Comparative physiology and morphology of the moth olfactory pathway

蛾类嗅觉通路的比较生理学和形态 昆虫触角叶与脊椎动物嗅球的结构和功能相似，为在相对简单的系统中观察化学感觉过程提供了一个有吸引力的模型。昆虫的行为与神经生理学密切相关，因此可以从行为-神经生理学的结合方法中推断出可靠的关系。我的研究计划专注于了解气味在大脑中编码的机制。此外，我的实验室中关于寄主气味处理和昆虫行为的知识将被用来研究昆虫的嗅觉偏好，并解决关于寄主选择、化学遗产和气味记忆机制的长期生态学理论。此外，嗅觉系统为简单的神经网络提供了一个模型，该模型易于访问和操作，以研究神经信号的信号整合、协同和抑制。 这个项目的目标是确定不同的气味混合物在模式蛾物种的大脑中是如何编码的，并确定不同的蛾物种在生理、编码和形态上的差异程度。我和我的学生将结合电极记录和蛾触角叶的解剖染色来研究寄主植物的气味和信息素是如何被昆虫大脑编码的。系统发育(进化谱系)和栖息地(植物偏好)预计会影响不同物种大脑中气味的表现。所有被选中进行调查的昆虫都是农业和林业中重要的经济害虫，被认为是世界上最具破坏性的森林害虫之一，每年使数百万公顷的森林落叶。对所有这些物种寄主位置的了解的进展将对加拿大和全球未来的害虫管理非常有利。

Comparative physiology and morphology of the moth olfactory pathway The structure and functional similarity of insect antennal lobes to vertebrate olfactory bulbs provides an attractive model to observe chemosensory processing within a relatively simpler system. Insect behaviour is strongly linked to neurophysiology, such that reliable relationships may be inferred from a combined behavioral - neurophysiological approach. My research program is focused on understanding the mechanisms by which odorants are encoded within the brain. Moreover, knowledge of host odor processing and insect behavior from my lab will be used to investigate olfactory preference by insects, and to address long-standing ecological theories on host choice, chemical legacy, and mechanisms of odor memory. As well, the olfactory system provides a model for a simple neural network which is easily accessed and manipulated to investigate signal integration, synergy and inhibition of neural signals. The objectives of this project are to determine how different mixtures of odorants are coded within the brain of a model moth species and determine the degree of variation in physiology, coding, and morphology between divergent moth species. My students and I will use a combination of electrode-recording and anatomical stains of the moth antennal lobes to examine how host-plant odours and pheromones are encoded by the insect brain. Phylogeny (evolutionary lineage) and habitat (plant preference) are expected to influence representation of odours within the brain of different species. All insects selected for investigation are economically important pest species in agriculture and forestry, and are considered some of the most damaging forest pest in the world, defoliating millions of hectares of forest every year. Advances in the understanding of host location in all of these species will be extremely beneficial to future pest management, in Canada and globally.