Soluble proteins of chemical communication in the social wasp Polistes dominulus

Abstract

Members of the odorant-binding protein (OBP) and chemosensory protein (CSP) families were identified and characterised in the sensory tissues of the social wasp Polistes dominulus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Unlike most insects so far investigated, OBPs were detected in antennae, legs and wings, while CSPs appeared to be preferentially expressed in the antennae. The OBP is very different from the homologous proteins of other Hymenopteran species, with around 20% of identical residues, while the CSP appears to be much better conserved. Both OBP and CSP, not showing other post-translational modifications apart from disulphide bridges, were expressed with high yields in a bacterial system. Cysteine pairing in the recombinant and native proteins follows the classical arrangements described for other members of these classes of proteins. OBPs isolated from the wings were found to be associated with a number of long-chain aliphatic amides and other small organic molecules. Binding of these ligands and other related compounds was measured for both recombinant OBP and CSP.

New isoforms of odorant‐binding proteins and potential semiochemicals of locusts

“…This is rather unusual among insects, where the number of OBPs ranges from 51 in Drosophila to a half dozen in some Lepidoptera. Only in the paper wasp P. dominulus did the available data seem to suggest that a single OBP is expressed (Calvello et al, 2003). In some species, such as Drosophila and Anopheles gambiae, the expression of similar numbers of OBPs and receptors could suggest specific associations of these two classes of proteins in the process of olfactory perception.…”

“…The number of different OBPs expressed in the same species greatly varies according to the species, ranging from 51 in D. melanogaster (Hekmat-Scafe et al, 2002;Zhou et al, 2004) to a single one in the paper wasp, Polistes dominulus (Calvello et al, 2003), as well as in the locust, L. migratoria (Ban et al, 2003a). Such information is more reliable in species whose genome has been sequenced.…”

Functional characterization and immunolocalization of odorant binding protein 1 in the lucerne plant bug, Adelphocoris lineolatus (GOEZE)

“…The most widely used fluorescent probe is N-phenyl-1-naphthylamine (1-NPN), which has been employed in the binding of Drosophila LUSH (Zhou et al, 2004), the Locusta migratoris LmigOBP1-3 (Jiang et al, 2009;Yu et al, 2009), the social wasp Polistes dominulus OBP1 (Calvello et al, 2003) and Bombyx mori OBPs (Zhou et al, 2009;He et al, 2010).…”

Sperm-attractant peptide influences the spermatozoa swimming behavior in internal fertilization in Octopus vulgaris

“…Bioactive fractions (1μl) from chromatography were loaded on the instrument target using the dried droplet technique and α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic (5mgml -1 in 50% acetonitrile, 5% formic acid as matrix), as previously reported (Calvello et al, 2003). Spectra were acquired in linear mode with delayed extraction, and calibrated by either external or internal calibration using the molecular ions from insulin (bovine), thioredoxin (E. coli) and apomyoglobin (horse).…”