Pheromone‐binding proteins in the Asian gypsy moth females, Lymantria dispar, recognizing the sex pheromone and plant volatiles

Abstract

Lepidopterans are known to have different pheromone-binding proteins with differential expression patterns that facilitate specific signal transduction of semiochemicals. Two PBPs of the Asian gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, were reported to express in both females and males, but their physiological functions were unknown. Results showed that LdisPBP1 and LdisPBP2 were expressed in the sensilla trichodea of males and the s. trichodea and s. basiconica of females. When LdisPBP1 gene was targeted by RNA interference (RNAi) in males, the expression of LdisPBP1 and LdisPBP2 decreased by 69 and 76%, respectively, and when LdisPBP2 gene was targeted by RNAi, they decreased by 60 and 42%, respectively. In females, after treatment with LdisPBP1 dsRNA, LdisPBP1 and LdisPBP2 levels were reduced by 26 and 69%, respectively, and LdisPBP2 dsRNA reduced the relative expression of them by 4 and 62%, respectively. The expression of LdisPBP1 and LdisPBP2 was interdependent. Electroantennogram (EAG) recordings showed that LdisPBPs participate in the recognition of the sex pheromone in males, and the sex pheromone and plant volatiles in females. The function of LdisPBPs represents the sex-specific roles.

Physiological functions of a methuselah-like G protein coupled receptor in Lymantria dispar Linnaeus

“…As a robust functional genomics tool, successful RNAi experiments have been conducted in numerous lepidopteran species including L. dispar (Terenius et al, 2011;Kim et al, 2015;Lin et al, 2015;Xu et al, 2016;Yu et al, 2018;Sun et al, 2019) (Table 1). To investigate the function of Ldmthl1, we employed RNAi technology to knockdown the expression of Ldmthl1 in the 3 rd instar L. dispar larvae.…”

Identification and Expression Profiles of 14 Odorant-Binding Protein Genes From Pieris rapae (Lepidoptera: Pieridae)

“…The PBPs are believed to recognize the pheromone constituents, whereas members in the GOBP group are considered to recognize ‘general’ odorants such as host plant volatiles ( Zhou 2010 ). However, many studies have also demonstrated that PBPs are able to recognize volatiles from host plants and GOBPs have a strong affinity for sex pheromone constituents ( Liu et al 2015a , Khuhro et al 2017 , Yu et al 2018 , Sun et al 2019 ). PBPs and GOBPs are both belong to ‘classic OBP’ group, and the remarkable feature of classic OBPs is the presence of six positionally conserved cysteine residues ( Zhou 2010 , Pelosi et al 2014 , Brito et al 2016 ).…”

Molecular mechanisms of olfactory detection in insects: beyond receptors

“…Supraphysiological concentrations of pheromone can evoke some neuronal activity [56], indicating that while LUSH may play a role in delivering cVA to the cognate receptor (OR67d), it is not an integral part of the signal transduction machinery. Recent in vivo work in moths has yielded similar results, with genetic knockdown or knockout of pheromone-binding OBPs resulting in 20-60% reductions in global pheromone-evoked antennal electrical activity [57][58][59][60][61][62][63] and similar decreases in behavioural responses [57,59,61,63]. The more modest phenotypes observed in moths relative to those in D. melanogaster may be due to methodological differences of these studies, but could also reflect functional redundancy between co-expressed moth OBPs [57].…”