Lopes Ana Catarina, Brechbühl Julien, Ferreira Flavio, Amez-Droz Marjorie, Broillet Marie-Christine
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Bugnon 27, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Feb 1;12(3):356. doi: 10.3390/ani12030356.
In the wild, mice have developed survival strategies to detect volatile cues that warn them of potential danger. Specific olfactory neurons found in the Grueneberg ganglion olfactory subsystem can detect alarm pheromones emitted by stressed conspecifics, as well as kairomones involuntarily released by their predators. These volatile chemical cues allow intra- and interspecies communication of danger, respectively. Alarm pheromones, kairomones and bitter taste ligands share a common chemical motif containing sulfur or nitrogen. Interestingly, three specific bitter taste receptors (TAS2Rs) have been found in the Grueneberg ganglion neurons that are implicated in danger signalling pathways. We have recently developed a TAS2R-expressing heterologous system that mimics the Grueneberg ganglion neuron responses after kairomone stimulation. Here, we demonstrated by in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo experiments that the biological secretions from the raccoon () and the skunk () were acting as potent sources of kairomones. They activated the Grueneberg ganglion neurons and induced fear-related behaviours in mice. Identification of new sources of semiochemicals is a first step towards an understanding of the interspecies danger communication that takes place in the Grueneberg ganglion.
在野外，小鼠已形成生存策略来检测挥发性线索，这些线索能警告它们潜在的危险。在格伦贝格神经节嗅觉子系统中发现的特定嗅觉神经元可以检测到受应激的同种个体释放的警报信息素，以及它们的捕食者无意中释放的异种信息素。这些挥发性化学线索分别允许种内和种间进行危险信息交流。警报信息素、异种信息素和苦味配体具有包含硫或氮的共同化学基序。有趣的是，在格伦贝格神经节神经元中发现了三种特定的苦味受体（TAS2Rs），它们参与危险信号通路。我们最近开发了一种表达TAS2R的异源系统，该系统模拟了异种信息素刺激后格伦贝格神经节神经元的反应。在这里，我们通过体外、离体和体内实验证明，浣熊（）和臭鼬（）的生物分泌物是强大的异种信息素来源。它们激活了格伦贝格神经节神经元，并在小鼠中诱导出与恐惧相关的行为。识别新的化学信息素来源是理解在格伦贝格神经节中发生的种间危险交流的第一步。
