Larval Zebrafish Use Olfactory Detection of Sodium and Chloride to Avoid Salt Water - Sorbonne Université
Journal Articles Current Biology - CB Year : 2021

Larval Zebrafish Use Olfactory Detection of Sodium and Chloride to Avoid Salt Water

Kristian J Herrera
  • Function : Author
  • PersonId : 1095904
Thomas Panier

Abstract

Salinity levels constrain the habitable environment of all aquatic organisms. Zebrafish are freshwater fish that cannot tolerate high-salt environments and would therefore benefit from neural mechanisms that enable the navigation of salt gradients to avoid high salinity. Yet zebrafish lack epithelial sodium channels, the primary conduit land animals use to taste sodium. This suggests fish may possess novel, undescribed mechanisms for salt detection. In the present study, we show that zebrafish indeed respond to small temporal increases in salt by reorienting more frequently. Further, we use calcium imaging techniques to identify the olfactory system as the primary sense used for salt detection, and we find that a specific subset of olfactory receptor neurons encodes absolute salinity concentrations by detecting monovalent anions and cations. In summary, our study establishes that zebrafish larvae have the ability to navigate and thus detect salinity gradients and that this is achieved through previously undescribed sensory mechanisms for salt detection.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
PIIS0960982220317644.pdf (3.61 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origin Publication funded by an institution

Dates and versions

hal-03197695 , version 1 (14-04-2021)

Identifiers

Cite

Kristian J Herrera, Thomas Panier, Drago Guggiana-Nilo, Florian Engert. Larval Zebrafish Use Olfactory Detection of Sodium and Chloride to Avoid Salt Water. Current Biology - CB, 2021, 31 (4), pp.782-793.e3. ⟨10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.051⟩. ⟨hal-03197695⟩
60 View
100 Download

Altmetric

Share

More