Figure 1.

Stages involved in obtaining social information from chemical cues. Different traits (red or black in A) are associated with distinct metabolic pathways/expression patterns (B), which lead to distinct profiles of emitted signals (C). In this example, chemical space is defined by levels of 3 components, c1, c2, and c3. Distinguishing among the traits requires neuronal networks (D) that can identify the relevant features in chemical space. Here, the feature is a specific ratio between levels of compounds c2 and c1. Ultimately, these networks elicit neuronal activity (E) that can distinguish among chemosensory profiles associated with different traits.