Identification and Functional Characterization of Two Putative Pheromone Receptors in the Potato Tuber Moth, Phthorimaea operculella

Abstract

Pheromones are a kind of signal produced by an animal that evoke innate responses in conspecifics. In moth, pheromone components can be detected by specialized olfactory receptor neurons (OSNs) housed in long sensilla trichoids on the male antennae. The pheromone receptors (PRs) located in the dendrite membrane of OSNs are responsible for pheromone sensing in most Lepidopteran insects. The potato tuber moth Phthorimaea operculella is a destructive pest of Solanaceae crops. Although sex attractant is widely used in fields to monitor the population of P. operculella, no study has been reported on the mechanism the male moth of P. operculella uses to recognize sex pheromone components. In the present study, we cloned two pheromone receptor genes PopeOR1 and PopeOR3 in P. operculella. The transcripts of them were highly accumulated in the antennae of male adults. Functional analysis using the heterologous expression system of Xenopus oocyte demonstrated that these two PR proteins both responded to (E, Z)-4,7–13: OAc and (E, Z, Z)-4,7,10–13: OAc, the key sex pheromone components of P. operculella, whilst they responded differentially to these two ligands. Our findings for the first time characterized the function of pheromone receptors in gelechiid moth and could promote the olfactory based pest management of P. operculella in the field.

Reference Genes for Expression Analyses by qRT-PCR in Phthorimaea operculella (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

“…Quantitative real-time fluorescent polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is a powerful tool for the quantification of nucleic acids owing to its advantages of high specificity, sensitivity, accuracy and rapidity [1,2]. It has been widely used in scientific research [3,4]. When qRT-PCR is used to calculate the relative expression levels of target genes, it is necessary to combine relatively stable reference genes for normalization to improve the quantitative results [5].…”

“…The potato tuber moth, Phthorimaea operculella (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae), is one of the most serious Lepidopteran pests attacking potatoes around the world [11]. It reduces potato production either via mining and damaging leaves and stems in fields or via burrowing and destroying tubers in storage [4]. In P. operculella, the ACTIN (ACT) gene is used for qRT-PCR studies when measuring the expression of two pheromone receptor genes OR1 and OR3 [4] and the level of chitin synthase A genes [3].…”

Identification of Olfactory Genes From the Greater Wax Moth by Antennal Transcriptome Analysis

“…C. medinalis, a number of olfactory genes were also mainly expressed in male antennae (Zhang et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2017bLiu et al, , 2020Sun et al, 2017;Li et al, 2020;Qu et al, 2020;Yang et al, 2020;He et al, 2021).…”

“…The male antennae-biased expression suggests that these genes may play a role in the recognition of volatiles from females and/or beehives. In other insect species, including E. obliqua , O. furnacalis , Cotesia vestalis , Laodelphax striatellus , Leptocorisa acuta , Histia rhodope , Phthorimaea operculella , and C. medinalis , a number of olfactory genes were also mainly expressed in male antennae ( Zhang et al, 2015 ; Liu et al, 2017b , 2020 ; Sun et al, 2017 ; Li et al, 2020 ; Qu et al, 2020 ; Yang et al, 2020 ; He et al, 2021 ).…”

Three chemosensory proteins from the sweet potato weevil, Cylas formicarius, are involved in the perception of host plant volatiles

“…Second, odorant binding proteins (OBPs) 12, 13 and chemosensory proteins (CSPs) 14, 15 which are soluble proteins containing a hydrophobic pocket bind to hydrophobic odorants and transport them to the surface of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs). Next, chemosensory membrane proteins (complex odorant receptors (ORs) 16, 17 and olfactory receptor‐coreceptor (Orco) 18, 19 ) in the membrane of OSNs are activated by the released odorants or protein‐ligand complexes, 20–22 which convert chemical signals into nerve impulses 23 . Subsequently, odorants are degraded by odorant degrading enzymes (ODEs) 24–27 .…”