Molecular characterization and expression pattern of an odorant receptor from the myiasis-causing blowfly, Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae)

Abstract

The blowfly Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) is a facultative ectoparasite that causes myiasis in both man and animals, leading to serious human health problems and economic losses in the livestock industry. Like other insects, olfaction of this species plays an important role in host location and is presumably mediated by a seven transmembrane receptor family. Here, we isolate and characterize LserOR1, which is the first candidate member of the odorant receptor gene family from L. sericata. LserOR1 displayed high amino acid conservation with previously identified Or83b orthologs from different insect species. The transcripts of LserOR1 were detected in the major olfactory organs including the antennae and maxillary palps, as well as in traditionally non-olfactory tissues such as the legs and female ovipositors. In developmental studies, a quantitative real-time PCR assay was developed and validated for determining the relative expression levels of LserOR1 during several stages. In contrast to its extremely high expression in the adult stage, LserOR1 expression was at the lowest level during the egg stage, and then increased to a peak through the first two larval stages before declining in the third-instar stage. These results suggest that a broadly expressed LserOR1 receptor is likely to be essential for olfactory sensory processes throughout the lifetime of L. sericata. The present study provides the information that may aid in the development of novel blowfly repellents using olfactory proteins as molecular targets.

IDENTIFICATION OF THE WESTERN TARNISHED PLANT BUG (Lygus hesperus) OLFACTORY CO‐RECEPTOR ORCO: EXPRESSION PROFILE AND CONFIRMATION OF ATYPICAL MEMBRANE TOPOLOGY

“…We consequently sought to computationally determine the membrane topology of LhOrco. TMHMM2.0 has been frequently used to predict the membrane topology and TM location of Orco orthologs (Krieger et al, ; Lu et al, ; Wang et al, ); however, the program predicted 6TMs for LhOrco with both termini intracellular (Fig. ).…”

“…In this study, we cloned and characterized Orco orthologs from two agronomically important pest species, the western tarnished plant bug ( L. hesperus ) and its sympatric sister species the tarnished plant bug ( L. lineolaris ). Despite millions of years of evolutionary separation, the two Lygus Orco sequences exhibit significant conservation with Orco orthologs identified in other insect species (Krieger et al, ; Melo et al, ; Pitts et al, ; Jones et al, ; Smadja et al, ; Kirkness et al, ; Wang et al, ; Yang et al, ). This conservation has been shown to extend beyond primary sequence to include functionality as diverse Orco genes were able to functionally complement Orco‐deficient D. melanogaster (Jones et al, ).…”

“…Despite exhibiting the 7TM domain feature characteristic of GPCRs, Orco differs from GPCRs in that it has an inverted membrane topology, a feature that has been experimentally confirmed for both DmOrco and AgOrco (Benton et al, ; Lundin et al, ; Tsitoura et al, ). The atypical membrane topology has also been predicted for Orco orthologs from a number of insect species with TMHMM2.0 and HMMTOP among the most frequently cited prediction algorithms (Benton et al, ; Lundin et al, ; Malpel et al, ; Lu et al, ; Wang et al, ). The two algorithms, however, predicted LhOrco to exhibit a membrane topology with both termini intracellular (Fig.…”

Morphological Characteristics of Terminalia of the Wasp-Mimicking Fly, Stomorhina discolor (Fabricius)

“…Sensilla on terminalia are used for the positioning of genitalia for copulation during mating events [12]. Wang et al [13] examined the expression pattern of an odorant receptor in the ovipositor of the blow fly Lucilia sericata (Meigen). Therefore, sensilla on the ovipositor may also have an olfactory function.…”

Ultrastructure of antennal sensory organs of horse nasal-myiasis fly, Rhinoestrus purpureus (Diptera: Oestridae)

“…As the crucial sensory organs involved in feeding, mating, and spawning (Fernandes et al 2005;Amer and Mehlhorn 2006;Smallegange et al 2008;Guha et al 2012;Wang et al 2012), antennal sensilla of flies have managed to evolve various features to enhance their sensitivity and adaptability to the ever-changing environment (Ross 1992;Sukontason et al 2004;Zhang et al 2012aZhang et al , b, 2013aWang et al 2014). Little is known about the antennal sensilla of adult R. purpureus.…”