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Using Insect Electroantennogram Sensors on Autonomous Robots for Olfactory Searches

Robots designed to track chemical leaks in hazardous industrial facilities1 or explosive traces in landmine fields2 face the same problem as insects ...

Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris

The response of insect olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) involves an increase in intracellular Ca(2+) concentration, as in vertebrate ORNs. In order to decipher the Ca(2+) clearance mechanisms in insect ORNs, we have investigated the presence of a plasma membrane Ca(2+) ATPase (PMCA) in the peripheral olfactory system of the moth Spodoptera littoralis. From an analysis of a male antennal expressed-sequence-tag database combined with a strategy of 5'/3' rapid amplification of cDNA ends plus the polymerase chain reaction, we have cloned a full-length cDNA encoding a PMCA. In adult males, the PMCA transcript has been found in various tissues, including the antennae in which its presence has been detected in the sensilla trichodea, and in cultured ORNs. The PMCA gene is slightly expressed at the end of the pupal stage, reaches a maximum at emergence and is maintained at a high level during the adult period. Taken together, these results provide, for the first time, molecular evidence for the putative participation of a PMCA in signalling pathways responsible for the establishment and functioning of the insect peripheral olfactory system.

Characterization of a plasma membrane Ca(2+) ATPase expressed in olfactory receptor neurons of the moth Spodoptera littoralis.

Responses of insect olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) involve an entry of Ca²⁺ through olfactory heterodimeric receptor complexes. In moths, the termination of ORN responses was found to strongly depend on the external Ca²⁺ concentration through the activation of unknown Ca²⁺-dependent Cl⁻ channels. We thus investigated the molecular identity of these Cl⁻ channels. There is compelling evidence that bestrophins form Cl⁻ channels when expressed in heterologous systems. Here we provide evidence that antennae of the moth Spodoptera littoralis express three transcripts encoding proteins with hallmarks of bestrophins. One of these transcripts, SlitBest1b, is expressed in ORNs. The heterologous expression of SlitBest1b protein in CHO-K1 cells yielded a Ca²⁺-activated Cl⁻ current that shares electrophysiological properties with the native Ca²⁺-activated Cl⁻ current of ORNs. Both currents are anionic, present similar dependence on the intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration, partly inactivate over time, have the same anion permeability sequence, the same sequence of inhibitory efficiency of blockers, the same almost linear I-V relationships and finally both currents do not depend on the cell volume. Therefore, our data suggest that SlitBest1b is a good candidate for being a molecular component of the olfactory Ca²⁺-activated Cl⁻ channel and is likely to constitute part of the insect olfactory transduction pathway. A different function (e.g. regulation of other proteins, maintenance of the anionic homeostasis in the sensillar lymph) and a different role (e.g. involvement in the olfactory system development) cannot be excluded however.

Bestrophin-encoded Ca²⁺-activated Cl⁻ channels underlie a current with properties similar to the native current in the moth Spodoptera littoralis olfactory receptor neurons.

Elodie Demondion

UMR 1392 iEES-Paris

Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris

Using Insect Electroantennogram Sensors on Autonomous Robots for Olfactory Searches

Elodie Demondion

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Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris

Using Insect Electroantennogram Sensors on Autonomous Robots for Olfactory Searches

UMR 1392 iEES-Paris