Disruption of the odorant coreceptor Orco impairs foraging and host finding behaviors in the New World screwworm fly
| Autor: | Ana Maria Lima de Azeredo-Espin, Ana Carolina M. Junqueira, Agustin Sagel, Maxwell J. Scott, André Schwambach Vieira, Jorge Ceballos, Alex P. Arp, Daniel F. Paulo, Carolina Concha, W. O. McMillan, Adalberto A. Pérez-de-León, Steven R. Skoda |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Agricultural genetics Science Foraging Niche Olfaction Receptors Odorant Article 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Ectoparasitism Animals Host-Seeking Behavior Calliphoridae Phylogeny Multidisciplinary Obligate biology Diptera Functional genomics Feeding Behavior biology.organism_classification Smell 030104 developmental biology Evolutionary biology Mutation Medicine Insect Proteins 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Cochliomyia hominivorax |
| Zdroj: | Scientific Reports Scientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2021) |
| ISSN: | 2045-2322 |
| Popis: | The evolution of obligate ectoparasitism in blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) has intrigued scientists for over a century, and surprisingly, the genetics underlying this lifestyle remain largely unknown. Blowflies use odors to locate food and oviposition sites; therefore, olfaction might have played a central role in niche specialization within the group. In insects, the coreceptor Orco is a required partner for all odorant receptors (ORs), a major gene family involved in olfactory-evoked behaviors. Hence, we characterized the Orco gene in the New World screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax, a blowfly that is an obligate ectoparasite of warm-blooded animals. In contrast, most of the closely related blowflies are scavengers that lay their eggs on dead animals. We show that the screwworm Orco orthologue (ChomOrco) is highly conserved within Diptera, showing signals of strong purifying selection. Expression of ChomOrco is broadly detectable in chemosensory appendages, and is related to morphological, developmental, and behavioral aspects of the screwworm biology. We used CRISPR/Cas9 to disrupt ChomOrco and evaluate the consequences of losing the OR function on screwworm behavior. In two-choice assays, Orco mutants displayed an impaired response to floral-like and animal host-associated odors, suggesting that OR-mediated olfaction is involved in foraging and host-seeking behaviors in C. hominivorax. These results broaden our understanding of the chemoreception basis of niche occupancy by blowflies. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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