A moth odorant receptor highly expressed in the ovipositor is involved in detecting host-plant volatiles

• Published in: eLife Vol. 9
• Main Authors: Li, Rui-Ting, Huang, Ling-Qiao, Dong, Jun-Feng, Wang, Chen-Zhu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England eLife Science Publications, Ltd 21-05-2020; eLife Sciences Publications Ltd; eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
• Subjects: Allelochemicals; Analysis; Animals; Antennae; Arthropod Antennae - metabolism; Ecology; Egg laying; Esters; Female; Females; function; Gene Expression; helicoverpa assulta; Host plants; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Hybridization; Insects; Ligands; Localization; Moths - anatomy & histology; Moths - genetics; Moths - physiology; odorant receptor; Odorants; Oils, Volatile - metabolism; Organ Specificity; Oviposition; Ovipositor; Ovum - physiology; Pheromone gland; pheromone gland-ovipositor; Pheromones; Pheromones - genetics; Pheromones - metabolism; Plant Oils - metabolism; Proteins; Receptors, Odorant - genetics; Receptors, Odorant - metabolism; Reproduction; Sensilla; sensillum; Solanum - chemistry; Transcriptome; Volatiles; Wu Han; Xenopus - genetics; Xenopus - physiology; China; Germany; ecology; sensillum; helicoverpa assulta; function; oviposition; odorant receptor; pheromone gland-ovipositor
• ISSN: 2050-084X; 2050-084X
• DOI: 10.7554/eLife.53706

Antennae are often considered to be the nostrils of insects. Here, we sequenced the transcriptome of the pheromone gland-ovipositor complex of
and discovered that an odorant receptor (OR) gene,
, had much higher expression in the ovipositor than in antennae or other tissues. To determine whether the ovipositor was involved in odorant detection, we co-expressed
and its co-receptor,
, in a
oocyte model system, and demonstrated that the OR was responsive to 12 plant odorants, especially Z-3-hexenyl butyrate. These odorants elicited electrophysiological responses of some sensilla in the ovipositor, and
and
were co-expressed within ovipositor sensilla. Two oviposition preference experiments showed that female moths lacking antennae still preferentially selected oviposition sites containing plant volatiles. We suggest that the expression of
in the ovipositor of
helps females to determine precise egg-laying sites in host plants.