Differential expression of chemosensory-protein genes in midguts in response to diet of Spodoptera litura.
While it has been well characterized that chemosensory receptors in guts of mammals have great influence on food preference, much remains elusive in insects. Insect chemosensory proteins (CSPs) are soluble proteins that could deliver chemicals to olfactory and gustatory receptors. Recent studies have identified a number of CSPs expressed in midgut in Lepidoptera insects, which started to reveal their roles in chemical recognition and stimulating appetite in midgut. In this study, we examined expression patterns in midgut of 21 Spodoptera litura CSPs (SlitCSPs) characterized from a previously reported transcriptome, and three CSPs were identified to be expressed highly in midgut. The orthologous relationships between midgut expressed CSPs in S. litura and those in Bombyx mori and Plutella xylostella also suggest a conserved pattern of CSP expression in midgut. We further demonstrated that the expression of midgut-CSPs may change in response to different host plants, and SlitCSPs could bind typical chemicals from host plant in vitro. Overall, our results suggested midgut expressed SlitCSPs may have functional roles, likely contributing to specialization and adaption to different ecosystems. Better knowledge of this critical component of the chemsensation signaling pathways in midguts may improve our understanding of food preference processes in a new perspective.
Laboratory of Insect Toxicology, Key Laboratory of Pesticide and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
Xin
X
Yi
Laboratory of Insect Toxicology, Key Laboratory of Pesticide and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
Jiangwei
J
Qi
Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Microbial Signals and Disease Control, Integrative Microbiology Research Centre, College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
Xiaofan
X
Zhou
Laboratory of Insect Toxicology, Key Laboratory of Pesticide and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
Mei Ying
MY
Hu
Laboratory of Insect Toxicology, Key Laboratory of Pesticide and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. guohuazhong@scau.edu.cn.
Guo Hua
GH
Zhong
D000818:Animals; D002628:Chemoreceptor Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D019295:Computational Biology; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000502:physiology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D018411:Spodoptera / Q000502:physiology*
D019476:Insect Proteins