Highly expressed odorant receptor orthologs detect the aggregation pheromone lineatin in Trypodendron ambrosia beetles
Andersson, Martin N LU ; Biswas, Twinkle LU
and Yuvaraj, Jothi Kumar
LU
(2025)
In Molecular Ecology
34(18).
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Chemical communication using pheromones is crucial for the reproductive success of many insect species, including beetles
(Coleoptera). Pheromones are detected by specialised odorant receptors (ORs), called pheromone receptors (PRs), in the sensory
neurons of the antennae. The PRs in Coleoptera remain understudied, with only a few receptors being functionally characterised.
This limits our understanding of their response specificities and evolutionary origins. To this end, we aimed to identify PRs
in two species of ambrosia beetles (Curculionidae; Scolytinae), the conifer-attacking
Trypodendron lineatum (‘Tlin’) and the congener
T. domesticum (‘Tdom’), specialising in deciduous trees. Both species use the... (More) - Chemical communication using pheromones is crucial for the reproductive success of many insect species, including beetles
(Coleoptera). Pheromones are detected by specialised odorant receptors (ORs), called pheromone receptors (PRs), in the sensory
neurons of the antennae. The PRs in Coleoptera remain understudied, with only a few receptors being functionally characterised.
This limits our understanding of their response specificities and evolutionary origins. To this end, we aimed to identify PRs
in two species of ambrosia beetles (Curculionidae; Scolytinae), the conifer-attacking
Trypodendron lineatum (‘Tlin’) and the congener
T. domesticum (‘Tdom’), specialising in deciduous trees. Both species use the female-produced
aggregation pheromone lineatin
for host-and
mate finding. To date, no OR has been functionally characterised in ambrosia beetles. We specifically aimed
to investigate the response specificity of the candidate PRs and their evolutionary relationships with PRs in other curculionids.
We annotated 53 ORs from a T. domesticum antennal transcriptome, whereas ORs from T. lineatum were reported previously.
We reveal numerous conserved Trypodendron OR orthologs with high sequence identity, with one orthologous pair (TdomOR13/
TlinOR13) having much higher expression than all other OR genes. Through functional characterisation in HEK293 cells, we
show that these receptors respond exclusively to lineatin. We further show that the receptors are phylogenetically well separated
from all other known beetle PRs, including those in other curculionid species. This is the first study to demonstrate functional
conservation of PR orthologs in congeneric beetles, and our findings support a scenario in which coleopteran PRs have evolved
on multiple independent occasions. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/e28db438-e279-49af-9a54-77f62e0e3cd9
- author
- Andersson, Martin N
LU
; Biswas, Twinkle
LU
and Yuvaraj, Jothi Kumar
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Molecular Ecology
- volume
- 34
- issue
- 18
- article number
- e70064
- pages
- 13 pages
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105012393536
- ISSN
- 0962-1083
- DOI
- 10.1111/mec.70064
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- e28db438-e279-49af-9a54-77f62e0e3cd9
- date added to LUP
- 2025-12-12 13:23:43
- date last changed
- 2025-12-16 13:39:40
@article{e28db438-e279-49af-9a54-77f62e0e3cd9,
abstract = {{Chemical communication using pheromones is crucial for the reproductive success of many insect species, including beetles<br/>(Coleoptera). Pheromones are detected by specialised odorant receptors (ORs), called pheromone receptors (PRs), in the sensory<br/>neurons of the antennae. The PRs in Coleoptera remain understudied, with only a few receptors being functionally characterised.<br/>This limits our understanding of their response specificities and evolutionary origins. To this end, we aimed to identify PRs<br/>in two species of ambrosia beetles (Curculionidae; Scolytinae), the conifer-attacking<br/>Trypodendron lineatum (‘Tlin’) and the congener<br/>T. domesticum (‘Tdom’), specialising in deciduous trees. Both species use the female-produced<br/>aggregation pheromone lineatin<br/>for host-and<br/>mate finding. To date, no OR has been functionally characterised in ambrosia beetles. We specifically aimed<br/>to investigate the response specificity of the candidate PRs and their evolutionary relationships with PRs in other curculionids.<br/>We annotated 53 ORs from a T. domesticum antennal transcriptome, whereas ORs from T. lineatum were reported previously.<br/>We reveal numerous conserved Trypodendron OR orthologs with high sequence identity, with one orthologous pair (TdomOR13/<br/>TlinOR13) having much higher expression than all other OR genes. Through functional characterisation in HEK293 cells, we<br/>show that these receptors respond exclusively to lineatin. We further show that the receptors are phylogenetically well separated<br/>from all other known beetle PRs, including those in other curculionid species. This is the first study to demonstrate functional<br/>conservation of PR orthologs in congeneric beetles, and our findings support a scenario in which coleopteran PRs have evolved<br/>on multiple independent occasions.}},
author = {{Andersson, Martin N and Biswas, Twinkle and Yuvaraj, Jothi Kumar}},
issn = {{0962-1083}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{18}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Molecular Ecology}},
title = {{Highly expressed odorant receptor orthologs detect the aggregation pheromone lineatin in Trypodendron ambrosia beetles}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.70064}},
doi = {{10.1111/mec.70064}},
volume = {{34}},
year = {{2025}},
}