AUTHOR=Liu Huan , Chen Zheng-Shi , Zhang Dong-Ju , Lu Yong-Yue 

TITLE=BdorOR88a Modulates the Responsiveness to Methyl Eugenol in Mature Males of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel)

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2018.00987

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2018.00987

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=<p>Insect attractants are important prevention tools for managing populations of the Oriental fruit fly, <italic>Bactrocera dorsalis</italic> (Hendel), which is a highly destructive agricultural pest with health implications in tropical and subtropical countries. Methyl eugenol (ME) is still considered the gold standard of <italic>B. dorsalis</italic> attractants. Mature male flies use their olfactory system to detect ME, but the molecular mechanism underlying their olfactory detection of ME largely remains unclear. Here, we showed that ME activates the odorant receptors <italic>OR63a-1</italic> and <italic>OR88a</italic> in mature <italic>B. dorsalis</italic> males antennae by RNA-Seq and qRT-PCR analysis. Interestingly, ME only elicited robust responses in the <italic>BdorOR88a</italic>/<italic>BdorOrco</italic>-expressing <italic>Xenopus</italic> oocytes, thus suggesting that <italic>BdorOR88a</italic> is necessary for ME reception and tropism in <italic>B. dorsalis</italic>. Next, our indoor behavioral assays demonstrated that <italic>BdorOR63a-1</italic> knockdown had no significant effects on ME detection and tropism. By contrast, reducing the <italic>BdorOR88a</italic> transcript levels led to a significant decrease in the males’ responsiveness to ME. Taken together, our results gave novel insight in the understanding of the olfactory background to the Oriental fruit fly’s attraction toward ME.</p>