Use of two odorants to control bactrocera oleae and ceratitis capitata

International audience; Many insects are considered as pests because of the damage they cause to cultures. Growers and our society are waiting for environmentally safe strategies to prevent insect damages, without arming the environment and the biodiversity. Recently we discovered an innovative solution using some odorant molecules to control Drosophila suzukii behavior. Using this knowledge we started to investigate the possibility to apply this strategy to Bactrocera oleae (olive fruit fly) and Ceratitis capitata (Mediterranean fruit fly) to modify their social behavior. This new technology, which is protected by the patent n° EP19306102, could be particularly interesting to avoid infesta…

Testing <em>Drosophila</em> Olfaction with a Y-maze Assay

Detecting signals from the environment is essential for animals to ensure their survival. To this aim, they use environmental cues such as vision, mechanoreception, hearing, and chemoperception through taste, via direct contact or through olfaction, which represents the response to a volatile molecule acting at longer range. Volatile chemical molecules are very important signals for most animals in the detection of danger, a source of food, or to communicate between individuals. Drosophila melanogaster is one of the most common biological models for scientists to explore the cellular and molecular basis of olfaction. In order to highlight olfactory abilities of this small insect, we describ…

Fatty Acid Smell, Anesthesia, and Use on Fruit Crops

Odors convey important information to select a sex partner, to find a food source, or to detect a danger. Among those some volatile molecules have been shown to cause a reversible anesthesia. However, their mode of action appears still largely mysterious. Here we describe a novel property of Olfactory Receptor 47b (OR47b), on olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) expressing male-specific transcription factor FruM. We found some interesting properties of a fatty acid that can be present on food sources and oviposition sites for Drosophilid species. We show that OR47b neurons projecting to VA1v glomerulus are sensitive to this odor, and that this influences Drosophila behavior causing a strong ave…

JhI-21 is impacting glutamate receptor physiology at the larval neuromuscular junction in Drosophila

Poster

The Amino Acid Transporter JhI-21 Coevolves with Glutamate Receptors, Impacts NMJ Physiology, and Influences Locomotor Activity in Drosophila Larvae

AbstractChanges in synaptic physiology underlie neuronal network plasticity and behavioral phenomena, which are adjusted during development. The Drosophila larval glutamatergic neuromuscular junction (NMJ) represents a powerful synaptic model to investigate factors impacting these processes. Amino acids such as glutamate have been shown to regulate Drosophila NMJ physiology by modulating the clustering of postsynaptic glutamate receptors and thereby regulating the strength of signal transmission from the motor neuron to the muscle cell. To identify amino acid transporters impacting glutmatergic signal transmission, we used Evolutionary Rate Covariation (ERC), a recently developed bioinforma…

Chemoreceptors and lead to opposite behaviors along drosophila life cycle

Chemoreceptors and lead to opposite behaviors along drosophila life cycle. 16. european neurobiology of drosophila conference

A phosphorylation cycle shapes gradients of the DYRK family kinase Pom1 at the plasma membrane.

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/; International audience; Concentration gradients regulate many cell biological and developmental processes. In rod-shaped fission yeast cells, polar cortical gradients of the DYRK family kinase Pom1 couple cell length with mitotic commitment by inhibiting a mitotic inducer positioned at midcell. However, how Pom1 gradients are established is unknown. Here, we show that Tea4, which is normally deposited at cell tips by microtubules, is both necessary and, upon ectopic cortical localization, sufficient to recruit Pom1 to the cell cortex. Pom1 then moves laterally at the plasma membrane, which it binds through a basic region exhibiting direct lipid interaction. …

Sex-specific anesthesia via olfactory receptor inhibition in Drosophila

International audience

Etude de l’impact d’odeurs acides sur l’activité cérébrale et de leur conséquence comportementale chez la drosophile

Dropping lile flies

Dropping lile flies. 17. rencontre du Club de neurobiologie des invertébrés

Biocontrol of drosophila suzukii by two fatty acids

International audience; Olfaction is a crucial sense for insects to detect food, seek partners or escape dangers. Volatile molecules are mainly perceived through insects' antenna. Odors bind to specific olfactory receptors located in sensilla. Olfactory sensory neurons then synapse on corresponding specific glomeruli of the antennal lobe, the primary olfaction center. This olfactory information is processed in higher centers to trigger a behavioral response. Understanding how odors can influence insect behavior is fundamental in order to protect cultures from pests. In this work, 2 volatile fatty acids are shown to modify significantly Drosophila suzukii courtship and copulation at increasi…

Anti-aphrodisiac alarm signal is mediated through a third olfactory organ in flies

Poster