Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus Montecillo, Mexico-Texcoco Highway, Km. 36.5 Montecillo, Texcoco 56230, Mexico.
Koppert de México, Circuito el Marqués Norte No. 82, Industrial Park el Marqués, Querétaro 76246, Mexico.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Feb 8;24(4):3406. doi: 10.3390/ijms24043406.
The pepper weevil is one of the most damaging pests to the pepper crop. To offer alternative management strategies to insecticides, several studies have identified the semiochemicals that are involved in the pepper weevil's aggregation and mating behavior; however, there is no information on its perireceptor molecular mechanism, to date. In this study, bioinformatics tools were used to functionally annotate and characterize the head transcriptome and their probable coding proteins. We identified twenty-two transcripts belonging to families related to chemosensory processes, seventeen corresponding to odorant-binding proteins (OBP), and six to chemosensory proteins (CSP). All results matched with closely related Coleoptera: Curculionidae homologous proteins. Likewise, twelve OBP and three CSP transcripts were experimentally characterized by RT-PCR in different female and male tissues. The results by sex and tissue display the different expression patterns of the AeugOBPs and AeugCSPs; some are present in both sexes and all tissues, while others show expressions with higher specificity, which suggests diverse physiological functions in addition to chemo-detection. This study provides information to support the understanding of odor perception in the pepper weevil.
胡椒象鼻虫是危害胡椒作物最严重的害虫之一。为了提供替代杀虫剂的管理策略，有几项研究已经确定了参与胡椒象鼻虫聚集和交配行为的信息素；然而，迄今为止，关于其感觉受体分子机制的信息还没有。在这项研究中，生物信息学工具被用于对头部转录组及其可能的编码蛋白进行功能注释和特征描述。我们鉴定了二十二个属于与化学感受过程相关的家族的转录本，十七个对应于气味结合蛋白（OBP），六个对应于化学感受蛋白（CSP）。所有的结果都与密切相关的鞘翅目：象甲科同源蛋白相匹配。同样，通过 RT-PCR 在不同的雌性和雄性组织中对 12 个 OBP 和 3 个 CSP 转录本进行了实验表征。按性别和组织显示的 AeugOBPs 和 AeugCSPs 的不同表达模式；有些存在于两性和所有组织中，而有些则表现出更高特异性的表达，这表明除了化学检测之外，还具有多种生理功能。本研究提供了信息，支持了对胡椒象鼻虫嗅觉感知的理解。
