open access

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/47492

Pheromone Detection by a Pheromone Emitter : A Small Sex Pheromone-Specific Processing System in the Female American Cockroach

英語

sexual dimorphism

2011-03

Oxford University Press

Chemical Senses

36(3)

261-270

Many animals depend on pheromone communication for successful mating. Sex pheromone in insects is usually released by females to attract males. In American cockroaches, the largest glomerulus (B-glomerulus) in the male antennal lobe (first-order olfactory centre) processes the major component of sex pheromone. Using intracellular recordings combined with fine neuroanatomical techniques, we provide evidence that the female homolog of the male B-glomerulus also acts as a sex pheromone-specific detector. Whereas ordinary glomeruli that process normal environmental odors are innervated by single PNs, the B-glomerulus in both sexes is innervated by multiple PNs, one of which possesses a thicker axon, termed here B-PN. Both soma size and axon diameter were smaller on B-PNs from females compared to B-PNs from males. The female B-PNs also produce fewer terminal arborizations in the protocerebrum than male B-PNs. Termination fields in the lateral protocerebrum of the female B-PN are mostly segregated from those formed by other uniglomerular PNs innervating ordinary glomeruli. Female B-PN activity was greatest in response to sex pheromone but lower than that in the male B-PN. This specific detection system suggests that sex pheromone affects the behavior and/or endocrine system of female cockroaches.

学術雑誌論文

Accepted Manuscript

This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Chemical Senses following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Chem. Senses (2011) 36 (3): 261-270 is available online at: http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/content/36/3/261

0379-864X