Antennal transcriptome analysis of the piercing moth Oraesia emarginata (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Abstract

The piercing fruit moth Oraesia emarginata is an economically significant pest; however, our understanding of its olfactory mechanisms in infestation is limited. The present study conducted antennal transcriptome analysis of olfactory genes using real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR analysis (RT-qPCR). We identified a total of 104 candidate chemosensory genes from several gene families, including 35 olfactory receptors (ORs), 41 odorant-binding proteins, 20 chemosensory proteins, 6 ionotropic receptors, and 2 sensory neuron membrane proteins. Seven candidate pheromone receptors (PRs) and 3 candidate pheromone-binding proteins (PBPs) for sex pheromone recognition were found. OemaOR29 and OemaPBP1 had the highest fragments per kb per million fragments (FPKM) values in all ORs and OBPs, respectively. Eighteen olfactory genes were upregulated in females, including 5 candidate PRs, and 20 olfactory genes were upregulated in males, including 2 candidate PRs (OemaOR29 and 4) and 2 PBPs (OemaPBP1 and 3). These genes may have roles in mediating sex-specific behaviors. Most candidate olfactory genes of sex pheromone recognition (except OemaOR29 and OemaPBP3) in O. emarginata were not clustered with those of studied noctuid species (type I pheromone). In addition, OemaOR29 was belonged to cluster PRIII, which comprise proteins that recognize type II pheromones instead of type I pheromones. The structure and function of olfactory genes that encode sex pheromones in O. emarginata might thus differ from those of other studied noctuids. The findings of the present study may help explain the molecular mechanism underlying olfaction and the evolution of olfactory genes encoding sex pheromones in O. emarginata.

Identification of odorant-binding proteins in the reproductive system of Athetis dissimilis using transcriptome analysis

“…These results were similar to the classifications of most insect OBPs [25,37,42]. 25,43,48 Interestingly, AdisOBP1, AdisOBP17 and AdisOBP40 did not cluster into these 4 protein subfamilies, but multiple sequence alignments of the A. dissimilis OBPs revealed that 3 of the OBPs contain no conserved cysteines. Their construction requires further to verification.…”

“…Insect OBPs are expressed in the sensory organs [22,25,37,[43][44][45]. 22,25,43,49−51 Our result showed that 23 AdisOBPs were significantly expressed in both female and male antennae compared to other tissues.…”

Identification and comparative expression analysis of odorant-binding proteins in the reproductive system and antennae of Athetis dissimilis

“…OBPs are expressed specifically in the antennae and other parts associated with olfactory organs 15 , 19 , 31 , 41 – 43 . Our comprehensive expression analysis revealed that 23 AdisOBPs were found to be restricted to the antenna.…”

Identification of chemosensory genes from the antennal transcriptome of Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella

“…All data were normalized to endogenous β-actin levels from the same individual samples. The relative fold change was assessed by comparing the expression level in male moths to that in females [ 34 ]. The results were presented as the means of the fold change in three biological duplicates.…”