CHEMICAL COMMUNICATION IN INSECTS

摘要: Animals use their chemosensory systems to detect and discriminate among chemical cues in the environment. Remarkable progress has recently been made in our knowledge of the molecular and cellular basis of chemosensory perception in LQVHFWV EDVHG ODUJHO\RQ VWXGLHV LQ WKH YLQHJDU À\Drosophila melanogaster. This SURJUHVV KDV EHHQ SRVVLEOH GXH WR WKH LGHQWLfiFDWLRQ RI JHQH IDPLOLHV IRU ROIDFWRU\receptors, the use of electro-physiological recording techniques on sensory neurons, the manifold of genetic manipulations that are available in this species and insights from several insect model systems. The superfamilies of olfactory receptor proteins, the Or genes and the more recently discovered IR genes, represent the essential elements in olfactory coding, endowing olfactory receptor neurons with their DELOLWLHV WR UHVSRQG WR VSHFLfiF VHWV RI …