Microbial metabolites elicit distinct olfactory and gustatory preferences in bumblebees.

ABSTRACT: Animals such as bumblebees use chemosensory cues to both locate and evaluate essential resources. Increasingly, it is recognized that microbes can alter the quality of foraged resources and produce metabolites that may act as foraging cues. The distinct nature of these chemosensory cues however and their use in animal foraging remain poorly understood. Here, we test the hypothesis that species of nectar-inhabiting microbes differentially influence pollinator attraction and feeding via microbial metabolites produced in nectar. We first examined the electrophysiological potential for bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) antennal olfactory neurons to respond to microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs), followed by an olfactory preference test. We also assessed gustatory preferences for microbial-

SUBMITTER: Schaeffer RN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6684982 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature