Mutually Exclusive Expression of Closely Related Odorant-Binding Proteins 9A and 9B in the Antenna of the Red Flour Beetle Tribolium castaneum.

ABSTRACT: Olfaction is crucial for insects to find food sources, mates, and oviposition sites. One of the initial steps in olfaction is facilitated by odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) that translocate hydrophobic odorants through the aqueous olfactory sensilla lymph to the odorant receptor complexes embedded in the dendritic membrane of olfactory sensory neurons. The Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) OBPs encoded by the gene pair TcasOBP9A and TcasOBP9B represent the closest homologs to the well-studied Drosophila melanogaster OBP Lush (DmelOBP76a), which mediates pheromone reception. By an electroantennographic analysis, we can show that these two OBPs are not pheromone-specific but rather enhance the detection of a broad spectrum of organic volatiles

SUBMITTER: Montino A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8533528 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature