Processing of sting pheromone and its components in the antennal lobe of the worker honeybee

Shunpeng Wang*, Katsushige Sato, Martin Giurfa, Shaowu Zhang

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    14 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In the honeybee Apis mellifera, a sting pheromone produced by sting glands plays an important role in coordinating defensive behavior. This pheromone is a blend constituted by several components. Little is known about the neural substrates underlying sting pheromone processing in the bee brain. Here, we investigated the neural activity elicited by eight components (five acetates and three alcohols) of the sting pheromone, and by real bee stings at the level of the antennal lobe (AL) of worker honeybees. We used in vivo calcium imaging to record odor-induced neural activity of 22 identified glomeruli in the AL. We found that acetates mainly activated medial glomeruli while alcohols mainly activated lateral dorsal glomeruli. The sting preparation evoked a glomerular pattern that was clearly distinct from those of individual pheromone components. No particular region of the imaged AL was found to process sting pheromone or any of its components. Further analyses in a putative honeybee olfactory space showed that the neural activity elicited by sting preparation cannot be linearly predicted by those of pheromone components and that such components are not clearly separated from non-sting pheromone odors. We conclude that sting pheromone is processed in the worker honeybee AL following the same principles of general odors so that the chemical structure of odorants is the main determinant of glomerular activation, rather than their pheromonal values. We cannot exclude, however, that the distinctness of sting-pheromone representation with respect to that of its components constitutes a form of specialized neural processing strategy for this kind of substance.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)833-841
    Number of pages9
    JournalJournal of Insect Physiology
    Volume54
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2008

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