CO2 sensing in insects: from ecology to neuroethology

P G GUERENSTEIN; A BEYERLEIN; A EATON-MORDAS; T A CHRISTENSEN; J G HILDEBRAND

Viçosa

Simposio; Encontro Brasileiro de Ecologia Quimica, Simposio: Ecologia Química de Vetores de Doenças; 2009

Sociedad Brasilera de Ecologia Quimica

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important constituent of the chemical environment, anda number of insect species use specialized sensory receptor cells to detect and measureambient CO2 sensitively. It is known that CO2 plays multiple vital roles in thebiology of insects, despite being a ubiquitous sensory cue. Recently, those basic roles(e.g., location of food sources) have been extended to an increasing number of insects,and similarities in its use start to arise even among insects with rather differenthabits. Moreover, new roles for CO2 cues are being proposed. Emphasizing resultsfrom studies on moths, many of the last findings on CO2 sensing in insects will bepresented. Particularities of CO2-sensing respect to typical odorant-sensing will behighlighted. The signal and its detection, and aspects of CNS processing, such as integrationof olfactory information (“blend coding”) and the neural bases of olfactorysynergism, will also be discussed and related to the olfactory context. Finally, havingin mind the underlying olfactory neural circuits, CO2-related behaviors and ecologicalroles of CO2 will be introduced. This research is contributing to understandingof particular and general aspects of olfaction and olfactory behavior in insects. Also,as many harmful insects use CO2 as a cue to find resources, expanding our understandingof the CO2 sensory system may lead to improved strategies for surveillanceand control.