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Antennae are often considered to be the nostrils of insects. Here, we sequenced the transcriptome of the pheromone gland-ovipositor complex of Helicoverpa assulta and discovered that an odorant receptor (OR) gene, HassOR31, had much higher expression in the ovipositor than in antennae or other tissues. To determine whether the ovipositor was involved in odorant detection, we co-expressed HassOR31 and its co-receptor, HassORco, in a Xenopus oocyte model system, and demonstrated that the OR was responsive to 12 plant odorants, especially Z-3-hexenyl butyrate. These odorants elicited electrophysiological responses of some sensilla in the ovipositor, and HassOR31 and HassORco were co-expressed within ovipositor sensilla. Two oviposition preference experiments showed that female moths lacking antennae still preferentially selected oviposition sites containing plant volatiles. We suggest that the expression of HassOR31 in the ovipositor of H. assulta helps females to determine precise egg-laying sites in host plants. When most insects reproduce they lay eggs that hatch into juveniles known as larvae. To provide good sources of food for the larvae, the adult insects have to carefully select where to lay the eggs. Host plants produce specific sets of chemicals known as odorants that the adult insects are able to smell using proteins called odorant receptors. It is generally thought that odorant receptors in the antennae on the head are responsible for guiding adult insects to good egg-laying sites. However, recent studies have reported that odorant receptors are also present in the egg-laying organs of several different species of moth. It remains unclear what role these odorant receptors may play in egg-laying. The oriental tobacco budworm (Helicoverpa assulta) is considered a serious pest in agriculture. The adult moths lay their eggs on a narrow range of plants in the nightshade family including tobacco and hot pepper. Li et al. have now investigated the odorant receptors of H. assulta and found that one gene for an odorant receptor called HassOR31 was expressed much more in the egg-laying organs of the moths than in the antennae. Further experiments showed that this receptor was tuned to respond to 12 odorants that also stimulated responses in the egg-laying organ of H. assulta. Together these findings suggest that this odorant receptor in the egg-laying organ helps the moths find suitable host plants to lay their eggs on. The work of Li et al. may help us understand how H. assulta evolved to lay its eggs on specific members of the nightshade family and lead to new methods of controlling this pest. An insect’s sense of smell guides many other behaviors including finding food, mates and avoiding enemies. Therefore, these findings may inspire researchers to investigate whether odorant receptors in the antennae or other organs guide these behaviors.

Odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) are prevalent in the antennal transcriptomes of different orders of insects. Studies on OBPs have focused on their role in the insect chemosensory system, but knowledge of their functions in the insect testis is limited. We sequenced the transcriptomes of the Athetis dissimilis reproductive organs and analyzed the expression of AdisOBP genes in different tissues. We identified 23 OBPs in the testis and ovaries and 31 OBPs in antennal transcriptomes. The results of real-time quantitative PCR revealed that 23 of the 54 OBP genes were highly expressed in both female and male antennae, including three that exhibited male-biased expression and 15 that exhibited female-biased expression. A total of 24 OBPs were highly expressed in the testis of A. dissimilis , while expression of OBPs in the ovaries was very low. These findings highlight the functional diversity of OBPs in insects and can facilitate further studies on the OBPs in A. dissimilis and lepidopteran species.

The closely related species Helicoverpa armigera (H. armigera) and Helicoverpa assulta (H. assulta) have different host plant ranges and share two principal components of sex pheromones but with reversed ratios. The antennae are the main olfactory organ of insects and play a crucial role in host plant selection and mate seeking. However, the genetic basis for gene expression divergence in the antennae of the two species is unclear. We performed an allele-specific expression (ASE) analysis in the antennal transcriptomes of the two species and their F1 hybrids, examining the connection between gene expression divergence and phenotypic differences. The results show that the proportion of genes classified as all cis was higher than that of all trans in males and reversed in females. The contribution of regulatory patterns to gene expression divergence in males was less than that in females, which explained the functional differentiation of male and female antennae. Among the five groups of F1 hybrids, the fertile males from the cross of H. armigera female and H. assulta male had the lowest proportion of misexpressed genes, and the inferred regulatory patterns were more accurate. By using this group of F1 hybrids, we discovered that cis-related regulations play a crucial role in gene expression divergence of sex pheromone perception-related proteins. These results are helpful for understanding how specific changes in the gene expression of olfactory-related genes can contribute to rapid evolutionary changes in important olfactory traits in closely related moths.

