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Updated: Jul 12, 2026
13:55
Simultaneous Long-term Recordings at Two Neuronal Processing Stages in Behaving Honeybees
Published on: July 21, 2014
Genetic component of bee odor in kin recognition
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|November 30, 1979
Abstract:
The primitively social sweat bee, Lasioglossum zephyrum, blocks the entry into its nest of most conspecifics from other colonies. Laboratory inbreeding of these bees produced lines which showed a positive linear relationship between the coefficient of relationship of bees tested and how often they permitted non-nestmates to pass them. The most probable mechanism is a genetically determined odor coupled with a learned component by which guard bees discriminate between odors of close kin and other bees.
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01:20Physiology of Smell and Olfactory Pathway
Humans detect odors with the help of specialized cells located in the upper part of the nasal cavity, called olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs). ORNs possess hair-like structures called cilia, which are receptive to sensations from the inhaled air. When an odorant molecule binds to a specific receptor on the cell of the cilia, it leads to a series of events that ultimately cause the ORN to send electrical signals to the olfactory bulb in the brain through the olfactory nerves.
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The sense of smell is achieved through the activities of the olfactory system. It starts when an airborne odorant enters the nasal cavity and reaches olfactory epithelium (OE). The OE is protected by a thin layer of mucus, which also serves the purpose of dissolving more complex compounds into simpler chemical odorants. The size of the OE and the density of sensory neurons varies among species; in humans, the OE is only about 9-10 cm2.
The olfactory receptors are embedded in the cilia of the...
The olfactory receptors are embedded in the cilia of the...