Identification of olfactory alarm substances in zebrafish

Curr Biol. 2024 Feb 21:S0960-9822(24)00145-3. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.003. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTEscaping from danger is one of the most ndamental survival behaviors for animals. Most freshwater fishes display olfactory alarm reactions in which an injured fish releases putative alarm substances from the skin to notify its shoaling company about the presence of danger. Here, we identified two small compounds in zebrafish skin extract, designated as ostariopterin and daniol sulfate. Ostariopterin is a pterin derivative commonly produced in many freshwater fishes belonging to the Ostariophysi superorder. Daniol sulfate is a novel sulfated bile alcohol specifically present in the Danio species, including zebrafish. Ostariopterin and daniol sulfate activate distinct glomeruli in the olfactory bulb. Zebrafish display robust alarm reactions, composed of darting, freezing, and bottom dwelling, only when they are concomitantly stimulated with ostariopterin and daniol sulfate. These results demonstrate that the fish alarm reaction is driven through a coincidence detection mechanism of the two compounds along the olfactory neural circuitry.PMID:38423017 | DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.003

Source: Current Biology - February 29, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Miwa Masuda Sayoko Ihara Naoki Mori Tetsuya Koide Nobuhiko Miyasaka Noriko Wakisaka Keiichi Yoshikawa Hidenori Watanabe Kazushige Touhara Yoshihiro Yoshihara Source Type: research