Abstract
Olfaction plays a crucial role in insect population survival and reproduction. Identification of the genes associated with the olfactory system, without the doubt will promote studying the insect chemical communication system. In this study, RNA-seq technology was used to sequence the antennae transcriptome of Athetis dissimilis, an emerging crop pest in China with limited genomic information, with the purpose of identifying the gene set involved in olfactory recognition. Analysis of the transcriptome of female and male antennae generated 13.74 Gb clean reads in total from which 98,001 unigenes were assembled, and 25,930 unigenes were annotated. Total of 60 olfactory receptors (ORs), 18 gustatory receptors (GRs), and 12 ionotropic receptors (IRs) were identified by Blast and sequence similarity analyzes. One obligated olfactory receptor co-receptor (Orco) and four conserved sex pheromone receptors (PRs) were annotated in 60 ORs. Among the putative GRs, five genes (AdisGR1, 6, 7, 8 and 94) clustered in the sugar receptor family, and two genes (AdisGR3 and 93) involved in CO2 detection were identified. Finally, AdisIR8a.1 and AdisIR8a.2 co-receptors were identified in the group of candidate IRs. Furthermore, expression levels of these chemosensory receptor genes in female and male antennae were analyzed by mapping the Illumina reads.
Highlights
Athetis dissimilis (Hampson, 1909) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is found in many countries including Japan, Korea, India, Philippines and Indonesia [1,2,3,4]
The unigenes were annotated according to the alignments done in the diverse protein databases listed in the Methods section
NR database queries revealed that a high percentage of A. dissimilis sequences closely matched to sequences of B. mori (11224, 44.63%), followed by D. plexippus (6567, 26.11%), Tribolium castaneum (959, 3.70%), Acyrthosiphon pisum (587, 2.26%), and Papilio xuthus (407, 1.57%) respectively (Fig 1)
Summary
Athetis dissimilis (Hampson, 1909) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is found in many countries including Japan, Korea, India, Philippines and Indonesia [1,2,3,4]. In 2012, it was first observed that this species caused damage to summer maize seedling in Shandong province in China, it had not been documented previously as an agricultural pest [4]. Since this pest has been found in Henan, Shanxi and Anhui provinces. Because of the fact that larvae of A. dissimilis live under plant residues, it is difficult to control the spread of the pest with chemical pesticides. Novel control strategies are urgently needed to mitigate crop damage.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
