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Comparison of the Attraction Index of Male and Female Drosophila Melanogaster to Varying Odorant Substances
並列摘要
This study aims at investigating the differences if any, in the olfactory discrematory ability of wild type drosophila and mutated Or83b type and also if these differences exists between male and females of both species. Insect and mammalian olfactory systems are strikingly similar. Therefore, ＂Drosophila＂ can be used as a simple model for olfaction. The olfactory system has evolved the capacity to recognize and discriminate an inordinate number of chemically distinct odors that signal the presence of food, predators, or mating partners. Most organisms including humans rely on their olfactory system to detect and analyze olfactory cues in the environment, cues that are subsequently utilized in the context of behavior. Several works have been done on the olfactory system of the insect drosophila, attraction of various strain of drosophila to different odors but no work has been done to investigate sexual differences in this attraction to odorants. In this research we try investigating differences in the sensitivity of the olfactory receptors of male and female drosophila by measuring their attraction index to odors (yeast). O83b mutants and ORR wild type flies were used. By behavioral analysis, using the attraction index as a measure of sensitivity of the olfactory receptors, we were able to show that the female flies have a higher attraction index to odorant than the males but this difference is not significant statistically as indicated by the p value.