Home About Browse Search
Svenska


Khbaish, Hamida, 2010. Identification of olfactory receptor neurons in two Species of scarab beetles: a comparative study by means of single sensillum recording. Second cycle, A2E. Alnarp: SLU, Dept. of Plant Protection Biology

[img]
Preview
PDF
1MB

Abstract

Few studies have addressed how olfactory systems may be adapted to different odour environments. I have performed the largest study to date, comparing olfactory receptor neurons in the two congeneric species of scarab beetle, P. marginata and P. interrupta. Both species are fruit- and flower-eaters but geographically separated (equatorial versus sub-Saharan Africa, resp.). They have similar lamellate antennae covered mostly with numerous olfactory sensilla placodea (plate sensilla) and a lesser number of other types, mainly sensilla coeloconica (grooved peg), and smooth peg sensilla of unknown function. By means of single sensillum recordings with tungsten microelectrodes I screened a great number of olfactory sensilla with a large array of odorants. I compared 456 sensilla placodea, containing 212 responding cells, over the whole antennae in both species. The olfactory systems of these two species displayed an amazing degree of conservation, with 20 identified olfactory neuron classes, all except two of which were found in both species with no detectable difference in response profiles. The exceptions were two olfactory receptor neuron classes: methyl benzoate and gamma-nonalactone, which were only found in Pachnoda marginata. In general, the two species showed an almost total overlap in their receptor neuron assemblies. One aim of the study was also to test whether the arrangement of neurons within sensilla was conserved between the species, but this could not be tested as very few combinations of characterized neurons were encountered during the study.

Main title:Identification of olfactory receptor neurons in two Species of scarab beetles: a comparative study by means of single sensillum recording
Authors:Khbaish, Hamida
Supervisor:Larsson, Mattias and Hillbur, Ylva and Bengtsson, Jonas
Examiner:Andersson, Peter
Series:Självständigt arbete vid LTJ-fakulteten, SLU
Volume/Sequential designation:UNSPECIFIED
Year of Publication:2010
Level and depth descriptor:Second cycle, A2E
Student's programme affiliation:None
Supervising department:(LTJ, LTV) > Dept. of Plant Protection Biology
Keywords:olfaction, electrophysiology, scarab beetles, Pachnoda marginata, Pachnoda interrupta, single sensillum recording, olfactory receptor neurons
URN:NBN:urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-4-280
Permanent URL:
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-4-280
Subject. Use of subject categories until 2023-04-30.:Pests of plants
Language:English
Deposited On:06 Jul 2010 08:41
Metadata Last Modified:20 Apr 2012 14:14

Repository Staff Only: item control page