Chen Qiuying, Yang Xi, You Dongrui, Luo Jiaojiao, Hu Xiaojing, Xu Zhifeng, Xiao Wei
Key Laboratory of Entomology and Pest Control Engineering, College of Plant Protection, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Front Genet. 2021 Feb 24;12:611476. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2021.611476. eCollection 2021.
Insects are behaviorally and physiologically affected by different light conditions, including photoperiod, light intensity, and spectrum. Light at night has important influences on nocturnal insects, including most moth species. Moth copulation and mating usually occur at night. Although a few studies examine changes in insect mating under artificial light at night, detailed influences of light, such as that of monochromatic light, on moth mating remain largely unknown. In this study, on the basis of long-term insects rearing experience, dim red light (spectrum range: 610-710nm, with a peak at 660nm; 2.0 Lux) during scotophase was hypothesized to enhance mating in the yellow peach moth, . To test the hypothesis, the mating of moths under dim red, blue, and white lights during scotophase was observed. Under the dim red light, the enhancement of mating in was observed. In addition, the electroantennografic response of males against the female sex pheromone increased with red light treatment during scotophase. In an analysis of the differentially expressed genes in the antennae of males under red light and dark conditions, the expression levels of two odorant-binding protein (OBP) genes, and , were up-regulated. Two genes were then expressed in , and the recombinant proteins showed strong binding to female pheromone components in fluorescence-binding assays. Thus, the results of this study indicated that dim red light at night enhanced the mating of . One of the mechanisms for the enhancement was probably an increase in the antennal sensitivity of males to the female sex pheromone under red light that was caused by increases in the expression levels of pheromone-binding protein genes in male antennae.
昆虫在行为和生理上会受到不同光照条件的影响，包括光周期、光照强度和光谱。夜间光照对夜行性昆虫有重要影响，其中包括大多数蛾类物种。蛾类的交配通常在夜间进行。虽然有一些研究探讨了夜间人工光照下昆虫交配的变化，但光，如单色光，对蛾类交配的详细影响在很大程度上仍不清楚。在本研究中，基于长期饲养昆虫的经验，假设在暗期给予暗红色光（光谱范围：610 - 710nm，峰值在660nm；2.0勒克斯）可促进桃小食心虫的交配。为了验证这一假设，观察了暗期蛾类在暗红色光、蓝光和白光下的交配情况。在暗红色光下，观察到桃小食心虫的交配有所增强。此外，暗期给予红光处理后，雄性对雌性性信息素的触角电图反应增强。在分析红光和黑暗条件下雄性触角中差异表达的基因时，两个气味结合蛋白（OBP）基因，即 和 的表达水平上调。然后在 中表达这两个基因，重组蛋白在荧光结合试验中显示出与雌性性信息素成分有很强的结合能力。因此，本研究结果表明夜间暗红色光增强了桃小食心虫的交配。增强交配的机制之一可能是在红光下雄性触角对雌性性信息素的敏感性增加，这是由雄性触角中信息素结合蛋白基因表达水平的提高所导致的。
