Age and Mating Status Do Not Affect Transcript Levels of Odorant Receptor Genes in Male Antennae of Heliothis virescens and Heliothis subflexa

Abstract

In biological systems, it is expected that gene expression levels generally will correlate with temporally varying physiological and biological needs, and that gene expression levels could regulate biological capabilities. In moth species, male response to female sex pheromones often is affected by moth age and mating status. Odorant receptors (ORs) expressed in neurons within male antennae are critical for detecting the female pheromones. Therefore, we hypothesized that the expression level of these receptor proteins would be affected by age and mating status of male moths. We examined expression levels of two OR genes that are preferentially expressed in the male antennae of Heliothis virescens (HvOR13 and HvOR15) and Heliothis subflexa (HsOR13 and HsOR15). Antennae were dissected from virgin males at 2 h, 1 d, 2 d, 4 d, and 8 d. We also dissected antennae from 4-d-old mated males. We found that age had no effect on expression levels of either OR in either species, except for a small difference in HsOR15 expression between 2 h and 8-d-old virgin males. Furthermore, we found no effect of mating status on expression level of these ORs in either species. We discuss these findings in relationship to studies of age and mating status effects on male electrophysiological and behavioral response to female pheromones, and contrast our results to studies on the effects of age and mating status on gene expression of pheromone receptor proteins and pheromone binding proteins in other moths.

Mosaic evolution of molecular pathways for sex pheromone communication in a butterfly

“…This finding suggests that the regulation of the expression of Orco could be a mediator of sex pheromone receptivity. Orco, and not specific parts of the odorant receptor dimer, such as OR1, OR2 or other odorant receptors that we did not test here, could be regulated by sex pheromone communication, similar to what was previously found in cockroaches (Soques et al 2010;Latorre-Estivalis et al 2015).…”

“…We further expected that gene expression levels would correlate with temporally varying physiological and biological needs. In moth species, PRs are critical for detecting the female sex pheromone and the male's behavioral and physiological responses to female sex pheromones were shown to be affected by moth age and mating status (Soques et al 2010, Saveer et al 2012. We, therefore, tried to identify B. anynana candidate PRs by comparing RNA expression levels in females with different mating status (using qPCR).…”

Construction and analysis of cDNA libraries from the antennae of Batocera horsfieldi and expression pattern of putative odorant binding proteins

“…However, Merlin et al (2007) examined expression of one OR and one PBP at nine time points during a 24-hr period post-eclosion in Spodoptera littoralis male antennae and found no drastic changes in transcript abundance throughout this period of time. In a study by Soques et al (2010) , the age and mating status had no effects on the expression levels of two OR genes in the male antenna of Heliothis virescens (HvOR13 and HvOR15) and H. subflexa (HsOR13 and HsOR15). Taken together, we think that developmental stage and mating status could affect the transcription level of Minus-C OBPs of the beetle, but the effect was different with the different genes.…”

Age Influence on Sexual Behavior of the Lesser Cornstalk Borer, Elasmopalpus lignosellus (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

“…One of the explanations for these observations could be endocrinological changes, such as JH levels and the status of accessory glands, which modify the level of response to sex pheromones, as was demonstrated in other Lepidoptera (Happ 1984, Anton & Gadenne 1999, Gadenne et al 2001, Jin & Gong 2001, Carlsson & Hansson 2003, Gillott 2003, Wedell 2005, Jarriault et al 2009, Soques et al 2010. Another reason could be a differential expression of odorant binding proteins related to male age, a phenomenon -24, 24-48, 48-72, and 72-96 h, N = 4 for each male age class).…”