Sanford Jillian L, Barski Sharon A, Seen Christina M, Dickens Joseph C, Shields Vonnie D C
Biological Sciences Department, Insect Morphology and Physiology Lab, Towson University, Towson, Maryland, United States of America.
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2014 Jun 23;9(6):e99924. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099924. eCollection 2014.
The interactions between insect repellents and the olfactory system have been widely studied, however relatively little is known about the effects of repellents on the gustatory system of insects. In this study, we show that the gustatory receptor neuron (GRN) located in the medial styloconic sensilla on the maxillary palps of gypsy moth larvae, and known to be sensitive to feeding deterrents, also responds to the insect repellents DEET, IR3535, and picaridin. These repellents did not elicit responses in the lateral styloconic sensilla. Moreover, behavioral studies demonstrated that each repellent deterred feeding. This is the first study to show perception of insect repellents by the gustatory system of a lepidopteran larva and suggests that detection of a range of bitter or aversive compounds may be a broadly conserved feature among insects.
人们已经对驱虫剂与嗅觉系统之间的相互作用进行了广泛研究，然而对于驱虫剂对昆虫味觉系统的影响却知之甚少。在本研究中，我们发现，位于舞毒蛾幼虫下颚须内侧栓锥感器中的味觉受体神经元（GRN），已知其对取食抑制剂敏感，它也对驱虫剂避蚊胺、IR3535和派卡瑞丁产生反应。这些驱虫剂不会引起外侧栓锥感器产生反应。此外，行为学研究表明，每种驱虫剂都会抑制取食。这是第一项表明鳞翅目幼虫味觉系统能够感知驱虫剂的研究，并表明检测一系列苦味或厌恶化合物可能是昆虫中广泛存在的保守特征。
