Mutagenesis of odorant coreceptor Orco fully disrupts foraging but not oviposition behaviors in the hawkmoth Manduca sexta.

ABSTRACT: The hawkmoth Manduca sexta and one of its preferred hosts in the North American Southwest, Datura wrightii, share a model insect-plant relationship based on mutualistic and antagonistic life-history traits. D. wrightii is the innately preferred nectar source and oviposition host for M. sexta Hence, the hawkmoth is an important pollinator while the M. sexta larvae are specialized herbivores of the plant. Olfactory detection of plant volatiles plays a crucial role in the behavior of the hawkmoth. In vivo, the odorant receptor coreceptor (Orco) is an obligatory component for the function of odorant receptors (ORs), a major receptor family involved in insect olfaction. We used CRISPR-Cas9 targeted mutagenesis to knock out (KO) the MsexOrco gene to test

SUBMITTER: Fandino RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6681710 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature