Trans-sexually grafted antennae alter pheromone-directed behaviour in a moth

When tobacco hornworm moths ( Manduca sexta ) are tested in a wind tunnel with a source of female pheromones upwind, males but not normal females show pheromone-modulated anemotaxis and a characteristic mate-seeking behavioural sequence 1–7 . These behaviours are produced by stimulation of sensory n...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1986-10, Vol.323 (6091), p.801-803
Main Authors: Schneiderman, Anne M., Hildebrand, John G., Brennan, Margaret M., Tumlinson, James H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Female
Humanities and Social Sciences
Lepidoptera - physiology
letter
Male
Manduca sexta
Moths - physiology
multidisciplinary
Pheromones - physiology
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Sense Organs - physiology
Sense Organs - transplantation
Sex Characteristics
Sexual Behavior, Animal
Sphingidae
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Summary:When tobacco hornworm moths ( Manduca sexta ) are tested in a wind tunnel with a source of female pheromones upwind, males but not normal females show pheromone-modulated anemotaxis and a characteristic mate-seeking behavioural sequence 1–7 . These behaviours are produced by stimulation of sensory neurones found only in male antennae 8–10 . These neurones project axons only to dendrites of pheromone-specific interneurones 11,12 in the macroglomerular complex, a region of neuropil in the antennal lobe characteristic of males but not present in normal females 13–15 . Some interneurones in the antennal lobes of female moths that have received grafts of male antennae (gynandromorphs) respond postsynaptically to stimulation with bombykal, a major component of the pheromone 16 . They branch into a region resembling the macroglomerular complex 16 , like their counterparts in normal males. We show here that gynandromorphic females respond to pheromonal stimulation with anemotaxis. We also find that normal females display a similar sequence in response to the odour of their egg-laying site, the tobacco plant. It is likely that a common motor path is used either by pheromone-specific interneurones in the antennal lobes of males or by tobacco-specific interneurones in females. We assume that the interneurones in gynandromorphic females that branch into the macroglomerular complex induced by a grafted male antenna can activate this pathway.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/323801a0