Identification and characterization of an odorant receptor from the West Nile virus mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus.

ABSTRACT: Members of the Culex pipens mosquito group including C. quinquefasciatus are responsible for the transmission of Bancroftian filarisis as well as West Nile Virus (WNV) in the United States. As is the case for other mosquitoes, the host preference of this disease vector relies on olfaction and accordingly mediated via G-protein coupled signal transduction pathways. Here, we identify and characterize CqOR7, the first candidate member of the odorant receptor gene family from C. quinquefasciatus. CqOR7 displays extremely high primary amino acid conservation with other apparent orthologs including AaOR7, from the Dengue virus vector mosquito Aedes aegypti, AgOR7 from the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae and DOr83b from the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster that form an essential non-conventiona

SUBMITTER: Xia Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3100213 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature