Unveiling the developmental dynamics and functional role of Odorant Receptor Co-receptor (Orco) in Aedes albopictus: A novel mechanism for regulating odorant receptor expression.

ABSTRACT: As one of the most aggressive disease vectors, the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus relies heavily on its olfactory system to search for food in the larval stage, locate hosts after eclosion, and identify suitable oviposition sites after blood feeding. In mosquitoes and other insects, the olfactory system detects environmental odors primarily through a diverse repertoire of odorant receptors (ORs), which require the highly conserved odorant receptor co-receptor (Orco) to function. While Orco's role in enabling receptor function is well established, its cellular localization patterns, developmental expression dynamics, and system-wide impact on olfactory physiology and behavior remain understudied in Ae. albopictus. To address this knowledge gap, we leveraged the Q-system to systematic

SUBMITTER: Yao H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12680343 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature