Editor's Summary
4 January 2007
The scent of man
Many insects are equipped with neurons that detect carbon dioxide. The use to which they are put varies according to the insect's ecology: hawk-moths use it as a measure of the quality of datura flowers. Closer to home, mosquitoes and other blood-feeders are attracted to the carbon dioxide emitted by us. Drosophila too has these sensors: two receptors, called Gr21a and Gr63a, have now been identified in the fruit fly. Flies with only one of the two are insensitive to carbon dioxide, but when both genes are expressed the neurons are sensitive to the gas. Similar genes are present in the malaria mosquito, so they may be useful targets for drugs aimed at reducing the ability of mosquitoes to find humans to bite.
News and Views: Neurobiology: Scent secrets of insects
The perception of carbon dioxide provides insects with sensory data on their environment, and informs many insect behaviours. It seems that this sense relies on two dedicated neural receptors.
Rachel I. Wilson
doi:10.1038/445030a
Letter: Two chemosensory receptors together mediate carbon dioxide detection in Drosophila
Walton D. Jones, Pelin Cayirlioglu, Ilona Grunwald Kadow & Leslie B. Vosshall
doi:10.1038/nature05466
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,643K) | Supplementary information
