Sieber Kayli R, Saar Maya, Newell Nicholas, Fernandez Katrina, Franco Flávia P, Sujimoto Fernando R, Francoeur Charlotte B, Pereira Roberto M, Currie Cameron R, Simões Bento José Mauricio, Yan Hua
Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
Florida Chemical Senses Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA.
Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 24;15(1):31079. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-16442-2.
As human society continues to grow and evolve, so does the need for effective pest management strategies. Olfactory-mediated control methods, such as attractant and repellent compounds, are a proposed strategy for mitigating the damaging effects of some insect pests, most notably ants, that rely on olfaction for communication. To develop such compounds, it is first important to comprehensively understand the target species' olfactory transcriptome in order to guide future targeted functional characterization of relevant olfactory proteins. Here, we perform bulk RNA-seq analysis of antennae from three notable pest ant species, Camponotus floridanus, Atta sexdens, and Atta cephalotes. Specifically, we highlight the expression profiles of olfactory receptor genes, as they may serve as potential targets of future industry research and application. We find that the ant antennal transcriptome differs between each species' castes, potentially reflecting varying behaviors and tasks, and also appears to be influenced by the surrounding environment. Our findings suggest a general up-regulation of olfactory receptor genes amongst foraging castes, also demonstrating that, when comparing foraging ants from differing environments, olfactory-related genes exhibit considerable patterns of differential expression. These findings suggest variable olfactory sensitivity depending on the aforementioned factors, warranting further investigation into whether differing caste and environmental conditions may negatively influence the effectiveness of broad-range olfactory-mediated pest management strategies. Development of pest management tools that target specific groups of insects by environment or caste may lead to more effective control.
随着人类社会持续发展和演变，对有效的害虫管理策略的需求也在增加。嗅觉介导的控制方法，如引诱剂和驱避剂化合物，是一种减轻某些害虫（尤其是依赖嗅觉进行通讯的蚂蚁）破坏作用的策略。为了开发此类化合物，首先全面了解目标物种的嗅觉转录组以指导未来对相关嗅觉蛋白进行有针对性的功能表征非常重要。在此，我们对三种著名的害虫蚂蚁物种，即佛罗里达弓背蚁、南美切叶蚁和大头切叶蚁的触角进行了批量RNA测序分析。具体而言，我们突出了嗅觉受体基因的表达谱，因为它们可能成为未来行业研究和应用的潜在目标。我们发现，每个物种不同蚁群的蚂蚁触角转录组存在差异，这可能反映了不同的行为和任务，而且似乎还受到周围环境的影响。我们的研究结果表明，觅食蚁群中嗅觉受体基因普遍上调，同时也表明，在比较来自不同环境的觅食蚂蚁时，嗅觉相关基因呈现出显著的差异表达模式。这些发现表明，嗅觉敏感性会因上述因素而有所不同，这就需要进一步研究不同的蚁群和环境条件是否可能对广泛的嗅觉介导的害虫管理策略的有效性产生负面影响。开发针对特定昆虫群体（按环境或蚁群划分）的害虫管理工具可能会带来更有效的控制效果。
