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. 2014 Jan 8;9(1):e85523.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0085523. eCollection 2014.

Sniffing out chemosensory genes from the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata

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Sniffing out chemosensory genes from the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata

Paolo Siciliano et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (medfly), is an extremely invasive agricultural pest due to its extremely wide host range and its ability to adapt to a broad range of climatic conditions and habitats. Chemosensory behaviour plays an important role in many crucial stages in the life of this insect, such as the detection of pheromone cues during mate pursuit and odorants during host plant localisation. Thus, the analysis of the chemosensory gene repertoire is an important step for the interpretation of the biology of this species and consequently its invasive potential. Moreover, these genes may represent ideal targets for the development of novel, effective control methods and pest population monitoring systems. Expressed sequence tag libraries from C. capitata adult heads, embryos, male accessory glands and testes were screened for sequences encoding putative odorant binding proteins (OBPs). A total of seventeen putative OBP transcripts were identified, corresponding to 13 Classic, three Minus-C and one Plus-C subfamily OBPs. The tissue distributions of the OBP transcripts were assessed by RT-PCR and a subset of five genes with predicted proteins sharing high sequence similarities and close phylogenetic affinities to Drosophila melanogaster pheromone binding protein related proteins (PBPRPs) were characterised in greater detail. Real Time quantitative PCR was used to assess the effects of maturation, mating and time of day on the transcript abundances of the putative PBPRP genes in the principal olfactory organs, the antennae, in males and females. The results of the present study have facilitated the annotation of OBP genes in the recently released medfly genome sequence and represent a significant contribution to the characterisation of the medfly chemosensory repertoire. The identification of these medfly OBPs/PBPRPs permitted evolutionary and functional comparisons with homologous sequences from other tephritids of the genera Bactrocera and Rhagoletis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Transcriptional profiles of the C. capitata OBP genes in different body parts of 4 day-old virgin males and females as determined by RT-PCR.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Phylogenetic relationships of OBP proteins from C. capitata and D. melanogaster.
The unrooted maximum-likelihood (log likelihood = −6336.82) tree was inferred using the Whelan and Goldman model and a discrete Gamma distribution. Bootstrap values greater than 50% (1000 replications) are shown. Coloured circles indicate the different OBP subfamilies.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Phylogenetic relationships of tephritid OBP proteins.
The unrooted maximum-likelihood (log likelihood = −9096.49) tree was inferred using the Whelan and Goldman model and a discrete Gamma distribution and some invariable sites. Bootstrap values greater than 50% (1000 replications) are shown. Coloured circles indicate the different OBP subfamilies.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Alignments of the predicted amino acid sequences of five C. capitata OBPs with their putative D. melanogaster orthologues.
Identical amino acids are shown on a dark blue background, medium and light blue backgrounds indicate positions with strongly and weakly similar properties, respectively. Conserved cysteine residues are highlighted in yellow. The signal peptide sequences are boxed. The positions of introns are indicated by triangles.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Transcript abundances of five OBP genes in the antennae, palps and tarsi of mature virgin males and females.
Asterisks indicate significant differences in transcript abundances (*P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001, unpaired 2-tailed t-tests with Sidàk’s correction for multiple comparisons).
Figure 6
Figure 6. Transcript abundances of five OBP genes in the antennae of 1 day immature (1 dV), 4 day mature virgin (4 dV) and 4 day-old mated (4 dM) males and females.
Asterisks indicate significant differences in transcript abundances (*P<0.05, **P<0.01, unpaired 2-tailed t-tests).
Figure 7
Figure 7. Transcript abundances of five OBP genes in the antennae of mature virgin males and females at two time intervals (1–3 and 6–8 hrs after the beginning of the photophase, respectively).
Asterisks indicate significant differences in transcript abundances (*P<0.05, unpaired 2-tailed t-tests).

References

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