title: Olfactory signal coding in an odor background.
abstract: Insects communicating with pheromones are confronted with an olfactory environment featuring a diversity of volatile organic compounds from plant origin. These volatiles constitute a rich and fluctuant background from which the information carried by the pheromone signal must be extracted. Thus, the pheromone receptor neurons must encode into spike trains the quality, intensity and temporal characteristics of the signal that are determinant to the recognition and localization of a conspecific female. We recorded and analyzed the responses of the pheromone olfactory receptor neurons of male moths to sex pheromone in different odor background conditions. We show that in spite of the narrow chemical tuning of the pheromone receptor neurons, the sensory input can be altered by odorant background.
authors.affiliation: IEES - ECOSENS, INRA, Route de Saint Cyr, 78026 Versailles, France. Electronic address: michel.renou@versailles.inra.fr.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Renou
authors.affiliation: IEES - ECOSENS, INRA, Route de Saint Cyr, 78026 Versailles, France.
authors.forename: Virginie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Party
authors.affiliation: IEES - ECOSENS, INRA, Route de Saint Cyr, 78026 Versailles, France.
authors.forename: Angéla
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rouyar
authors.affiliation: IEES - ECOSENS, INRA, Route de Saint Cyr, 78026 Versailles, France.
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anton
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D009036:Moths / Q000502:physiology*; D009812:Odorants; D018034:Olfactory Receptor Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology; D058618:Sensilla / Q000502:physiology; D012724:Sex Attractants / Q000502:physiology*; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D012724:Sex Attractants
keywords: Insect olfaction; Moth; Odor background; Olfactory coding; Pheromone; Volatile plant compounds