Chemical Senses Advance Access published online on May 20, 2009
Chemical Senses, doi:10.1093/chemse/bjp025
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Nearest Neural Neighbors: Moth Sex Pheromone Receptors HR11 and HR13
Center for Chemical Ecology, Department of Entomology, 105 Chemical Ecology Laboratory, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Correspondence to be sent to: Thomas C. Baker, Center for Chemical Ecology, Department of Entomology, 105 Chemical Ecology Laboratory, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. e-mail: tcb10{at}psu.edu
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Abstract |
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In moth sex pheromone olfaction systems, there is a stereotypical cocompartmentalization of two or sometimes three olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) within single trichoid sensilla on which pheromone-sensitive odorant receptors (ORs) are differentially expressed. In this issue of Chemical Senses, Krieger et al. show through elegant double and triple in situ hybridization studies that in the moth, Heliothis virescens, a pheromone component–related OR (HR11) is expressed on an ORN that is reliably cocompartmentalized in the same sensillum as another OR (HR13) whose ligand is known to be (Z)-11-hexadecenal, the H. virescens major pheromone component. Although the ligand for HR11 is not yet known, mapping this OR to this particular ORN represents a key advance in piecing together the puzzle of H. virescens sex pheromone olfaction.
Accepted 21 April 2009