Department of Entomology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, 76100, Israel.
Department of Entomology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, 76100, Israel.
Insect Biochem Mol Biol. 2019 Jul;110:45-51. doi: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2019.04.015. Epub 2019 Apr 17.
The conservation of the mosquito indolergic receptors across the Culicinae and Anophelinae mosquito lineages, which spans 200 million years of evolution, is a testament to the central role of indolic compounds in the biology of these insects. Indole and skatole have been associated with the detection of oviposition sites and animal hosts. To evaluate the potential ecological role of these two compounds, we have used a pharmacological approach to characterize homologs of the indolergic receptors Or2 and Or10 in the non-hematophagous elephant mosquito Toxorhynchites amboinensis. We provide evidence that both receptors are narrowly tuned to indole and skatole like their counterparts from hematophagous mosquitoes. These findings indicate that Toxorhynchites detects indole and skatole in an ecological context to be determined and underscore the importance of understanding the role of these compounds in mosquitoes.
蚊科和按蚊科的伊哚受体在 2 亿年的进化过程中得以保存，这证明了吲哚化合物在这些昆虫的生物学中起着核心作用。吲哚和粪臭素与产卵地点和动物宿主的检测有关。为了评估这两种化合物的潜在生态作用，我们使用药理学方法来表征非吸血性象鼻蚊 Toxorhynchites amboinensis 中伊哚受体 Or2 和 Or10 的同源物。我们提供的证据表明，这两种受体都像来自吸血性蚊子的受体一样，对吲哚和粪臭素具有窄谱响应。这些发现表明，Toxorhynchites 在有待确定的生态环境中检测吲哚和粪臭素，并强调了理解这些化合物在蚊子中的作用的重要性。
