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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 122<br />

Another clade <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>terest is the female-specific odorant receptor clade. Members <strong>of</strong><br />

this l<strong>in</strong>eage have been identified <strong>in</strong> B. mori and M. sexta, and have been shown to<br />

have female-specific tissue expression (Wanner et al., 2007; Anderson et al., 2009;<br />

Große-Wilde et al., 2010). MsOR5 forms a l<strong>in</strong>eage with BmOR19 while BmOR45,<br />

46, 47, 48 and 50 cluster together phylogenetically. EpOR46 shares 17% and EpOR50<br />

shares 20% am<strong>in</strong>o acid identity with BmOR47 and BmOR46 respectively. The low<br />

level <strong>of</strong> homology between the E. postvittana homologues <strong>of</strong> the B. mori female<br />

biased clade suggest that either the E. postvittana OR repertoire is <strong>in</strong>complete and the<br />

female biased ORs <strong>of</strong> this moth have not been identified yet, or the E. postvittana<br />

female biased ORs are not phylogenetically related to the B. mori homologues and<br />

only tissue expression analysis <strong>of</strong> all <strong>of</strong> the E. postvittana ORs will identify the female<br />

biased ORs.<br />

The tissue expression <strong>of</strong> 26 <strong>of</strong> the E. postvittana ORs <strong>in</strong> male antennae, female<br />

antennae and body tissues revealed differ<strong>in</strong>g levels <strong>of</strong> expression both between the<br />

various ORs <strong>in</strong> the same tissue as well as <strong>of</strong> the same OR <strong>in</strong> different tissues. The<br />

expression levels <strong>of</strong> these putative ORs were assessed for male-biased expression as it<br />

was assumed that a sex pheromone receptor would be more highly expressed <strong>in</strong> the<br />

male compared with the female antennae as found <strong>in</strong> various lepidopterans (Krieger et<br />

al., 2004; Krieger et al., 2005; Mitsuno et al., 2008; Große-Wilde et al., 2010). Three<br />

<strong>of</strong> the 26 candidate ORs identified from the deep transcriptomics displayed male-<br />

biased expression. EpOR34 had 1500 times higher expression <strong>in</strong> male antennae than<br />

female antennae, and EpOR30 and EpOR33 had 600 times and 900 times higher<br />

expression, respectively (Figure 4.5). Sex biased expression <strong>of</strong> ORs is a good<br />

<strong>in</strong>dicator <strong>of</strong> their <strong>in</strong>volvement <strong>in</strong> sex specific odour recognition as supported by<br />

evidence from B. mori ORs (Sakurai et al., 2004). BmOR1 and BmOR3 have male<br />

biased expression (with upto10,000 times higher expression <strong>in</strong> male antennae than <strong>in</strong><br />

female) and have been shown <strong>in</strong> a number <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong> vivo studies as well as <strong>in</strong> heterologous<br />

assays to be <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> sex-specific pheromone recognition (Sakurai et al., 2004;<br />

Nakagawa et al., 2005; Große-Wilde et al., 2006; Syed et al., 2006; Wanner et al.,<br />

2007). It is tempt<strong>in</strong>g to correlate the high expression levels <strong>of</strong> EpOR30, 33 and 34 <strong>in</strong><br />

male antennae with roles <strong>in</strong> recognis<strong>in</strong>g the three components <strong>of</strong> the E. postvittana<br />

sex pheromone, however, further functional analysis <strong>of</strong> these ORs will be crucial <strong>in</strong>

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