TY - JOUR
T1 - Separation of different pollen types by chemotactile sensing in Bombus terrestris
AU - Ruedenauer, Fabian A.
AU - Leonhardt, Sara D.
AU - Schmalz, Fabian
AU - Rössler, Wolfgang
AU - Strube-Bloss, Martin F.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.
PY - 2017/4/15
Y1 - 2017/4/15
N2 - When tasting food, animals rely on chemical and tactile cues, which determine the animal's decision on whether to eat food. As food nutritional composition has enormous consequences for the survival of animals, food items should generally be tasted before they are eaten or collected for later consumption. Even though recent studies have confirmed the importance of, for example, gustatory cues, compared with olfaction only little is known about the representation of chemotactile stimuli at the receptor level (let alone higher brain centers) in animals other than vertebrates. To better understand how invertebrates may process chemotactile cues, we used bumblebees as a model species and combined electroantennographical (EAG) recordings with a novel technique for chemotactile antennal stimulation in bees. The recorded EAG responses to chemotactile stimulation clearly separated volatile compounds by both compound identity and concentration, and could be successfully applied to test the receptor activity evoked by different types of pollen.We found that two different pollen types (apple and almond; which were readily distinguished by bumblebees in a classical conditioning task) evoked significantly distinct neural activity already at the antennal receptor level. Our novel stimulation technique therefore enables investigation of chemotactile sensing, which is highly important for assessing food nutritional quality while foraging. It can further be applied to test other chemosensory behaviors, such as mate or nest mate recognition, or to investigate whether toxic substances, e.g. in pollen, affect neuronal separation of different food types.
AB - When tasting food, animals rely on chemical and tactile cues, which determine the animal's decision on whether to eat food. As food nutritional composition has enormous consequences for the survival of animals, food items should generally be tasted before they are eaten or collected for later consumption. Even though recent studies have confirmed the importance of, for example, gustatory cues, compared with olfaction only little is known about the representation of chemotactile stimuli at the receptor level (let alone higher brain centers) in animals other than vertebrates. To better understand how invertebrates may process chemotactile cues, we used bumblebees as a model species and combined electroantennographical (EAG) recordings with a novel technique for chemotactile antennal stimulation in bees. The recorded EAG responses to chemotactile stimulation clearly separated volatile compounds by both compound identity and concentration, and could be successfully applied to test the receptor activity evoked by different types of pollen.We found that two different pollen types (apple and almond; which were readily distinguished by bumblebees in a classical conditioning task) evoked significantly distinct neural activity already at the antennal receptor level. Our novel stimulation technique therefore enables investigation of chemotactile sensing, which is highly important for assessing food nutritional quality while foraging. It can further be applied to test other chemosensory behaviors, such as mate or nest mate recognition, or to investigate whether toxic substances, e.g. in pollen, affect neuronal separation of different food types.
KW - Chemotactile
KW - EAG recording
KW - Pollen
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85018617368&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1242/jeb.153122
DO - 10.1242/jeb.153122
M3 - Article
C2 - 28183868
AN - SCOPUS:85018617368
SN - 0022-0949
VL - 220
SP - 1435
EP - 1442
JO - Journal of Experimental Biology
JF - Journal of Experimental Biology
IS - 8
ER -