European Corn Borer: Pheromone Polymorphism or Sibling Species?

Cardé, Ring T.; Roelofs, W. L.; Harrison, Richard G.; Vawter, A. Thomas; Brussard, Peter F.; Mutuura, Akira; Munroe, Eugene

doi:10.1126/science.199.4328.555

Cited by 95 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…This may lessen stabilizing selection and create opportunities for pheromones to evolve, depending on the suite of selection forces a population is experiencing (21). Interestingly, field populations of the sibling taxon Ostrinia scapulalis (22), which has an identical pheromone polymorphism as O. nubilalis, were found in apparent Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (23), although such situations have not been reported for O. nubilalis (24).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Early quality assessment lessens pheromone specificity in a moth

Kárpáti

Cardé

Dekker

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Pheromone orientation in moths is an exemplar of olfactory acuity. To avoid heterospecific mating, males respond to femaleproduced blends with high specificity and temporal resolution. A finely tuned sensory to projection neuron network secures specificity, and this network is thought to assess pheromone quality continually during orientation. We tested whether male moths do indeed evaluate each pheromone encounter and surprisingly found that male European corn borer moths instead generalize across successive encounters. Although initially highly ratio specific, once "locked on" to the pheromone plume the acceptable ratio can vary widely, and even unattractive blends can become attractive. We further found that this "mental shortcut" may be a consequence of the fact that sensory neurons exposed to frequent encounters do not reliably encode blend ratios. Neurons tuned to either of the two pheromone components adapt differentially in plumes containing the preferred blend ratio (97:3) and cause the olfactory sensory signal to "evolve," even in narrowly tuned pheromonal circuits. However, apparently the brain interprets these shifting signals as invariant "gestalts." Generalization in pheromone perception may mitigate stabilizing selection and allow introgression between sympatric strains, such as in the European corn borer, that otherwise appear isolated by pheromonal differences. Generalization may also be important in responses to general odorants, as circuits underlying these display vast sensitivity differences, complex interactions, and temporal intricacies.blend recognition | odor processing | sensory constraints | evolution | sexual selection

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Early quality assessment lessens pheromone specificity in a moth

Kárpáti

Cardé

Dekker

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Females of the Z-strain produce 97% Z11-14:OAc and 3% E11-14:OAc whereas E-strain females produce 99% E11-14:OAc and 1% Z11-14:OAc (Anglade et al, 1984;Klun and Robinson, 1971;Klun et al, 1973). Consequently, the strains do not freely interbreed in sympatry (Cardé et al, 1978;Malausa et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reversed functional topology in the antennal lobe of the male European corn borer

Kárpáti

Dekker

Hansson

2008

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARY The European corn borer Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner) is a model of evolution of sexual communication in insects. Two pheromone strains produce and respond to opposite ratios of the two pheromone components, Z11 and E11-tetradecenylacetate. The Z-strain uses a ratio of 97:3 of Z11:E11 tetradecenylacetate, whereas the E-strain uses a ratio of 1:99. We studied how the difference in male preference correlates with differences in wiring of olfactory input and output neurons in the antennal lobe (AL). Activity-dependent anterograde staining, intracellular recording and immunocytochemistry were used to establish the structure and function of male olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) and AL projection neurons (PNs). Physiologically characterized neurons were reconstructed using confocal microscopy of α-synapsin stained ALs. The ALs of males and females in both strains had approximately 64 glomeruli. In males the macroglomerular complex (MGC) was morphologically similar in the two strains and consisted of two major compartments, a large, medial compartment folded around a smaller,lateral one. Extensive physiological and morphological analysis revealed that in both strains the major pheromone component-specific ORNs and PNs arborize in the medial MGC glomerulus, whereas those sensitive to the minor pheromone component arborize in the lateral glomerulus. In other words, the two strains have an indistinguishable MGC morphology, but a reversed topology. Apparently,the single-gene-mediated shift that causes a radical change in behavior is located upstream of the antennal lobes, i.e. at the ORN level.

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“…Pheromone polymorphism became evident when the opposite blend (4: 96 ZIE) was discovered in some New York populations (Kochansky et al 1975). Carde et al (1978) suggested that the two types based on pheromone blend differences might coexist in certain areas but were not freely interbreeding and might actually have evolved to the status of semi-or sibling species. Laboratory hybridization between the two types was obtained (Liebherr & Roelofs 1975), and Klun & Maini (1979) found that hybrid females produce pheromone blends with approximately a 35:65 ZIE ratio.…”

Section: Oac 4% (E)-l1-tetradecenylmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gene Flow Among Three Races of European Corn Borers (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in New York State

Glover

Knodel

Robbins

et al. 1991

Environmental Entomology

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In New York state, there are three races of European corn borer moths, which are characterized principally by differences in voltinism and the sex pheromone communication system. One race is bivoltine, with females producing and males responding to a 99:1 EIZ isomeric ratio of~1l-14:0Ac's as the sex pheromone. Two races, one univoltine and one bivoltine, produce and respond to a 3:97 E 12 blend of~1l-14 :OAc·s. The races are referred to as BE, UZ, and BZ to denote these differences. Analyses by gas chromatography of field-collected females indicate that there is significant hybridization between the Z and E races when in sympatry, with hybrid females producing a 68:32 ratio of E/Zl1-14:OAc. Gene flow among the races was investigated using differences in triose phosphate isomerase (TPI) allozyme frequencies of moths from sites sampled across the state. The fixed nature of the Tpi-l allele in the BE race and increases in the Tpi-l allele frequencies in UZ populations in sympatry with the BE race support the hypothesis that gene flow following hybridization is unidirectional from BE populations into the Z populations. In addition, the TPI genotypes of the 10 hybrid females analyzed were consistent with hybridization occurring by E males mating with Z females.

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European Corn Borer: Pheromone Polymorphism or Sibling Species?

Cited by 95 publications

References 13 publications

Early quality assessment lessens pheromone specificity in a moth

Early quality assessment lessens pheromone specificity in a moth

Reversed functional topology in the antennal lobe of the male European corn borer

Gene Flow Among Three Races of European Corn Borers (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in New York State

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