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Molecular identification and expression patterns of odorant binding protein and chemosensory protein genes in Athetis
Ya-Nan Zhang1, Xiu-Yun Zhu2, Ji-Fang Ma3
1College of Life Sciences, Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei, China; Key Laboratory of Integrated Pest Management on Crops in East China, Ministry of Agriculture, Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Crop Diseases and Pests, Ministry of Education, College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
Abstract:
The olfaction system of insects plays an important role in mediating various physiological behaviors, including locating hosts, avoiding predators, and recognizing mates and oviposition sites. Therefore, some key genes in the system present valuable opportunities as targets for developing novel green pesticides. Athetis lepigone, a noctuid moth can feed on more than 30 different host plants making it a serious polyphagous pest worldwide, and it has become one of the major maize pests in northern China since 2011. However, there are no reports on effective and environmentally friendly pesticides for the control of this pest. In this study, we identified 28 genes encoding putative odorant binding proteins (OBPs) and 20 chemosensory protein (CSPs) genes based on our previous A. lepigone transcriptomic data. A tissue expression investigation and phylogenetic analysis were conducted in an effort to postulate the functions of these genes. Our results show that nearly half (46.4%) of the AlOBPs exhibited antennae-biased expression while many of the AlCSPs were highly abundant in non-antennal tissues. These results will aid in exploring the chemosensory mechanisms of A. lepigone and developing environmentally friendly pesticides against this pest in the future.