About this Research Topic
The huge diversity of insect species and their special adaptations to distinct ecological niches is partly reflected in their small brains. The diverse insect species have evolved distinct morphological arrangements in their chemosensory circuits to optimize their abilities to sense chemical signals from the environment - which is vitally important for the survival of the individual as well as the species. Investigating the morphology of chemosensory organs in the periphery and central nervous system is important for us to trace innervated driving forces of insect species on their interpretations of environmental chemicals and algorisms for dealing with life-and-death matters, such as food seeking, mating, oviposition, and preying.
A comparative overview of chemosensory circuits including characterization of significant neuropils and signal pathways will provide a deeper understanding of the chemosensory perception across different insect species and will contribute to increasing our knowledge on the origin and evolution of specialized chemosensory traits among insect families, bringing insights to uncovering the basis of the ancient sensory modality.
Modern scientific research tools, such as immunofluorescence staining, neural backfilling, confocal microscopy, and 3-D reconstruction, have enabled us to systematically assess morphological and physiological features of insect brains/organs, such as sensory neuron composition, glomeruli arrangements, and organization. These technologies provide us a better chance to examine the essential neural connections in insect families and help us to reveal previously overlooked chemosensory traits.
This Research Topic aims to discover novel morphological features in insect olfactory/gustatory system towards allelochemicals and provide the linkage between architectures of olfactory/gustatory organ and how they are forged by the environment over time.
We welcome all submissions on the study of morphology/physiology in peripheral/central olfactory/gustatory neural systems, including multispecies comparison, development of relevant neural sub-systems, and all other applicable topics. Submitted works may include but are not limited to:
- SEM/TEM and Cryo-EM studies for detailed neural/molecular structures;
- Integrated approaches combining neuroanatomy and electrophysiology/imaging;
- Neural staining, back filling by chemical or immuno-histochemical technology;
- In situ hybridizations and RNA scopes for immunofluorescence tracing of neural pathways;
- Re-constructions of peripheral and/or central neural systems from stack images;
- Re-analysis/revisiting of existed data/species to uncover overlooked neuroanatomical features related to chemosensory reception；
- Transcriptomic and genomic studies provide development and/or evolutional clues for identifying novel sensory neural formations;
- Evidence from metabolites, proteins, microbial, multi-species, and so on which to neural structures for chemo-sensation.
A comparative overview of chemosensory circuits including characterization of significant neuropils and signal pathways will provide a deeper understanding of the chemosensory perception across different insect species and will contribute to increasing our knowledge on the origin and evolution of specialized chemosensory traits among insect families, bringing insights to uncovering the basis of the ancient sensory modality.
Modern scientific research tools, such as immunofluorescence staining, neural backfilling, confocal microscopy, and 3-D reconstruction, have enabled us to systematically assess morphological and physiological features of insect brains/organs, such as sensory neuron composition, glomeruli arrangements, and organization. These technologies provide us a better chance to examine the essential neural connections in insect families and help us to reveal previously overlooked chemosensory traits.
This Research Topic aims to discover novel morphological features in insect olfactory/gustatory system towards allelochemicals and provide the linkage between architectures of olfactory/gustatory organ and how they are forged by the environment over time.
We welcome all submissions on the study of morphology/physiology in peripheral/central olfactory/gustatory neural systems, including multispecies comparison, development of relevant neural sub-systems, and all other applicable topics. Submitted works may include but are not limited to:
- SEM/TEM and Cryo-EM studies for detailed neural/molecular structures;
- Integrated approaches combining neuroanatomy and electrophysiology/imaging;
- Neural staining, back filling by chemical or immuno-histochemical technology;
- In situ hybridizations and RNA scopes for immunofluorescence tracing of neural pathways;
- Re-constructions of peripheral and/or central neural systems from stack images;
- Re-analysis/revisiting of existed data/species to uncover overlooked neuroanatomical features related to chemosensory reception；
- Transcriptomic and genomic studies provide development and/or evolutional clues for identifying novel sensory neural formations;
- Evidence from metabolites, proteins, microbial, multi-species, and so on which to neural structures for chemo-sensation.
Keywords: Insect, Chemosensory system, Morphology, Physiology, Neural pathway
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
