Sakurai Takeshi, Mitsuno Hidefumi, Mikami Akihisa, Uchino Keiro, Tabuchi Masashi, Zhang Feng, Sezutsu Hideki, Kanzaki Ryohei
Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8904, Japan.
Transgenic Silkworm Research Unit, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, 1-2 Owashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8634, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2015 Jun 5;5:11001. doi: 10.1038/srep11001.
Male moths use species-specific sex pheromones to identify and orientate toward conspecific females. Odorant receptors (ORs) for sex pheromone substances have been identified as sex pheromone receptors in various moth species. However, direct in vivo evidence linking the functional role of these ORs with behavioural responses is lacking. In the silkmoth, Bombyx mori, female moths emit two sex pheromone components, bombykol and bombykal, but only bombykol elicits sexual behaviour in male moths. A sex pheromone receptor BmOR1 is specifically tuned to bombykol and is expressed in specialized olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) in the pheromone sensitive long sensilla trichodea of male silkmoth antennae. Here, we show that disruption of the BmOR1 gene, mediated by transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), completely removes ORN sensitivity to bombykol and corresponding pheromone-source searching behaviour in male moths. Furthermore, transgenic rescue of BmOR1 restored normal behavioural responses to bombykol. Our results demonstrate that BmOR1 is required for the physiological and behavioural response to bombykol, demonstrating that it is the receptor that mediates sex pheromone responses in male silkmoths. This study provides the first direct evidence that a member of the sex pheromone receptor family in moth species mediates conspecific sex pheromone information for sexual behaviour.
雄性蛾类利用物种特异性性信息素来识别同种雌性并向其定向。在多种蛾类物种中，已将性信息素物质的气味受体（ORs）鉴定为性信息素受体。然而，缺乏将这些ORs的功能作用与行为反应联系起来的直接体内证据。在家蚕中，雌蛾会释放两种性信息素成分，蚕蛾醇和蚕蛾醛，但只有蚕蛾醇能引发雄蛾的性行为。性信息素受体BmOR1对蚕蛾醇具有特异性的调谐作用，并在雄蚕蛾触角上对信息素敏感的长刚毛状感器中的特殊嗅觉受体神经元（ORNs）中表达。在此，我们表明，由转录激活样效应核酸酶（TALENs）介导的BmOR1基因的破坏，完全消除了ORN对蚕蛾醇的敏感性以及雄蛾相应的对信息素源的搜索行为。此外，BmOR1的转基因拯救恢复了对蚕蛾醇的正常行为反应。我们的结果表明，BmOR1是对蚕蛾醇产生生理和行为反应所必需的，这表明它是介导雄蚕蛾性信息素反应的受体。这项研究提供了首个直接证据，证明蛾类物种中性信息素受体家族的一个成员介导了用于性行为的同种性信息素信息。