The variegated cutworm Peridroma saucia (Hübner) is a worldwide pest that causes serious damage to many crops. To recognize sex pheromones and host plant volatiles, insects depend on olfactory chemoreception involving general odorant-binding proteins (GOBPs). In this study, PsauGOBP1 was cloned from the adult antennae of P. saucia. RT-qPCR and Western-blot analysis showed that PsauGOBP1 was specifically and equally expressed in the adult antennae of both females and males. Fluorescence competitive-binding assays with sex pheromones and host plant volatiles demonstrated that PsauGOBP1 bound to six host plant volatiles: (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate (KD = 4.0 ± 0.1 μM), citral (KD = 5.6 ± 0.4 μM), farnesol (KD = 6.4 ± 0.6 μM), nonanal (KD = 6.8 ± 0.3 μM), (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol (KD = 8.5 ± 0.6 μM), and benzaldehyde (KD = 9.4 ± 0.5 μM). Electroantennogram recordings with the six host plant volatiles indicated that (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate elicited the strongest responses from both male and female antennae. Further bioassays using Y-tube olfactometers showed that (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate was attractive to adult P. saucia of both sexes. These results suggest that PsauGOBP1 might be involved in detecting host plant volatiles and that (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate might serve as a potential attractant for the biological control of P. saucia.

Chemoreception by moth ovipositors has long been suggested, but underlying molecular mechanisms are mostly unknown. To reveal such chemosensory systems in the current study, we sequenced and assembled the pheromone gland-ovipositor (PG-OV) transcriptome of females of the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, a pest of many crops. We annotated a total of 26 candidate chemosensory receptor genes, including 12 odorant receptors (ORs), 4 gustatory receptors (GRs), and 10 ionotropic receptors (IRs). The relatedness of these chemosensory receptors with those from other insect species was predicted by phylogenetic analyses, and specific genes, including pheromone receptors, ORco, CO2 receptors, sugar receptors, and IR co-receptors, were reported. Although real-time quantitative-PCR analyses of annotated genes revealed that OR and IR genes were mainly expressed in S. frugiperda antennae, two ORs and two IRs expressed in antennae were also highly expressed in the PG-OV. Similarly, GR genes were mainly expressed in the proboscis, but two were also highly expressed in the PG-OV. Our study provides the first large-scale description of chemosensory receptors in the PG-OV of S. frugiperda and provides a foundation for exploring the chemoreception mechanisms of PG-OV in S. frugiperda and in other moth species.

Campoletis chlorideae Uchida (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) is an important larval endoparasitoid of the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner). A better understanding of herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) employed by C. chlorideae to locate hosts will contribute towards the biological control of this notorious crop pest. In this study, we first investigated the electrophysiological and behavioral responses of C. chlorideae to 19 volatile compounds emitted by herbivore-infested plants. Eleven odorants induced EAG responses of C. chlorideae , while only two compounds, cis -jasmone and cis -3-hexenyl acetate, were attractive to the parasitoid in Y-tube olfactometer assays. Next, we used two- and four-choice tests in cage settings to investigate the parasitism rate of H. armigera larvae by C. chlorideae on tobacco plants treated with different doses of cis -jasmone, cis -3-hexenyl acetate, and their mixtures. Results showed that the parasitism rate of H. armigera was significantly higher on the plants treated with cis -jasmone or cis -3-hexenyl acetate, and their optimal dose for both compounds was 1 mg. However, the mixtures of cis -jasmone and cis -3-hexenyl acetate did not increase H. armigera parasitism rate by C. chlorideae when compared with control groups. Our results indicate that the single compounds cis -jasmone and cis -3-hexenyl acetate, at certain doses, enhance parasitic efficiency of C. chlorideae , but their mixtures negate this effect. These results will help us in the exploitation of C. chlorideae as biological control agent to reduce the populations of H. armigera .

