A look into the invisible: ultraviolet-B sensitivity in an insect (Caliothrips phaseoli) revealed through a behavioural action spectrum

Author:

Mazza Carlos A.12,Izaguirre Miriam M.2,Curiale Javier3,Ballaré Carlos L.12

Affiliation:

1. Ifeva, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Avenida San Martín 4453, C1417DSE Buenos Aires, Argentina

2. Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Avenida San Martín 4453, C1417DSE Buenos Aires, Argentina

3. Departamento de Radiobiología LANAIS-CONICET-CNEA, Centro Atómico Constituyentes, Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, B1650KNA Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

Caliothrips phaseoli, a phytophagous insect, detects and responds to solar ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B;λ≤ 315 nm) under field conditions. A highly specific mechanism must be present in the thrips visual system in order to detect this narrow band of solar radiation, which is at least 30 times less abundant than the UV-A (315–400 nm), to which many insects are sensitive. We constructed an action spectrum of thrips responses to light by studying their behavioural reactions to monochromatic irradiation under confinement conditions. Thrips were maximally sensitive to wavelengths between 290 and 330 nm; human-visible wavelengths (λ≥ 400 nm) failed to elicit any response. All but six ommatidia of the thrips compound eye were highly fluorescent when exposed to UV-A of wavelengths longer than 330 nm. We hypothesized that the fluorescent compound acts as an internal filter, preventing radiation withλ> 330 nm from reaching the photoreceptor cells. Calculations based on the putative filter transmittance and a visual pigment template ofλmax= 360 nm produced a sensitivity spectrum that was strikingly similar to the action spectrum of UV-induced behavioural response. These results suggest that specific UV-B vision in thrips is achieved by a standard UV-A photoreceptor and a sharp cut-off internal filter that blocks longer UV wavelengths in the majority of the ommatidia.

Publisher

The Royal Society

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Environmental Science,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine

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