Glomerular representation of plant volatiles and sex pheromone components in the antennal lobe of the female Spodoptera littoralis.

Abstract

We studied the projection patterns of antennal lobe (AL) interneurones sensitive to plant volatiles and female-produced sex pheromone components in the female moth, Spodoptera littoralis. Ten compounds (eight plant-derived compounds and two sex pheromone components) were singly applied to the antenna and, using intracellular recording and staining techniques, the physiological and morphological characteristics of responding neurones were investigated. In addition, ALs stained with a synapsin antibody were optically sectioned using confocal microscopy, and a three-dimensional map of glomeruli in the anterior aspect of the AL was reconstructed. We used the map as a reference for identification of glomeruli innervated by projection neurones (PNs) that respond to plant volatiles and/or pheromone components. Nineteen PNs, responding to one to seven compounds of the ten tested stimuli, were stained with neurobiotin. These neurones each arborised in a single glomerulus in the frontal side of the AL. PNs responding to the same compound arborised in different glomeruli and PNs arborising in the same glomerulus responded to different compounds. Accordingly, glomeruli harbouring the dendritic arborisations of PNs responding to each of the tested compounds constituted a unique array of glomeruli that were not necessarily adjacent. It was thus clear that, at the output level, a single plant volatile or a sex pheromone component was not represented within a single glomerulus in the AL. We expect complex patterns of glomeruli to be involved in the coding of plant-derived compounds, as well as sex pheromone components, in female S. littoralis.