one-on-one encounters for aggressive responses. We found that workers adjust their nestmate recognition by learning novel, manipulated CHC profiles, but still accept workers with the previous CHC profile. Workers from a sub-colony with two additional components showed aggression against workers with only one of the two components added to their CHC profile. Thus, additional components as well as the lack of a component can alter a label as “non-nestmate.” Our results suggest that ants have multiple-templates to recognize nestmates carrying distinct labels. This finding is in contrast to what previously has been proposed, i.e., a widening of the acceptance range of one template. We conclude that nestmate recognition in ants is a partitioned (multiple-template) process of the olfactory system that allows discrimination and categorization of nestmates by differences in their CHC profiles. Our findings have strong implications for our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of colony coherence and task allocation because they illustrate the importance of individual experience and task associated differences in the CHC profiles that can be instructive for the organization of insect societies.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning Distinct Chemical Labels of Nestmates in Ants

Neupert

Hornung

Millar

et al. 2018

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The mixture would thus be perceptually reduced to a few key components, without the need to take into account the entire suite of components constituting the olfactory stimulus. Determination of specific odorants as key components would rely on the chemical characteristic of the odorant molecule, such as the functional group and the carbon chain length (Bos et al, , 2013Perez et al, 2015). In the case of hydrocarbons, the available data suggest that some classes of hydrocarbons are more informative than others for recognition of identity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The binary response (MaLER: YES/NO) is simple and unambiguous and ants show excellent learning performances Guerrieri et al, 2011;Bos et al, 2013;Perez et al, 2013Perez et al, , 2015. Here, we used the MaLER paradigm to test whether ants were able to discriminate between different concentrations of the same hydrocarbon (linear and branched alkanes) in a differential conditioning paradigm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ants Discriminate Between Different Hydrocarbon Concentrations

et al. 2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social insects typically discriminate nestmates from non-nestmates using colony-specific blends of cuticular hydrocarbons, which may be considered as a chemical label. Within a species, the cuticular profile shows approximately the same qualitative set of compounds, although these differ quantitatively among colonies. Thus, the relative proportions of particular hydrocarbons may be higher in individuals of one colony compared to those of another (conspecific) colony. Social insects must perceive these differences in ratios in order to efficiently recognize non-nestmates. However, little is known about the underlying perceptual mechanisms. Here we investigated whether ants can discriminate between different doses of individual linear or methyl-branched hydrocarbons. We used the ant Camponotus aethiops as our study organism and differential conditioning of the maxilla-labium extension response as the experimental procedure, to test olfactory discrimination between two concentrations of the same compound (one rewarded and the other punished), using large (wide range, 1:100) and small differences (narrow range, 1:10) in hydrocarbon concentrations. Ants discriminated well between wide-range concentrations of the same compound, but showed asymmetric generalization between narrow-range concentrations. These results indicate that a certain differential in hydrocarbon concentration is essential for efficient discrimination.

show abstract

“…Although most of the scientific evidence on odour reception collected in different species is well in agreement with this model, [10][11][12][13] it does not provide satisfactory explanation for the existence of many molecules of completely different chemical properties, i.e. size, shape, and functional groups, resulting in identical odours.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Testing odorant-receptor interaction theories in humans through discrimination of isotopomers

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Odour reception takes place on the olfactory receptor neuron membrane, where molecular receptors interact with volatile odorant molecules. This interaction is classically thought to rely on chemical and structural features of the odorant, e.g. size, shape, functional groups. However, this model does not allow formulating a correct prediction for the smell of an odorant, suggesting that other molecular properties may play a role in the odour transduction process. An alternative model of olfaction maintains that odorant receptors can probe not only the structural and chemical features, but also the molecular vibration spectrum of the odorants. This constitutes the so-called vibration model of olfaction. According to this model, two isotopomers of the same molecule, i.e. two forms of the same molecule, one unaltered and one in which one or more hydrogen atoms are substituted with deuterium -which are therefore structurally and chemically identical, but with different molecular vibration spectra -would interact differently with an olfactory receptor, producing different olfactory perceptions in the brain. Here, we report on a duo-trio discrimination experiment conducted on human subjects, testing isotopomer pairs that have recently been shown to be differentially encoded in the honeybee brain.

show abstract

Chemical structure of odorants and perceptual similarity in ants

Cited by 16 publications

References 44 publications

Learning Distinct Chemical Labels of Nestmates in Ants

Learning Distinct Chemical Labels of Nestmates in Ants

Ants Discriminate Between Different Hydrocarbon Concentrations

Testing odorant-receptor interaction theories in humans through discrimination of isotopomers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About