The Vomeronasal Organ Mediates Interspecies Defensive Behaviors through Detection of Protein Pheromone Homologs
| Autor: | Lisa Stowers, Fabio Papes, Darren W. Logan |
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| Rok vydání: | 2010 |
| Předmět: |
Male
EVO_ECOL Vomeronasal organ Sensory system Biology MOLNEURO Pheromones General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Mice Calcium imaging Species Specificity Homologous chromosome Animals Sensory cue Behavior Animal Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology(all) Proteins Snakes Anatomy Recombinant Proteins Rats Cell biology Mice Inbred C57BL Predatory Behavior Sex pheromone Odorants Cats Pheromone Female Vomeronasal Organ SYSNEURO Function (biology) |
| Zdroj: | Cell. 141:692-703 |
| ISSN: | 0092-8674 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.cell.2010.03.037 |
| Popis: | SummaryPotential predators emit uncharacterized chemosignals that warn receiving species of danger. Neurons that sense these stimuli remain unknown. Here we show that detection and processing of fear-evoking odors emitted from cat, rat, and snake require the function of sensory neurons in the vomeronasal organ. To investigate the molecular nature of the sensory cues emitted by predators, we isolated the salient ligands from two species using a combination of innate behavioral assays in naive receiving animals, calcium imaging, and c-Fos induction. Surprisingly, the defensive behavior-promoting activity released by other animals is encoded by species-specific ligands belonging to the major urinary protein (Mup) family, homologs of aggression-promoting mouse pheromones. We show that recombinant Mup proteins are sufficient to activate sensory neurons and initiate defensive behavior similarly to native odors. This co-option of existing sensory mechanisms provides a molecular solution to the difficult problem of evolving a variety of species-specific molecular detectors.PaperFlick |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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