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Title: Identification and comparative expression profiles of chemoreception genes revealed from major chemoreception organs of the rice leaf folder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

Author
item ZENG, FANG-FANG - Huazhong Agricultural University
item ZHAO, ZHEN-FEI - Huazhong Agricultural University
item YAN, MIAO-JUN - Huazhong Agricultural University
item ZHOU, WEN - Huazhong Agricultural University
item Zhang, Aijun
item LU, ZHONG-XIAN - Huazhong Agricultural University
item WANG, MAN-QUN - Huazhong Agricultural University

Submitted to: PLOS ONE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/16/2015
Publication Date: 12/11/2015
Citation: Zeng, F., Zhao, Z., Yan, M., Zhou, W., Zhang, A., Lu, Z., Wang, M. 2015. Identification and comparative expression profiles of chemoreception genes revealed from major chemoreception organs of the rice leaf folder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). PLoS One. 10(12):e0144267.

Interpretive Summary: The leaf folder is a migratory insect pest affecting rice in Oceania, Africa, and Asia. The larvae can damage plants by folding the leaves and scraping the leaf tissues within the fold, which causes yield loss by reducing photosynthetic activity and makes conventional chemical treatments impracticable. There is an urgent need to develop a sustainable method for management of this pest to prevent such damage. The adult leaf folder has evolved a sensitive olfactory system used to locate their host plants, as well as mates, from a distance by detecting volatile chemicals emitted by these sources. Regulation of the reception of these chemical signals is a safe and effective measure to control the population of this pest. The samples of major olfactory organs, including antennae, tarsus, and reproductive organs from both male and female, were collected and analyzed. Analysis of these olfactory organs resulted in identification of 102 olfactory genes involved in detection of chemical signals, 81 of which genes are novel and have never been reported before. This research result will provide significant insight into the functions of olfactory genes of insects in perception of volatile odorants. This insight will help scientists and growers to better understand the olfactory mechanism and, therefore, to develop olfactory/semiochemical based sustainable strategies to reduce the pesticide usage and manage this pest under economical threshold.

Technical Abstract: To better understand the olfactory mechanism in the rice leaf folder, Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenée), one of the most serious insect pests of rice in Asia, we have established six partial transcriptomes from antennae, tarsus, and reproductive organs of male and female adults. A total of 102 genes were identified, including 29 odorant receptors (ORs), 15 ionotropic receptors (IRs), 30 odorant-binding proteins (OBPs), 26 chemosensory proteins (CSPs), and 2 sensory neuron membrane proteins. The expression patterns of these genes were calculated by fragments per kilobase of exon per million fragments mapped (FPKM) and validated by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Our results demonstrated that some genes were exclusively expressed in specific organs, such as female tarsus, and some of them expressed universally, which may give us hints to recognize certain specific functions of chemoreception proteins in insects. To the best of our knowledge, among of 102 identified genes, 81 are novel and have never been reported before. In addition, it also is the first time that ORs and IRs are identified in C. medinalis. Our findings are of significance in better understanding olfactory mechanisms of chemoreception system in C. medinalis.