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a subgroup of small noncoding RNAs, play critical roles in tumor growth and metastasis. Accumulating evidence shows that the dysregulation of miRNAs is associated with the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the molecular mechanism by which miR-942-3p contributes to HCC remains undocumented. The association between miR-942-3p expression and the clinicopathological characteristics in HCC patients was analyzed by The Cancer Genome Atlas data set. The targets of miR-942-3p were identified by bioinformatic analysis and dual luciferase report assay. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and Transwell assays were performed to assess the functional role of miR-942-3p in HCC cells. Consequently, we found that miR-942-3p expression level was elevated in HCC tissues and cell lines as compared with the normal tissues and was associated with the pathological stage and tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage, acting as an independent prognostic factor of poor survival in patients with HCC. Ectopic expression of miR-942-3p enhanced the proliferation and invasive potential of HCC cells, but inhibition of miR-942-3p expression had the opposite effects. Mannose-binding lectin 2 (MBL2) was further identified as a direct target of miR-942-3p and possessed a negative correlation with miR-942-3p expression and unfavorable survival in patients with HCC. Restoration of MBL2 inhibited the progression of HCC cells and attenuated the tumor-promoting effects induced by miR-942-3p. In conclusion, miR-942-3p may act as an oncogenic factor in HCC cells by targeting MBL2 and provide a potential marker for patients with HCC.

BackgroundUnilateral biportal endoscopic (UBE) has been gradually applied in clinical practice. UBE has two channels, with good visual field and operating space, and has achieved good results in the treatment of lumbar spine diseases. Some scholars combine UBE with vertebral body fusion to replace traditional open fusion surgery and minimally invasive fusion surgery. The efficacy of biportal endoscopic transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (BE-TLIF) is still controversial. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, BE-TLIF and minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MI-TLIF) are compared in the efficacy and complications of lumbar degenerative diseases.MethodsPubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were used to search literatures related to BE-TLIF before January 2023, to identify relevant studies, and systematically review all literatures. Evaluation indicators mainly include operation time, hospital stay, estimated blood loss, visual analog scale (VAS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and Macnab.ResultsA total of 9 studies were included in this study; a total of 637 patients were collected, and 710 vertebral bodies were treated. Nine studies showed that there was no significant difference in VAS score, ODI, fusion rate, and complication rate between BE-TLIF and MI-TLIF at the final follow-up after surgery.ConclusionThis study suggests that BE-TLIF is a safe and effective surgical approach. BE-TLIF surgery has similar good efficacy to MI-TLIF in the treatment of lumbar degenerative diseases. And compared with MI-TLIF, it has the advantages of early postoperative relief of low-back pain, shorter hospital stay, and faster functional recovery. However, high-quality prospective studies are needed to validate this conclusion.

Moths develop sophisticated olfactory systems to sense the airborne chemical cues from the environment. Understanding the structural basis in the neuronal centre is a fundamental neuroethological step. As an emerging crop pest, little is known about Athetis dissimilis on its morphology or on its neuronal organizations. Through the antibody staining and digital 3D modelling, we re-constructed the primary olfactory centre - the antennal lobe of A. dissimilis. Respective 68.8 + 3.1 male glomeruli and 70.8 + 1.0 female glomeruli in the antennal lobes were identified with obvious sexual dimorphism. In special, male adults of A. dissimilis contain a macro glomerular complex which consists of three subunits, while female lobe has four relatively enlarged glomeruli at the entrance of the antennal nerve. Glomeruli were later clustered with deviation and variance, and referring to reported olfactory related receptor family genes in 7 different moth species, we found that glomerular counts of these insects are better related to sum of odorant receptor and ionotropic receptor numbers, suggesting ORs and IRs may both involved in olfaction of Noctuidae moths.

Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a cryptic species complex, causing significant crop losses in China during the last decade. Although knowledge of cryptic species composition and dynamics within B. tabaci complex is critical for developing sustainable pest management strategies, limited information is available on this pest in the Henan province of China. A systematic survey of the cryptic species composition and distribution of B. tabaci complex in different locations of Henan province was conducted in 2012. The results of RAPD-PCR and the gene for the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit-1 (mtCOI) based phylogenetic relationships established using Bayesian method indicated there were four known cryptic species MEAM1, MED, Asia II 3, Asia II 9 and a new cryptic species named China 6 in Henan province. In the survey, the invasive cryptic species MED and MEAM1 were found to be predominant with wide spread distribution across the surveyed regions. On the contrary, the indigenous B. tabaci cryptic species including Asia II 3, Asia II 9 and China 6 remained with low prevalence in some surveyed regions. Cryptic species MEAM1 and MED have not completely displaced the native B. tabaci in Henan province. This current study for the first time unifies our knowledge of the diversity and distribution of B. tabaci across Henan province of China.