Department of Biology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Sci Adv. 2024 Jun 7;10(23):eadk9000. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adk9000.
Olfaction is essential for complex social behavior in insects. To discriminate complex social cues, ants evolved an expanded number of () genes. Mutations in the obligate odorant co-receptor gene lead to the loss of ~80% of the antennal lobe glomeruli in the jumping ant . However, the cellular mechanism remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate massive apoptosis of odorant receptor neurons (ORNs) in the mid to late stages of pupal development, possibly due to ER stress in the absence of Orco. Further bulk and single-nucleus transcriptome analysis shows that, although most -expressing ORNs die in mutants, a small proportion of them survive: They express () genes that form IR complexes. In addition, we found that some genes are expressed in mechanosensory neurons and nonneuronal cells, possibly due to leaky regulation from nearby non- genes. Our findings provide a comprehensive overview of ORN development and expression in .
嗅觉对于昆虫的复杂社会行为至关重要。为了辨别复杂的社会线索，蚂蚁进化出了数量更多的 () 基因。在跳跃蚂蚁中，() 必需的气味共受体基因的突变导致约 80%的触角叶神经节丧失。然而，其细胞机制尚不清楚。在这里，我们在蛹发育的中后期观察到大量的气味受体神经元（ORNs）凋亡，这可能是由于没有 Orco 导致内质网应激。进一步的批量和单细胞转录组分析表明，尽管大多数表达 () 的 ORNs 在 突变体中死亡，但一小部分 ORNs存活下来：它们表达形成 IR 复合物的 () 基因。此外，我们发现一些 基因在机械感觉神经元和非神经元细胞中表达，这可能是由于附近非 () 基因的调控渗漏。我们的研究结果提供了 ORN 在 中的发育和 表达的全面概述。
