Dataset Information

Gustatory sensitivity and food acceptance in two phylogenetically closely related papilionid species: Papilio hospiton and Papilio machaon.

ABSTRACT: In herbivorous insects, food selection depends on sensitivity to specific chemical stimuli from host-plants as well as to secondary metabolites (bitter) and to sugars (phagostimulatory). Bitter compounds are noxious, unpalatable or both and evoke an aversive feeding response. Instead, sugars and sugar alcohols play a critical role in determining and enhancing the palatability of foods. We assumed that peripheral taste sensitivity may be related to the width of the host selection. Our model consists of two closely phylogenetically related Papilionid species exhibiting a difference in host plant choice: Papilio hospiton and Papilio machaon. The spike activity of the lateral and medial maxillary styloconic taste sensilla was recorded following stimulation with several carbohydrates, nicotine and NaCl, with the aim of characterizing their gustatory receptor neurons and of comparing their response patterns in the light of their different acceptability in feeding behaviour. The results show that: a) each sensillum houses phagostimulant and phagodeterrent cells; b) the spike activity of the gustatory neurons in response to different taste stimuli is higher in P. hospiton than in P. machaon; c) sugar solutions inhibit the spike activity of the deterrent and salt cells, and the suppression is higher in P. machaon than in P. hospiton. In conclusion, we propose that the different balance between the phagostimulant and phagodeterrent inputs from GRNs of maxillary sensilla may contribute in determining the difference in food choice and host range.

SUBMITTER: Sollai G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4067346 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Gustatory sensitivity and food acceptance in two phylogenetically closely related papilionid species: Papilio hospiton and Papilio machaon.

Sollai Giorgia G Tomassini Barbarossa Iole I Masala Carla C Solari Paolo P Crnjar Roberto R

PloS one 20140623 6

In herbivorous insects, food selection depends on sensitivity to specific chemical stimuli from host-plants as well as to secondary metabolites (bitter) and to sugars (phagostimulatory). Bitter compounds are noxious, unpalatable or both and evoke an aversive feeding response. Instead, sugars and sugar alcohols play a critical role in determining and enhancing the palatability of foods. We assumed that peripheral taste sensitivity may be related to the width of the host selection. Our model consi ...[more]

PMID: 24956387

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Project description:BackgroundThe frass of several herbivorous insect species has been utilised as natural medicines in Asia; however, the metabolite makeup and pharmaceutical activities of insect frass have yet to be investigated. Oligophagous Papilionidae insects utilise specific kinds of plants, and it has been suggested that the biochemicals from the plants may be metabolised by cytochrome P450 (CYP) in Papilionidae insects. In this study, we extracted the components of the frass of Papilio machaon larvae reared on Angelica keiskei, Oenanthe javanica or Foeniculum vulgare and examined the biological activity of each component. Then, we explored the expression of CYP genes in the midgut of P. machaon larvae and predicted the characteristics of their metabolic system.ResultsThe components that were extracted using hexane, chloroform or methanol were biochemically different between larval frass and the host plants on which the larvae had fed. Furthermore, a fraction obtained from the chloroform extract from frass of A. keiskei-fed larvae specifically inhibited the cell proliferation of the human colon cancer cell line HCT116, whereas fractions obtained from the chloroform extracts of O. javanica- or F. vulgare-fed larval frass did not affect HCT116 cell viability. The metabolites from the chloroform extract from frass of A. keiskei-fed larvae prevented cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in HCT116 cells. Next, we explored the metabolic enzyme candidates in A. keiskei-fed larvae by RNA-seq analysis. We found that the A. keiskei-fed larval midgut might have different characteristics from the O. javanica- or F. vulgare-fed larval metabolic systems, and we found that the CYP6B2 transcript was highly expressed in the A. keiskei-fed larval midgut.ConclusionsThese findings indicate that P. machaon metabolites might be useful as pharmaceutical agents against human colon cancer subtypes. Importantly, our findings show that it might be possible to use insect metabolic enzymes for the chemical structural conversion of plant-derived compounds with complex structures.

Dataset Information

Gustatory sensitivity and food acceptance in two phylogenetically closely related papilionid species: Papilio hospiton and Papilio machaon.

Publications

Gustatory sensitivity and food acceptance in two phylogenetically closely related papilionid species: Papilio hospiton and Papilio machaon.

Similar Datasets

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