Captive breeding for thousands of years has impaired olfactory functions in silkmoths

A new study on silkmoths revealed that the insects' ability to perceive environmental odors has been reduced after about 5,000 years of domestication by humans. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, and their colleagues from Japan compared olfactory functions in Bombyx mori and in their wild ancestors. Perception of the pheromone bombykol, however, remained highly sensitive in domesticated males.

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