Publication Alert: Is there genetic evidence for nociception in mantids?
Undetermined mantid species, stock image
A long-read draft assembly of the Chinese mantis (Mantodea: Mantidae: Tenodera sinensis) genome reveals patterns of ion channel gain and loss across Arthropoda (Goldberg et al. 2024; G3)
Acknowledgement of Funding and Conflicts of Interest: Funding for this work was provided through a grant by Rethink Priorities. MB, RKG, and JKG all report a relationship with Rethink Priorities that includes: consulting/advisory.
Can insects feel pain? This question is challenging to answer. One of the first steps in establishing if pain could be plausible in a species is to assess if the animal is capable of nociception - the sensory perception of noxious stimuli (such as high heat, mechanical damage, etc.). Due to their cannibalistic copulatory behavior, some entomologists have posited that praying mantids like Tenodera sinensis serve as an excellent example of the lack of perception of mechanical damage, and thus lack of nociceptive capabilities, in insects. However, there are many alternative explanations for this behavior that leave open the possibility of mantid nociception.
Genomic data can provide insights into what kinds of noxious stimuli - if any - an animal may be able to sense by allowing us to investigate the possible proteins their cells may express to enable their detection. Nociceptive ion channels, such as TRP channels, are a classic group of ion channels found in vertebrates that are known to detect noxious stimuli in the peripheral nervous system. In this study, we assembled a draft genome from an adult female T. sinensis mantid and then surveyed this genome, as well as those of other arthropods found in publicly available sequence databases, for TRP channels.
“We found that most families of nociceptive ion channels are present in the T. sinensis genome; that they are most closely related to those found in the damp-wood termite (Zootermopsis nevadensis); and that some families have expanded in T. sinensis while others have contracted relative to nearby lineages.
Our findings suggest that mantids are likely to possess nociceptive capabilities and provide a foundation for future experimentation regarding ion channel functions and their consequences for insect behavior.”
Our survey of nociceptive ion channels suggests that T. sinensis mantids are, minimally, capable of chemical, mechanical, and thermal nociception. Alternate hypotheses for cannibalistic copulatory behaviors, besides the lack of perception of mechanical damage by male mantids, may thus be a more likely explanation for this behavior.
Further, our survey of genomes from nine insect orders and four other orders of arthropods suggests that chemical, mechanical, and thermal nociception are likely widespread within the arthropods, including in farmed/domesticated/managed arthropod species like house crickets, silkworm moths, honey bees, and black soldier fly larvae. This fits with behavioral data from these species in aversive learning paradigms, as well as the functional and neurobiological data that underpins those results (as reviewed in Gibbons et al. 2022). Still, further research is needed in most arthropod species to 1) confirm expression of these genes in multidendritic neurons; and 2) confirm the nociceptive function of these genes.
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