New Research on Ant Odor Receptors A new study published in the journal of PLoS Genetics, conducted at Vanderbilt University, reveals that ant’s odor receptors are four to five times higher then most insects. The research team, headed by Lawrence Zwiebel, just finished an initial full map of the olfactory system, which supplies ants with their sense of taste and smell. This initial map proves that theses hard-working ants have genes that make 400 distinct odorant receptors. Odorant receptors are unique proteins that distinguish different odors. Comparing the ant’s 400 odorant receptors to other insects, silk moths have 52 receptors, fruit flies have 61, mosquitoes have 158, and honeybees have… Read More