Sex-specific odorant receptors of the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta

Abstract

As odor information plays a vital role in the life of moths, their olfactory sense has evolved into a highly specific and sensitive apparatus relevant to reproduction and survival. The key players in the detection of odorants are olfactory receptor (OR) proteins. Here we identify four ORencoding genes differentially expressed in the antennae of males and females of the sphingid moth Manduca sexta. Two male-specific receptors (the previously reported MsexOR-1 and the newly identified MsexOR-4) show great resemblance to other male moth pheromone ORs. The putative pheromone receptors are co-expressed with the co-receptor involved in general odorant signal transduction, the DmelOr83b homolog MsexOR-2. One female-specific receptor (MsexOR-5) displays similarities to BmorOR-19, a receptor in Bombyx mori tuned to the detection of the plant odor linalool. © 2010 Große-Wilde, Stieber, Forstner, Krieger, Wicher and Hansson.