20946534
not annotated - annotated - LINNAEUS only
Differential expression of odorant receptor genes involved in the sexual isolation of two Heliothis moths.
Moth sexual communication systems are highly diverse, but the mechanisms underlying their evolutionary diversification remain unclear. Recently, genes coding for odorant receptors (ORs) OR6, OR14, OR15 and OR16 have been genetically associated with species-specific male response to female pheromone blends in Heliothis virescens (Hv) and Heliothis subflexa (Hs). Quantitative real-time PCR analysis indicates that expression of HvOR6, HsOR6, HvOR14, HsOR14, HvOR15 and HsOR15 is male biased, which supports the hypothesis that they have a role in mediating female sex pheromone detection. The genes HvOR14, HvOR15 and HvOR16 are expressed at higher levels than their corresponding orthologues HsOR14, HsOR15 and HsOR16 in male antennae, while HvOR6 and HsOR6 transcripts are equally abundant in male antennae. The lack of higher expression of any of the receptor genes in H. subflexa antennae suggests that interspecific sequence differences, rather than gene regulation differences, underly the species-specific male response to pheromone components.
Ann file
T1 Species 419 438 Heliothis virescens
N1 Reference T1 Taxonomy:7102
T2 Species 440 442 Hv
N2 Reference T2 Taxonomy:7102
T3 Species 448 466 Heliothis subflexa
N3 Reference T3 Taxonomy:38041
T4 Species 468 470 Hs
N4 Reference T4 Taxonomy:38041
T5 Species 982 993 H. subflexa
N5 Reference T5 Taxonomy:38041