Tsouri Angeliki, Douris Vassilis
Department of Biological Applications and Technology, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
Biomedical Research Institute-Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (BRI-FORTH), 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
Insects. 2025 May 5;16(5):496. doi: 10.3390/insects16050496.
Chemosensory proteins (CSPs) are small soluble proteins found predominantly in insects, with a conserved structure that contains a hydrophobic cavity. While originally associated with chemosensation, they were soon implicated to several other functions related to their ability to bind hydrophobic molecules. Research in the last decade has shown that CSPs may play a role in insecticide resistance. Several genes are upregulated upon induction by sublethal insecticide doses or are highly expressed in resistant populations. RNA interference of genes can restore susceptibility to insecticides. In vitro binding assays and molecular docking simulations suggest that CSPs can strongly bind to insecticides and can accommodate even large molecules in their hydrophobic cavities. Some cases of overexpression in transgenic insects conferring insecticide resistance are reported. Taken together, these results indicate a role for CSPs in insecticide resistance, presumably through a sequestration mechanism, perhaps in combination with other mechanisms like metabolic resistance. This article reviews the evidence for CSP involvement in resistance and discusses ongoing research in the field.
化学感受蛋白（CSPs）是主要在昆虫中发现的小的可溶性蛋白，具有包含疏水腔的保守结构。虽然最初与化学感受相关，但它们很快就被认为与它们结合疏水分子的能力有关的其他几种功能有关。过去十年的研究表明，CSPs可能在杀虫剂抗性中起作用。几个基因在亚致死剂量杀虫剂诱导后上调，或在抗性种群中高表达。基因的RNA干扰可以恢复对杀虫剂的敏感性。体外结合试验和分子对接模拟表明，CSPs可以与杀虫剂强烈结合，并且可以在其疏水腔中容纳甚至大分子。报道了转基因昆虫中一些导致杀虫剂抗性的过表达情况。综上所述，这些结果表明CSPs在杀虫剂抗性中起作用，可能是通过螯合机制，也许与代谢抗性等其他机制相结合。本文综述了CSPs参与抗性的证据，并讨论了该领域正在进行的研究。
