Identification of Bioactive Volatile Organic Compounds Using Combined Gas Chromatography and Single Sensillum Recording
- 1Disease Vector Group, Unit of Chemical Ecology, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 23422 Alnarp, Sweden
- 2School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281, USA
- 3Division of Entomology, Department of Plant Protection, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran
- ↵4Correspondence: rickard.ignell{at}slu.se
Abstract
Most arthropods rely heavily on their sense of smell (i.e., olfaction) to locate and discriminate among mates, food, and egg laying sites. The odors emanating from these resources are composed of blends of volatile compounds that are detected by olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) that are housed in hair-like structures, called sensilla, on the olfactory organs of arthropods. By inserting an electrode into a single sensillum and recording the activity of the OSNs while stimulating with volatile compounds eluting from a gas chromatograph, combined gas chromatography and single sensillum recording (GC-SSR) provides a high-resolution tool to identify bioactive compounds and to functionally characterize the peripheral olfactory system of arthropods.
Footnotes
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From the Mosquitoes collection, edited by Laura B. Duvall and Benjamin J. Matthews.
