Functional analysis of odorant-binding proteins for the parasitic host location to implicate convergent evolution between the grain aphid and its parasitoid Aphidius gifuensis

Molecular Characterization of Chemosensory Protein (CSP) Genes and the Involvement of AgifCSP5 in the Perception of Host Location in the Aphid Parasitoid Aphidius gifuensis

“…The candidate VOCs were mainly derived from various organic volatiles in wheat field habitats, referring to the compounds related to wheat plants and wheat aphids previously reported in a published paper by Jiang et al in 2022 and 2023 [ 11 , 12 ], including four groups of ligands: (1) aphid alarm pheromone components; (2) aphid sex pheromone; (3) green leaf volatiles of wheat; and (4) aphid-induced plant volatiles. A total of 32 ligands were tested with fluorescence competitive binding assays to assess the binding affinity of AgifCSP5 using N-phenyl-1-naphthylamine (1-NPN) as a fluorescent probe.…”

“…Olfactory recognition is crucial to insect parasitoids such as Aphidius in searching for host plants, host aphids, and males for mating females [ 10 , 11 , 12 ]. Feeding by aphids induces the plant to release herbivore-induced volatiles, which can be intercepted by parasitoids while searching for aphids [ 10 , 11 ].…”

“…Feeding by aphids induces the plant to release herbivore-induced volatiles, which can be intercepted by parasitoids while searching for aphids [ 10 , 11 ]. Similarly, aphids release alarm pheromones when they feel threatened, which also serves as a cue for parasitoids to target their hosts [ 12 ]. Therefore, a key scientific question worth investigating is how these two types of chemical cues attract the parasitoid A. gifuensis .…”

“…The purpose of this study is to reveal the recognition mechanism for host plants and host aphids by A. gifuensis and screen some active volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to develop the attractants to improve the biological control efficacy. Therefore, the selected VOCs were mainly derived from various organic volatiles in wheat field habitats, referring to the compounds related to wheat plants and wheat aphids previously reported in published papers [ 11 , 12 ], including four groups of competitive ligands: (1) aphid alarm pheromone components; (2) main components of the aphid sex pheromone; (3) green leaf volatiles of wheat; and (4) aphid-induced plant volatiles. In this study, we conducted bioinformatic prediction based on both transcriptomic [ 11 ] and genomic data [ 33 ] and sequenced the full-length cDNAs of the CSPs.…”

The Plant Volatile-Sensing Mechanism of Insects and Its Utilization

“…These proteins determine the recognition of different odors through specific binding sites and co-factors that regulate the sensitivity of the olfactory system to specific odorant molecules. Through new bioinformatics technologies, the research on olfactory proteins has been developing rapidly [ 65 ]. This in-depth knowledge of the mechanisms of the insect olfactory system plays a crucial role in exploiting insect attraction with plant volatiles for agronomic purposes.…”