Meeting Abstract

S4.5  Wednesday, Jan. 5  Neural basis of a pollinator’s buffet: olfactory specialization and learning in the Manduca sexta moth RIFFELL, Jeffrey A.; Univ. of Washington jriffell@uw.edu

Plant-pollinator systems range from specialized to generalized, with pollinators interacting with diverse flower species while still maintaining specialized associations. Although floral scents have been implicated in mediating these interactions, identification of the odors – and how the pollinator olfactory system encodes those odors – has been elusive, and the manner in which olfactory learning mediates the generalized plant-insect interactions remains unclear. Through a combination of analytical determinations (gas-chromatography with mass spectrometric detection), behavioral assays and electrophysiogical recordings in the antennal lobe (AL) of the moth, Manduca sexta, this research shows that moths are innately attracted to unrelated flower species that all produce a similar scent profile, and that the scents are equivalently represented in the moth’s AL. Further, by associative learning of non-attractive floral odors with a nectar reward – through modulation of AL projection neurons – moths have the ability to exploit alternate floral resources. Such odor processing through two olfactory channels, one involving an innate bias and the other through associative learning, allows moths to exist within a dynamic floral environment while still maintaining specialized plant-pollinator associations.