Can plants hear their pollinators? While this question may seem like a far-fetched concept, researchers have discovered that plants can indeed detect the buzzing sounds produced by insects as they visit flowers. This groundbreaking finding has significant implications for our understanding of plant-pollinator coevolution and could potentially lead to new methods for improving crop yields.

Professor Francesca Barbero from the University of Turin and her team of collaborators have been studying the acoustic signals produced by pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, as they interact with flowers. They played recordings of these sounds near growing snapdragons and found that the plants responded to the vibroacoustic cues by increasing their sugar and nectar volume. In some cases, the plants even altered their gene expression in response to the signals.

This discovery has shed new light on the complex relationships between plants and their pollinators. By detecting the distinctive sounds produced by efficient pollinators, plants may be able to adapt their behavior to improve their reproductive success. For example, a plant may respond to the sound of a bee by increasing its nectar production or altering its gene expression to attract more pollinators.

The team is now conducting further research to explore the potential applications of this discovery. They are analyzing how plants respond to different pollinators and nectar robbers, and they hope to develop new methods for improving crop yields using sound-based technologies.

As Barbero notes, “The ability to discriminate approaching pollinators based on their distinctive vibroacoustic signals could be an adaptive strategy for plants.” This innovative research has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of plant-pollinator interactions and may lead to significant breakthroughs in agriculture.

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The presence of dead individuals has profound effects across species. From insects like bees and ants removing dead members from their hive to keep the nest clean, to the aversion humans have for decaying bodies, it’s clear that death elicits strong responses. Research at the University of Michigan has shed new light on this phenomenon in the roundworm C. elegans.

In a study published in Cell Reports, researchers discovered that when exposed to dead counterparts, C. elegans experience altered fertility and lifespan. The presence of decedents led to quick reproduction and shortened lifespans in the worms. This response is remarkable considering the worms’ inability to see.

“We were fascinated by this unique opportunity to explore what drives the reaction of C. elegans to a dead conscript,” said Matthias Truttmann, Ph.D., senior author on the paper. His lab studies protein function and aging, making C. elegans an ideal model for studying life extension due to their relatively short lifespans.

The researchers observed that when worms were placed near deceased counterparts, they would move as far away as possible. They hypothesized that there might be a universal death signal emitted by corpses. To test this, they introduced either worm corpses or fluid from the broken-down cells of worm corpses to different feeding areas on a plate. The results showed strong avoidance behavior in C. elegans for both.

Furthermore, the team found that death perception led to reduced fitness in exposed worms and a short-term increase in egg laying. They then systematically tested the worms’ sensory neurons to determine which were necessary for the perception of death. Two olfactory information-responding neurons, AWB and ASH, were identified as key players.

The researchers discovered two metabolites, AMP and histidine, which are normally found inside cells, serve as the death cues for C. elegans. These intracellular metabolites indicate that a cell has died or broken open, signaling something has gone wrong. The presence of these metabolites could very well be an evolutionarily maintained signal of death.

Truttmann points to recent findings in humans where cells undergoing apoptosis release metabolites leading to transcriptional changes in neighboring tissue. Further research is needed to understand how the detection of this signal translates into altered health and behavior.

The researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have made a groundbreaking discovery: mice use chemical cues, including odors, to sense the social hierarchy of unfamiliar mice and compare it to their own. This remarkable phenomenon has been shown to influence the behavior of mice in confrontations with other mice.

Unlike previous suggestions that mice may display fixed behavior regardless of who they interact with, or that physical properties can give cues about social ranking, the new research published in Current Biology reveals that mice instead infer an unfamiliar mouse’s rank through chemical cues transmitted in the air (odors) or through direct contact (non-volatile scent cues).

The Crick team conducted a series of experiments to demonstrate this remarkable ability. They created a test where male mice entered a transparent tube at opposite ends, meeting in the middle. In this type of confrontation, a more submissive animal will typically retreat. The researchers first observed interactions between mice who shared the same cage, ranking each mouse on a hierarchy before observing how the mice responded to a set of unfamiliar opponents.

The results showed that the strangers could recognize each other’s rank, compare it to their own, and either retreat or force the other mouse to retreat. To further investigate this phenomenon, the team tested the mice in the dark, finding that this did not affect rank recognition, suggesting that cues like physical size or behavior don’t determine recognition of a more aggressive opponent.

The researchers then experimentally blocked the two chemosensory systems that mice use – one for odors in the air (olfactory system) and one for chemical signals transmitted by physical contact (vomeronasal system). They found no effect when just one of these systems was removed; both needed to be ablated before the mice couldn’t recognize opponent rank. This showed that mice use both olfactory and vomeronasal systems to recognize rank and can compensate if one is missing.

Like humans, mice are able to infer the social status of others around them relative to their own, using sensory cues such as language, facial expression, or clothing. The next step for the researchers is to investigate which areas of the brain process the information on opponent rank and own rank and initiate a decision to retreat or advance.

This remarkable phenomenon offers an interesting perspective on social mobility: humans, like mice, can enter a new group of people but still maintain understanding of our own social rank and gauge the social status of unfamiliar people. The State-Dependent Neural Processing Laboratory studies how processes within the brain are impacted by the state of the body, with the hope of advancing a more integrative view of brain physiology in health and disease.