Drosophila adult and larval pheromones modulate larval food choice

Abstract

ResearchCite this article: Farine J-P, Cortot J, Ferveur J-F. 2014 Drosophila adult and larval pheromones modulate larval food choice. Insects use chemosensory cues to feed and mate. In Drosophila, the effect of pheromones has been extensively investigated in adults, but rarely in larvae. The colonization of natural food sources by Drosophila buzzatii and Drosophila simulans species may depend on species-specific chemical cues left in the food by larvae and adults. We identified such chemicals in both species and measured their influence on larval food preference and puparation behaviour. We also tested compounds that varied between these species: (i) two larval volatile compounds: hydroxy-3-butanone-2 and phenol ( predominant in D. simulans and D. buzzatii, respectively), and (ii) adult cuticular hydrocarbons (CHs). Drosophila buzzatii larvae were rapidly attracted to non-CH adult conspecific cues, whereas D. simulans larvae were strongly repulsed by CHs of the two species and also by phenol. Larval cues from both species generally reduced larval attraction and pupariation on food, which was generally-but not always-low, and rarely reflected larval response. As these larval and adult pheromones specifically influence larval food search and the choice of a pupariation site, they may greatly affect the dispersion and survival of Drosophila species in nature.

Free flight odor tracking in Drosophila: Effect of wing chemosensors, sex and pheromonal gene regulation

“…We tested the effect of water (used as a “empty control” substance), plain laboratory food, grape juice and acetic acid (two potentially attractive substances3334) and yeast (an active component of plain food). We also measured the effect of acetoin, a volatile molecule—alone or mixed at two concentrations with plain food—produced both by fermenting fruits and by Drosophila larvae3536.…”

The Grueneberg ganglion controls odor-driven food choices in mice under threat

“…In the wild, the ability to take rapid decisions concerning food choice is critical for the survival of the individual and leads to an increase in the overall fitness of the species. It is therefore conserved throughout the animal kingdom 41,42 . For example, in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), stress linked to environmental conditions can impact food preferences when they are coupled with odorants 43 as well as with alarm pheromones and predator scents 44,45 .…”

Live yeast in juvenile diet induces species-specific effects on Drosophila adult behaviour and fitness

“…We rather believe that early developmental ingestion of certain yeast species (HU and, to a lesser extent, SC) promoted a wild-type like growth, guidance and arborization of the neurons involved in chemosensory perception 5,12,51 . However, food preference could also result from early larval exposure to species-specific metabolites (by-products of the transformation of food molecules by gut-associated yeasts) such as acetic acid, 3-methyl-1-butanol or 2-phenyl-ethanol which can change larval and adult responses to similar metabolites 24,29,30 . The variation of adult behaviour may also be partly due to the persistence of live yeasts remaining in the gastrointestinal tract through the entire metamorphosis, as previously found, using live GFP-labelled SC strains 26 .…”

“…At a distance, insects are not only attracted by microbes on food sources, but by the metabolites resulting from the activity of gut-associated microbes 27,28 . These metabolites are mostly released through feces outside the larval digestive tract and some of them can change larval olfactory preference and induce life-long changes in egg-laying and olfactory behaviours in insects “conditioned” with such metabolites 12,29–31 . Such conditioning to specific food components and/or microbial metabolites can induce, through epigenetic modification, a persistent change in food preference across generations 32,33 .…”