Cicada; Fluorescence; Insect; Nonlinear optics; Resilin; SHG; Two-photon fluorescence; Chemical aspects; Fluorescence emission; Insect wings; Linear optical techniques; Nonlinear optical technique; Physical aspects; Two photon fluorescence; Biophysics; Biochemistry; Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics; Chemistry (all); Condensed Matter Physics; General Chemistry
Abstract :
[en] For most natural organisms, the physical, chemical and biological aspects of fluorescence emission are poorly understood. For example, to the best of our knowledge, fluorescence from the transparent wings of any of the 3000 known species of cicadas has never been reported in the literature. These wings are known to exhibit anti-reflective properties arising from quasi-periodic arrays of nipples. Our study, using linear and nonlinear optical techniques, including spectrofluorimetry, two-photon fluorescence spectroscopy and Second Harmonic Generation (SHG), reveals the fluorescence properties in the wings the grey and the common cicadas (Cicada orni and Lyristes (Tibicen) plebejus, respectively), as well as the broad-bordered bee hawk-moth (Hemaris fuciformis). The study suggests that fluorescence would be more widespread in transparent insect wings than what was previously believed. Comparing this result to the fluorescence emission from the wings of the Bornean damselfly (Vestalis amabilis), we inferred that this emission probably arises from resilin, a protein reported to enhance wing flexibility. Moreover, the nonlinear optical investigation of the insects’ wings provided further insight into wing structure, indicating that multiphoton techniques add valuable information for the analysis of insect integuments. The strong SHG signal detected from the wing veins implies that these veins are materially organised in a non-centrosymmetric and hence non-random fashion.
Disciplines :
Physics
Author, co-author :
Mouchet, Sébastien R. ; School of Physics, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom ; Department of Physics & Namur Institute of Structured Matter (NISM), University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
Verstraete, Charlotte; Molecular Imaging and Photonics, Department of Chemistry, KU Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium
Bokic, Bojana; Center for Photonics, Institute of Physics, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Mara, Dimitrije; Molecular Imaging and Photonics, Department of Chemistry, KU Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium ; L3 – Luminescent Lanthanide Lab, Department of Chemistry, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium ; Institute of General and Physical Chemistry, Belgrade, Serbia
Dellieu, Louis; Department of Physics & Namur Institute of Structured Matter (NISM), University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
Orr, Albert G.; Environmental Futures Centre, Griffith University, Nathan, Australia
Deparis, Olivier; Department of Physics & Namur Institute of Structured Matter (NISM), University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
Van Deun, Rik; L3 – Luminescent Lanthanide Lab, Department of Chemistry, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Verbiest, Thierry; Molecular Imaging and Photonics, Department of Chemistry, KU Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium
Vukusic, Pete; School of Physics, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
Kolaric, Branko ; Université de Mons - UMONS ; Center for Photonics, Institute of Physics, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Language :
English
Title :
Revealing natural fluorescence in transparent insect wings by linear and nonlinear optical techniques
R400 - Institut de Recherche en Science et Ingénierie des Matériaux
Funding text :
SRM was supported by the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS) ( 91400/1.B.309.18F ), the Maturation Fund of the Walloon Region , and a BEWARE Fellowship (Convention n° 2110034 ) of the Walloon Region ( Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions of the European Union - COFUND - contract 847587 ), as a Postdoctoral Researcher. DM acknowledges KU Leuven Postdoctoral Mandate Internal Funds (PDM) for a Postdoctoral fellowship ( PDM/20/092 ). TV acknowledges financial support from the Hercules Foundation . BK and BB acknowledge financial support of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (grant III 45016 ). BK, BB and DM acknowledge the support of the Office of Naval Research Global through the Research Grant N62902-22-1-2024 . In addition, BK acknowledges support from FRS-FNRS . This research used resources of the Lasers, Optics & Spectroscopies (LOS) Technology Platform ( https://platforms.unamur.be/los ) of UNamur.
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