Department of Entomology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Robert H Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Rehovot, 76100, Israel.
Insect Biochem Mol Biol. 2021 Dec;139:103651. doi: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2021.103651. Epub 2021 Sep 25.
Indole-sensitive odorant receptors or indolORs belong to a mosquito-specific expansion as ancient as the Culicidae lineage. Brachyceran flies appeared to lack representative members of this group despite the importance of indolics in this important group of dipterans. To explore whether indolORs occur in other brachyceran species, we searched for candidate indolORs in Drosophila melanogaster. Using phylogenetic tools, we show that D. melanogaster OR30a, OR43a, and OR49b form a distinct monophyletic lineage with mosquito indolORs. To explore a potential functional orthology with indolORs, we expressed these three Drosophila ORs in Xenopus laevis oocytes and measured their responses to a panel of indolic compounds. We provide evidence that OR30a, OR43a, and OR49b exhibit high sensitivity to indoles. Along with the recent discovery of indolORs in the housefly Musca domestica, our findings suggest that indolORs are a widespread feature of the peripheral olfactory systems of Diptera.
吲哚感应气味受体或吲哚 OR 属于蚊子特有的扩张，其历史可以追溯到 Culicidae 谱系的远古时代。尽管吲哚在双翅目这个重要的昆虫群中很重要，但短角亚目苍蝇似乎缺乏该组的代表性成员。为了探索吲哚 OR 是否存在于其他短角亚目物种中，我们在黑腹果蝇中搜索了候选的吲哚 OR。我们使用系统发育工具表明，果蝇 OR30a、OR43a 和 OR49b 与蚊子吲哚 OR 形成一个独特的单系。为了探索与吲哚 OR 的潜在功能同源性，我们在非洲爪蟾卵母细胞中表达了这三个果蝇 OR，并测量了它们对一系列吲哚化合物的反应。我们提供的证据表明，OR30a、OR43a 和 OR49b 对吲哚表现出高灵敏度。结合最近在家蝇 Musca domestica 中发现的吲哚 OR，我们的研究结果表明，吲哚 OR 是双翅目外周嗅觉系统的广泛特征。
