Retention of memory through metamorphosis: can a moth remember what it learned as a caterpillar?

Insects that undergo complete metamorphosis experience enormous changes in both morphology and lifestyle. The current study examines whether larval experience can persist through pupation into adulthood in Lepidoptera, and assesses two possible mechanisms that could underlie such behavior: exposure...

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Autores principales:	Douglas J Blackiston, Elena Silva Casey, Martha R Weiss
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2008
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/b061d976d294403092b9fccd3cce7cc3
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:b061d976d294403092b9fccd3cce7cc32021-11-25T06:13:10ZRetention of memory through metamorphosis: can a moth remember what it learned as a caterpillar?1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0001736https://doaj.org/article/b061d976d294403092b9fccd3cce7cc32008-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/18320055/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Insects that undergo complete metamorphosis experience enormous changes in both morphology and lifestyle. The current study examines whether larval experience can persist through pupation into adulthood in Lepidoptera, and assesses two possible mechanisms that could underlie such behavior: exposure of emerging adults to chemicals from the larval environment, or associative learning transferred to adulthood via maintenance of intact synaptic connections. Fifth instar Manduca sexta caterpillars received an electrical shock associatively paired with a specific odor in order to create a conditioned odor aversion, and were assayed for learning in a Y choice apparatus as larvae and again as adult moths. We show that larvae learned to avoid the training odor, and that this aversion was still present in the adults. The adult aversion did not result from carryover of chemicals from the larval environment, as neither applying odorants to naïve pupae nor washing the pupae of trained caterpillars resulted in a change in behavior. In addition, we report that larvae trained at third instar still showed odor aversion after two molts, as fifth instars, but did not avoid the odor as adults, consistent with the idea that post-metamorphic recall involves regions of the brain that are not produced until later in larval development. The present study, the first to demonstrate conclusively that associative memory survives metamorphosis in Lepidoptera, provokes intriguing new questions about the organization and persistence of the central nervous system during metamorphosis. Our results have both ecological and evolutionary implications, as retention of memory through metamorphosis could influence host choice by polyphagous insects, shape habitat selection, and lead to eventual sympatric speciation.Douglas J BlackistonElena Silva CaseyMartha R WeissPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 3, Iss 3, p e1736 (2008)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Douglas J Blackiston Elena Silva Casey Martha R Weiss Retention of memory through metamorphosis: can a moth remember what it learned as a caterpillar?
description	Insects that undergo complete metamorphosis experience enormous changes in both morphology and lifestyle. The current study examines whether larval experience can persist through pupation into adulthood in Lepidoptera, and assesses two possible mechanisms that could underlie such behavior: exposure of emerging adults to chemicals from the larval environment, or associative learning transferred to adulthood via maintenance of intact synaptic connections. Fifth instar Manduca sexta caterpillars received an electrical shock associatively paired with a specific odor in order to create a conditioned odor aversion, and were assayed for learning in a Y choice apparatus as larvae and again as adult moths. We show that larvae learned to avoid the training odor, and that this aversion was still present in the adults. The adult aversion did not result from carryover of chemicals from the larval environment, as neither applying odorants to naïve pupae nor washing the pupae of trained caterpillars resulted in a change in behavior. In addition, we report that larvae trained at third instar still showed odor aversion after two molts, as fifth instars, but did not avoid the odor as adults, consistent with the idea that post-metamorphic recall involves regions of the brain that are not produced until later in larval development. The present study, the first to demonstrate conclusively that associative memory survives metamorphosis in Lepidoptera, provokes intriguing new questions about the organization and persistence of the central nervous system during metamorphosis. Our results have both ecological and evolutionary implications, as retention of memory through metamorphosis could influence host choice by polyphagous insects, shape habitat selection, and lead to eventual sympatric speciation.
format	article
author	Douglas J Blackiston Elena Silva Casey Martha R Weiss
author_facet	Douglas J Blackiston Elena Silva Casey Martha R Weiss
author_sort	Douglas J Blackiston
title	Retention of memory through metamorphosis: can a moth remember what it learned as a caterpillar?
title_short	Retention of memory through metamorphosis: can a moth remember what it learned as a caterpillar?
title_full	Retention of memory through metamorphosis: can a moth remember what it learned as a caterpillar?
title_fullStr	Retention of memory through metamorphosis: can a moth remember what it learned as a caterpillar?
title_full_unstemmed	Retention of memory through metamorphosis: can a moth remember what it learned as a caterpillar?
title_sort	retention of memory through metamorphosis: can a moth remember what it learned as a caterpillar?
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2008
url	https://doaj.org/article/b061d976d294403092b9fccd3cce7cc3
work_keys_str_mv	AT douglasjblackiston retentionofmemorythroughmetamorphosiscanamothrememberwhatitlearnedasacaterpillar AT elenasilvacasey retentionofmemorythroughmetamorphosiscanamothrememberwhatitlearnedasacaterpillar AT martharweiss retentionofmemorythroughmetamorphosiscanamothrememberwhatitlearnedasacaterpillar
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Retention of memory through metamorphosis: can a moth remember what it learned as a caterpillar?

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