State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for the Arid Areas, and Key Laboratory of Northwest Loess Plateau Crop Pest Management of Ministry of Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China.
State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
Sci Rep. 2017 Jun 21;7(1):3939. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-03988-z.
Olfaction and gustation play critical roles during the host-location search process of insects. Several chemosensory receptor genes are thought to be involved in providing specificity to the olfactory sensory neuron responses. The aphid endoparasitoid, Aphidius gifuensis, has been used as a biological control agent against a variety of aphid species; this parasitoid is able to detect its target host(s) effectively during the parasitic process. To understand the mechanism of host detection in A. gifuensis, we assembled specific antennal transcriptomes of each sex through next generation sequencing technology to identify the major chemosensory receptor genes. Using a bioinformatics screen, we identified 100 olfactory receptors candidates (62 odorant receptors, 15 gustatory receptors, and 23 ionotropic receptors) from the sex-specific antennal transcriptome. In addition, combining with the demonstrated functions of chemosensory genes in other insects, the sex-, tissue-, and host-specific expression profile of chemosensory genes potentially revealed the candidate physiological functions. The identification and expression profile of chemosensory receptor genes in A. gifuensis provide valuable information for understanding and investigating the intraspecific or interspecific chemical communications in the solitary parasitic wasps.
嗅觉和味觉在昆虫的宿主定位搜索过程中起着关键作用。几种化学感觉受体基因被认为可以为嗅觉感觉神经元的反应提供特异性。桃蚜内寄生蜂，Aphidius gifuensis，已被用作防治多种蚜虫的生物防治剂；这种寄生蜂在寄生过程中能够有效地检测到其目标宿主。为了了解 A. gifuensis 的宿主检测机制，我们通过下一代测序技术组装了每个性别的特定触角转录组，以鉴定主要的化学感觉受体基因。通过生物信息学筛选，我们从性别特异性触角转录组中鉴定出 100 个嗅觉受体候选基因（62 个气味受体、15 个味觉受体和 23 个离子型受体）。此外，结合其他昆虫中化学感觉基因的功能证明，化学感觉基因的性别、组织和宿主特异性表达谱可能揭示了候选生理功能。A. gifuensis 中化学感觉受体基因的鉴定和表达谱为理解和研究独居寄生蜂的种内或种间化学通讯提供了有价值的信息。
