Abstract
Some of the metabolic enzyme carboxylesterases (CXEs) belong to the odorant-degrading enzymes (ODEs) family in insect species, and these play a key role in the degradation of acetate sex pheromones and host plant volatiles. Athetis lepigone is one of the most important agricultural insect pests in the world, can damage >30 species of host plants, and has caused serious declines in the yield of summer corn in North China since 2011. According to our previous studies, the sex pheromone component of the pest is a binary blend of Z7–12:OAc and Z9–14:OAc at a ratio of 3:7. However, there are no reports regarding the degradation mechanism for these two sex pheromones. Herein, we firstly identified 20 candidate CXE genes in A. lepigone using our previous adult antennal RNA-seq data. Then, we constructed a phylogenetic tree and further conducted tissue distribution analyses to determine the possible functions of these genes. Our results showed that some AlepCXEs displayed adult antennae-predominant, male antennae-biased, or leg/wing-biased expression, indicating these AlepCXEs may have distinct physiological functions and play distinct roles in the degradation of sex pheromones, host plant volatiles, and/or other xenobiotics. These findings will help us to elucidate the exact functions of these genes in the future, and also provide possible target genes for the prevention and control of A. lepigone.
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