Kissing bugs can generalize and discriminate between different bitter compounds
Animals make use of contact chemoreception structures to examine the quality of potential food sources. During this evaluation they can detect nutritious compounds that promote feeding and recognize toxins that trigger evasive behaviors. Although animals can easily distinguish between stimuli of dif...
Guardado en:
| Autor principal: | |
|---|---|
| Publicado: |
2016
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_09284257_v110_n3_p99_Asparch http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_09284257_v110_n3_p99_Asparch |
| Aporte de: |
| id |
paper:paper_09284257_v110_n3_p99_Asparch |
|---|---|
| record_format |
dspace |
| spelling |
paper:paper_09284257_v110_n3_p99_Asparch2023-06-08T15:52:16Z Kissing bugs can generalize and discriminate between different bitter compounds Minoli, Sebastián A. Behavior Bitter Caffeine Gustatory Learning Quinine Rhodnius prolixus caffeine quinine caffeine quinine Article avoidance behavior behavior assessment chemoreceptor exploratory behavior feeding behavior female instrumental conditioning learning male nonhuman Rhodnius prolixus sensory stimulation taste discrimination animal animal behavior conditioning physiology Rhodnius taste Animals Avoidance Learning Behavior, Animal Caffeine Conditioning (Psychology) Learning Quinine Rhodnius Taste Animals make use of contact chemoreception structures to examine the quality of potential food sources. During this evaluation they can detect nutritious compounds that promote feeding and recognize toxins that trigger evasive behaviors. Although animals can easily distinguish between stimuli of different gustatory qualities (bitter, salty, sweet, etc.), their ability to discriminate between compounds of the same quality may be limited. Numerous plants produce alkaloids, compounds that elicit aversive behaviors in phytophagous insects and almost uniformly evoke a bitter taste for man. In hematophagous insects, however, the effect of feeding deterrent molecules has been barely studied. Recent studies showed that feeding in Rhodnius prolixus can be negatively modulated by the presence of alkaloids such as quinine (QUI) and caffeine (CAF), compounds that elicit similar aversive responses. Here, we applied associative and non-associative learning paradigms to examine under two behavioral contexts the ability of R. prolixus to distinguish, discriminate and/or generalize between these two bitter compounds, QUI and CAF. Our results show that bugs innately repelled by bitter compounds can change their behavior from avoidance to indifference or even to preference according to their previous experiences. After an aversive operant conditioning with QUI or CAF, R. prolixus modified its behavior in a direct but also in a cross-compound manner, suggesting the occurrence of a generalization process between these two alkaloids. Conversely, after a long pre-exposure to each alkaloid, bugs decreased their avoidance to the compound used during pre-exposure but still expressed an avoidance of the novel compound, proving that QUI and CAF are detected separately. Our results suggest that R. prolixus is able to discriminate between QUI and CAF, although after an associative conditioning they express a symmetrical cross-generalization. This kind of studies adds insight into the gustatory sense of a blood-sucking model but also into the learning abilities of hematophagous insects. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd Fil:Minoli, S. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. 2016 https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_09284257_v110_n3_p99_Asparch http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_09284257_v110_n3_p99_Asparch |
| institution |
Universidad de Buenos Aires |
| institution_str |
I-28 |
| repository_str |
R-134 |
| collection |
Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) |
| topic |
Behavior Bitter Caffeine Gustatory Learning Quinine Rhodnius prolixus caffeine quinine caffeine quinine Article avoidance behavior behavior assessment chemoreceptor exploratory behavior feeding behavior female instrumental conditioning learning male nonhuman Rhodnius prolixus sensory stimulation taste discrimination animal animal behavior conditioning physiology Rhodnius taste Animals Avoidance Learning Behavior, Animal Caffeine Conditioning (Psychology) Learning Quinine Rhodnius Taste |
| spellingShingle |
Behavior Bitter Caffeine Gustatory Learning Quinine Rhodnius prolixus caffeine quinine caffeine quinine Article avoidance behavior behavior assessment chemoreceptor exploratory behavior feeding behavior female instrumental conditioning learning male nonhuman Rhodnius prolixus sensory stimulation taste discrimination animal animal behavior conditioning physiology Rhodnius taste Animals Avoidance Learning Behavior, Animal Caffeine Conditioning (Psychology) Learning Quinine Rhodnius Taste Minoli, Sebastián A. Kissing bugs can generalize and discriminate between different bitter compounds |
| topic_facet |
Behavior Bitter Caffeine Gustatory Learning Quinine Rhodnius prolixus caffeine quinine caffeine quinine Article avoidance behavior behavior assessment chemoreceptor exploratory behavior feeding behavior female instrumental conditioning learning male nonhuman Rhodnius prolixus sensory stimulation taste discrimination animal animal behavior conditioning physiology Rhodnius taste Animals Avoidance Learning Behavior, Animal Caffeine Conditioning (Psychology) Learning Quinine Rhodnius Taste |
| description |
Animals make use of contact chemoreception structures to examine the quality of potential food sources. During this evaluation they can detect nutritious compounds that promote feeding and recognize toxins that trigger evasive behaviors. Although animals can easily distinguish between stimuli of different gustatory qualities (bitter, salty, sweet, etc.), their ability to discriminate between compounds of the same quality may be limited. Numerous plants produce alkaloids, compounds that elicit aversive behaviors in phytophagous insects and almost uniformly evoke a bitter taste for man. In hematophagous insects, however, the effect of feeding deterrent molecules has been barely studied. Recent studies showed that feeding in Rhodnius prolixus can be negatively modulated by the presence of alkaloids such as quinine (QUI) and caffeine (CAF), compounds that elicit similar aversive responses. Here, we applied associative and non-associative learning paradigms to examine under two behavioral contexts the ability of R. prolixus to distinguish, discriminate and/or generalize between these two bitter compounds, QUI and CAF. Our results show that bugs innately repelled by bitter compounds can change their behavior from avoidance to indifference or even to preference according to their previous experiences. After an aversive operant conditioning with QUI or CAF, R. prolixus modified its behavior in a direct but also in a cross-compound manner, suggesting the occurrence of a generalization process between these two alkaloids. Conversely, after a long pre-exposure to each alkaloid, bugs decreased their avoidance to the compound used during pre-exposure but still expressed an avoidance of the novel compound, proving that QUI and CAF are detected separately. Our results suggest that R. prolixus is able to discriminate between QUI and CAF, although after an associative conditioning they express a symmetrical cross-generalization. This kind of studies adds insight into the gustatory sense of a blood-sucking model but also into the learning abilities of hematophagous insects. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd |
| author |
Minoli, Sebastián A. |
| author_facet |
Minoli, Sebastián A. |
| author_sort |
Minoli, Sebastián A. |
| title |
Kissing bugs can generalize and discriminate between different bitter compounds |
| title_short |
Kissing bugs can generalize and discriminate between different bitter compounds |
| title_full |
Kissing bugs can generalize and discriminate between different bitter compounds |
| title_fullStr |
Kissing bugs can generalize and discriminate between different bitter compounds |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Kissing bugs can generalize and discriminate between different bitter compounds |
| title_sort |
kissing bugs can generalize and discriminate between different bitter compounds |
| publishDate |
2016 |
| url |
https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_09284257_v110_n3_p99_Asparch http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_09284257_v110_n3_p99_Asparch |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT minolisebastiana kissingbugscangeneralizeanddiscriminatebetweendifferentbittercompounds |
| _version_ |
1768546355142197248 |