Necessary conditions for social transmission of food preference through feces in the house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus.

Necessary conditions for social transmission of food preference through feces in the house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus. Chem Senses. 2018 Dec 20;: Authors: Forestier T, Féron C, Leroy C, d'Ettorre P, Gouat P Abstract Mice can obtain information about a new food source through olfactory cues of conspecifics and consequently develop an attraction for this diet. The social transmission of food preference (STFP) takes place directly, during an encounter with a conspecific or indirectly, via feces. In indirect STFP, the digestive process can degrade odorant compounds characterizing the food, impairing the matching between feces and food. In a previous study, indirect STFP was efficient when the information support was a composite odorant. We, thus, hypothesized that the acquisition of indirect STFP depends on the multiplicity of the odorant compounds present in diets. Tested in female house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) our results showed that single odorant compound as information support was not sufficient to induce an indirect STFP. Chemical analysis did not reveal the presence of the compounds in feces suggesting that the degradation of diet cues during the digestive process prevented the pairing between feces and food. By using a process which limits the degradation of molecules, we performed indirect STFP when the pertinent information was represented by single odorant compound and multiple odorant compounds. Unlike with multip...
Source: Chemical Senses - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: Chem Senses Source Type: research