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Mechanisms of Olfaction in Insects - ResearchSpace@Auckland ...

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Identification <strong>of</strong> putative odorant receptors from Epiphyas postvittana 119<br />

4.4 Discussion<br />

A total <strong>of</strong> 52 ORs have so far been identified us<strong>in</strong>g three different methods. Sanger<br />

sequenc<strong>in</strong>g identified three ORs, 454 transcriptome sequenc<strong>in</strong>g identified 29 ORs and<br />

47 ORs were identified from low coverage whole genome sequenc<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> E.<br />

postvittana. Some ORs were identified by all three sequenc<strong>in</strong>g methods (three ORs),<br />

some by two (21 ORs) and some by only one method (28 ORs), as summarised <strong>in</strong><br />

Table 4.6. Sanger sequenc<strong>in</strong>g gives longer sequence fragments hence contig assembly<br />

is easier and results <strong>in</strong> long contigs be<strong>in</strong>g assembled; however the drawback <strong>of</strong> this<br />

sequenc<strong>in</strong>g technology is the low depth <strong>of</strong> coverage, with only three ORs be<strong>in</strong>g<br />

identified from Sanger sequenc<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> E. postvittana antennal cDNA (Jordan et al.,<br />

2009). ORs are lowly expressed genes and due to their low copy number <strong>in</strong> cDNA<br />

populations are not efficiently picked up <strong>in</strong> shallow Sanger sequenc<strong>in</strong>g. 454<br />

transcriptomics was more efficient at identify<strong>in</strong>g E. postvittana ORs, as it was able to<br />

identify the three ORs identified by Sanger sequenc<strong>in</strong>g and a further 26 new ORs. The<br />

drawback <strong>of</strong> this system was the short read lengths obta<strong>in</strong>ed hence the OR sequences<br />

were <strong>in</strong> small fragments. Low coverage whole genome sequenc<strong>in</strong>g was able to<br />

identify 47 ORs. This is consistent with recovery <strong>of</strong> ORs from other moths such as B.<br />

mori where whole genome sequenc<strong>in</strong>g recovered most <strong>of</strong> the ORs. However, due to<br />

the presence <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>trons <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>sect ORs, prediction <strong>of</strong> cod<strong>in</strong>g regions <strong>of</strong> genes becomes a<br />

challenge.<br />

The degenerate PCR approach taken to identify new putative ORs from E. postvittana<br />

did not yield any significant results. This may be attributed to the low sequence<br />

homology between <strong>in</strong>sect ORs, as only a few ORs have been identified us<strong>in</strong>g this<br />

method thus far (Mitsuno et al., 2008; Patch et al., 2009). Regions <strong>of</strong> homology<br />

among ORs are limited and result <strong>in</strong> high levels <strong>of</strong> degeneracy <strong>in</strong> designed primers.<br />

This leads to non-specific b<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>g and amplification <strong>of</strong> undesirable genes, or genes<br />

present <strong>in</strong> high copy numbers <strong>in</strong> cells.<br />

In the Lepidoptera B. mori, 68 ORs (from both adult and larvae) have been identified<br />

so far, which is higher than the number <strong>of</strong> ORs identified <strong>in</strong> E. postvittana to date.<br />

Both these lists may be <strong>in</strong>complete and further ORs might be identified from both<br />

these moths, however, for the purpose <strong>of</strong> this discussion, the 68 ORs identified <strong>in</strong> B.

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